Religion is a societal structure that has been shown to bring significant benefits to people’s lives, including health, learning, economic well-being, emotional support, self-control and social connection. It has also been shown to reduce the occurrence of crime and delinquency, prejudices, anxieties, and diseases. Its practice improves children’s school performance and it increases self-esteem and the ability to deal with adversity.
The word “religion” comes from the Latin verb religio, meaning scrupulousness, devotion or loyalty to a higher power. Anthropologists (scientists who study human societies and culture) have traditionally used the term to refer to a social genus, or category-concept, that includes Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism, as well as more indigenous religions such as those of the Cherokee or the Yoruba.
Some scholars, like Clifford Geertz, believe that religions are organized systems of beliefs and practices that have evolved to meet a specific cultural need. They argue that the need is either for a way to cope with life’s problems or a belief in some form of immortality. Those who hold this view tend to be more skeptical of the impact that religion has on the world.
Others, such as Edward Burnett Tylor, reject stipulative definitions of religion and posit that humanity discovers a spirituality that already exists. He argues that narrowing the concept to mean only belief in a supreme being or judgment after death excludes many peoples from the category of religion and has the “fault of identifying religion with particular developments rather than with the deeper motive which underlies them”. He suggests that religion can include all forms of religious experience and behavior, such as the practices that allow Hindus, ancient Athenians, Navajo and Mahayana Buddhists to connect to their gods, and the wager of Blaise Pascal that if God exists, then he will reward the faithful with eternal life and happiness.