This article is about a philosophical set of beliefs about the meaning of existence. For other uses, see Religion (disambiguation).See also: Philosophy and CultureNot to be confused with Region or Religious denomination."Religious" redirects here. For a member of a Catholic religious institute, see Religious (Catholicism).Religions by countryAfrica[show]Algeria Egypt Ethiopia Kenya Nigeria Seychelles South Africa Sudan Uganda Zambia Asia[show]Afghanistan Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Burma Cambodia China Hong Kong India Japan North Korea South Korea Laos Macau Malaysia Mongolia Nepal Pakistan Philippines Singapore Sri Lanka Taiwan Thailand Vietnam Europe[show]Albania Armenia Austria Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Iceland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Ireland Romania Russia Serbia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom Middle East[show]Armenia Azerbaijan Bahrain Cyprus Iran Iraq Israel Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Oman Qatar Saudi Arabia Syria Turkey United Arab Emirates Yemen North America[show]Belize Canada Cuba Dominican Republic Haiti Mexico Trinidad and Tobago Nicaragua United States Oceania[show]Australia East Timor Fiji Indonesia New Zealand Papua New Guinea South America[show]Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Paraguay Peru Uruguay Religion portalv t e Part of a series onSpirituality Outline Religion[show]History Timeline Traditional[show]Christian (Catholic) Mysticism Modern[show]"Spiritual but not religious"SyncretismNew religious movementSpiritual experience[show]Religious experienceMystical experienceSpiritual practiceMystical psychosisCognitive science of religionNeuroscience of religionGeschwind syndromeEvolutionary psychology of religionSpiritual development[show]Spiritual developmentEgo deathSpiritual crisisSelf-[show] ChristianityWestern esotericismPerennial philosophyOccultismAge of ChristianityGerman ThoughtNew AgeOrientalist[show]OrientalismComparative religionTheosophical SocietyNondualismNeo-AdvaitaAsian[show]Proto-Indo-Iranian religionEnlightenment (spiritual)-natureAdvaita VedantaTantraNeo-VedantaVipassana movementBuddhist modernismOther non-western[show][show]Humanistic psychologyTrue self and false selfSelf-realizationSelf-helpPositive v t e
Religion is a cultural system of behaviors and practices, world views, sacred texts, holy places, ethics, and societal organisation that relate humanity to what an anthropologist has called "an order of existence".[1] Different religions may or may not contain various elements, ranging from the "divine",[2] "sacred things",[3] "faith",[4] a "supernatural being or supernatural beings"[5] or "...some sort of ultimacy and transcendence that will provide norms and power for the rest of life."[6]
Religious practices may include rituals, sermons, commemoration or veneration (of God or deities), sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trances, initiations, funerary services, matrimonial services, meditation, prayer, music, art, dance, public service, or other aspects of human culture. Religions have sacred histories and narratives, which may be preserved in sacred scriptures, and symbols and holy places, that aim mostly to give a meaning to life. Religions may contain symbolic stories, which are sometimes said by followers to be true, that have the side purpose of explaining the origin of life, the Universe, and other things. Traditionally, faith, in addition to reason, has been considered a source of religious beliefs.[7] There are an estimated 10,000 distinct religions worldwide.[8] About 84% of the world's population is affiliated with one of the five largest religions, namely Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism or forms of folk religion.[9]
With the onset of the modernisation of and the scientific revolution in the western world, some aspects of religion have cumulatively been criticized. Though the religiously unaffliated, including atheism (the rejection of belief in the existence of deities) and agnosticism (the belief that the truth of certain claims – especially metaphysical and religious claims such as whether God, the divine or the supernatural exist – are unknown and perhaps unknowable), have grown globally, many of the unaffiliated still have various religious beliefs.[10] About 16% of the world's population is religiously unaffiliated.[9]
The study of religion encompasses a wide variety of academic disciplines, including theology, comparative religion and social scientific studies. Theories of religion offer various explanations for the origins and workings of religion
