Religion is a set of beliefs, values, and practices that give meaning to life and create a sense of community. It is a source of comfort during hardship and offers hope in the face of death and evil. In addition, it often provides a framework for moral behavior and serves as an agent of social control. It may also help people deal with psychological and physical problems.
Most religions involve some form of devotion to a higher power. They usually include some sort of belief in a supernatural force or spirit, as well as an emphasis on good and bad. Religion is a complex phenomenon, and the lines between religion, culture, philosophy, and morality are often blurred.
In general, religions are organized and have some form of worship, sacred writings or texts, a group of believers that act as priests, and rules for behavior. Many religions focus on some form of salvation, either in a literal sense with a belief in heaven or hell after death, as with Christianity, or a more symbolic sense of overcoming suffering and reaching nirvana, as with Buddhism.
The study of religion became a formal discipline in the 19th century, and the methods of history, philology, literary criticism, psychology, sociology, anthropology, and archaeology were brought to bear on the subject. The result was a new understanding of the origins and functions of religion. Nevertheless, many theories remain controversial. The German philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach, for example, held that religion arose out of human curiosity and fear of forces beyond control and that it transformed those fears into hope.
