Religion is the way that people answer fundamental questions about who they are, what they are doing here and now, why they exist, where they came from, where they are going, and what their place in a universe of many other cultures is. It also provides a context for sanctions and rewards, approval and disapproval, inspiration and ideation, a framework within which to live life.
As the concept of religion has evolved over time, it has sometimes been treated as a social genus encompassing all human belief and practice, or as a set of functional categories. These categories include beliefs in afterlife, supernatural beings and powers, cosmological orders and rules, moral codes, sacred histories, rituals, and ceremonies, and the like.
Using a functional approach, the term’religion’ can be defined as “the symbolic interactionist system through which humans communicate meanings and values, reinforce identity and social cohesion, promote psychological and physical well-being, provide direction in life, and support a commitment to societal change.”
Religions may do harm, but they are among the most powerful forces shaping knowledge, the arts, and technology, even today. Most Jews, Muslims and Catholics and smaller majorities of mainline Protestants say that their religion is very important to them. Even the unaffiliated are highly influenced by religious ideas and practices. For two-thirds of the American population, the spiritual world of their choice forms a large part of their life. It is time for legislators to explore the nature of this relationship in constitutionally appropriate ways.