Religion is a cultural system of beliefs, behaviors, practices, and ethics. It ideally gives people a sense of meaning and purpose in life, reinforces social unity and stability, promotes psychological well-being, and may motivate individuals to work for positive social change.
In practice, however, a variety of religious beliefs and practices exist in different societies. These beliefs and practices can include the belief in a supreme deity, a divine judgment after death, and idolatry.
A common usage of the term in modern societies focuses on behaviors, such as rituals, prayers, and confessions of doctrinal belief or greatly simplified versions of these forms of behavior. It also includes religious institutions (such as churches or mosques), which are social places where people of various faiths gather for worship.
The concept of religion is often debated among scholars in the social sciences. Some argue that to understand religion in terms of beliefs, or even in terms of any subjective states, reflects a Protestant bias and that scholars of religion should therefore shift attention from hidden mental states to the visible institutional structures that produce them.
Others, such as the late anthropologist Clifford Geertz, see religious symbolism and actions as texts that say something to the observer about their social context. But Asad, on the other hand, points out that this approach has reinforced a tendency to view religion as a kind of “symbolic interaction” that is deracinated from its social and historical context.