Religion is a set of beliefs and practices that people use to orient themselves to their lives in this world. It provides a foundation for moral order, and it has provided answers to many questions of great significance in past times. Religious people are willing to live according to and, at times, die for what they value most highly. There are few other sources that serve the same function.
The idea that the world is a sacred and divine place gives people a reason to work hard and take care of each other. The sense of purpose and meaning that religion provides also leads to better mental health, especially if it is accompanied by social connection. This can even extend to better physical health, for example, when people have a religious faith that motivates them to help others.
While most scholars have approached the study of religion using monothetic methods, there has recently been a growing interest in polythetic approaches. These use the concept of religion as a sort of taxon to categorize a number of different phenomena and then treat each one as having its own set of properties. In this way they try to find patterns among the various phenomena and to develop explanatory theories for their occurrence.
It can be challenging to determine what exactly makes up a religion. This is because there are a number of different definitions that can be used. One common approach is to define a religion as any belief in a god or spirits. This can include a range of beliefs, from the most common ones like creationism to those that are less well-known like atheism.
Alternatively, some have defined religion as any group of beliefs and practices that generate social cohesion or provide guidance in life. This approach can be a useful one to explore, as it can lead to an understanding of some religious traditions that are not commonly discussed. However, it can also be problematic to use this definition because it does not allow for a distinction between religion and other phenomena that are similarly useful.
In the end, it may be necessary to create a new type of taxonomy for religion in order to make it possible for scholars to critique and compare different ideas. A polythetic approach may be the best option because it can avoid some of the problems that can arise when stipulative definitions are used, such as those that force scholars to simply accept whatever is being offered. The ice-skating example that de Muckadell uses is a good illustration of this point. It shows that, without a real essence, stipulative definitions can often be flawed. By contrast, polythetic definitions can be critiqued in the same way that a lexical definition can, and this allows scholars to understand and compare religions more effectively. This article has been updated since its original publication on April 26, 2012.