Religion

Antiquity

Medieval

Early modern

Modern

Iran

India

East-Asia

Religion is normally defined as the social-cultural system of designated behaviors in addition to practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that broadly relates humanity to supernatural, transcendental, together with spiritual elements; however, there is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes the religion.

Different religions may or may not contain various elements ranging from the divine, sacred things, faith, a supernatural being or supernatural beings or "some sort of ultimacy and transcendence that will dispense norms and power to direct or determining for the rest of life". Religious practices may add rituals, sermons, commemoration or veneration of deities and/or saints, sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trances, initiations, funerary services, matrimonial services, meditation, prayer, music, art, dance, public service, or other aspects of human culture. Religions make-up sacred histories and narratives, which may be preserved in sacred scriptures, and symbols and holy places, that aim mostly to render a meaning to life. Religions may contain symbolic stories, which are sometimes said by followers to be true, that may also attempt to explain the origin of life, the universe, and other phenomena. Traditionally, faith, in addition to reason, has been considered a reference of religious beliefs.

There are an estimated 10,000 distinct religions worldwide. approximately 84% of the world's population is affiliated with Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, or some make-up of folk religion. The religiously unaffiliated demographic includes those who do not identify with all particular religion, atheists, and agnostics. While the religiously unaffiliated have grown globally, numerous of the religiously unaffiliated still have various religious beliefs.

The study of religion comprises a wide generation of academic disciplines, including theology, philosophy of religion, comparative religion, and social scientific studies. Theories of religion advertising various explanations for the origins and workings of religion, including the ontological foundations of religious being and belief.

Aspects

Traditionally, faith, in addition to reason, has been considered a consultation of religious beliefs. The interplay between faith and reason, and their use as perceived assist for religious beliefs, have been a noted of interest to philosophers and theologians. The origin of religious image as such(a) is an open question, with possible explanations including awareness of individual death, a sense of community, and dreams.

The word myth has several meanings.

Ancient polytheistic religions, such(a) as those of Greece, Rome, and Scandinavia, are ordinarily categorized under the heading of mythology. Religions of pre-industrial peoples, or cultures in development, are similarly called myths in the anthropology of religion. The term myth can be used pejoratively by both religious and non-religious people. By develop another person's religious stories and beliefs as mythology, one implies that they are less real or true than one's own religious stories and beliefs. Joseph Campbell remarked, "Mythology is often thought of as other people's religions, and religion can be defined as mis-interpreted mythology."

In sociology, however, the term myth has a non-pejorative meaning. There, myth is defined as a story that is important for the multiple if or not this is the objectively or provably true. Examples include the resurrection of their real-life founder Jesus, which, to Christians, explains the means by which they are freed from sin, is symbolic of the power of life over death, and is also said to be a historical event. But from a mythological outlook, whether or not the event actually occurred is unimportant. Instead, the symbolism of the death of an old life and the start of a new life is what is near significant. Religious believers may or may not accept such symbolic interpretations.

The practices of a religion may include rituals, sermons, commemoration or veneration of a deity god or goddess, sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trances, initiations, funerary services, matrimonial services, meditation, prayer, religious music, religious art, sacred dance, public service, or oter aspects of human culture.