What Makes a Religion?

“A religion is a set of belief, customs and practices followed by a certain group of people

and which are organized around supernatural and moral claims, and often codified as prayer,

ritual, and religious law” Or “A sincerely held set of beliefs, values and attitudes; beliefs and

opinions concerning the existence, nature and worship of Supreme Being, supernatural forces or

god(s)”. The definitions of religions have one of two basic problems: they are either too narrow

and exclude many belief systems or they are too vague and ambiguous.

In order to recognize one as a religion we need to identify some common characteristics

among all the religions. The first common character found among all the religions is the belief in

supernatural being. Belief in supernatural being such as god or gods is one of the most common

characteristics of any religion. Religions such Buddhism is atheistic and some religions like

Hinduism, Islamic and Christianity believe in the existence of god or supernatural being.

The second characteristic of any religion is a doctrine of salvation. Among major

religions such as Christianity, Muslim, Hinduism, and Buddhism teach a doctrine of salvation.

They stress that salvation is the highest goal of the faithful and one that all follows should try to

achieve. Religions differ in what salvation is and in how it can be gained. According to

Buddhism and Hinduism, the soul lives on after the death of the body and is reborn in another

body. According to Hinduism and Buddhism doctrine of salvation, a person’s actions, thoughts,

and words determine the kind of animal or human body the soul will live in during the next

reincarnation. The process of reincarnation continues until the man finally achieves a state of

spiritual perfection, which is salvation.

Code of conduct is the third characteristic of religion. Code of conduct is a set of moral

teachings and values that all religions have in some form. It tells how to conduct their lives. It
also tells how to act toward the deity and toward one another. Religious codes of conduct differ

in many ways, but most agree on several major themes. For example, a Muslim woman should

wear jilbab whenever she is out of the house in order to hide her beauty.

Religious ritual is another common feature found in every religion. It includes the act and

ceremonies by which believers appeal to and serve God, deities, or other sacred powers.

Important rituals are performed according to a schedule and are repeated regularly. The

performance of a ritual is often called a service. For example, for Hindus taking bath in river

Ganga is considered to be sacred.

All these features are commonly found in all the major religions existing today. If some

other culture contains all the above features then it is worth calling religion of that particular

cultural group.

I believe that there are many religions in the world having their own concepts of the

supernatural being or god. But still I believe that a new religion can be formed with new

concepts and ideas. There are many people in the world who follow neither of the religions

existing the world. This may be because the existing religions may not be convincing enough for

them to follow. The new religion which may be formed in the future might give them a

satisfactory explanation about the life after death or about the supernatural being or in any other

concept which the present religions fail to provide satisfactory explanation.

There are people in this world who follow one out of many religions but are still

dissatisfied with their religion for various reasons. If the new religion is being formed then these

people may follow it. New religion will give birth to new ideas, concepts, customs and practices.