Religion is a unified system of thoughts, feelings, and actions, usually based on belief in someone or something sacred (often called divine, spiritual, or mystical). It often deals with the supernatural and the spirit world, about forces and powers beyond human control. It organizes hierarchies of recognition and behavior, imposes codes of moral conduct on members, and provides a resource for the transformation of life and the transfiguration of art.
Some people, especially anthropologists (scientists who study cultures and human societies), take the view that religion developed from a human need to understand itself and its environment. Others see it as a response to the prospect of death, and a search for a way out or onto a better place.
Whether or not it has an underlying essence, religion is one of the most widely held and most fundamental human activities and needs. It is believed by most of the world’s 6.5 billion people to be an essential part of their lives.
A central question is how to define Religion. Most attempts at definitions have been monothetic, in that they hold that a concept has a single defining property. A growing number of scholars, however, have advocated polythetic approaches that recognize more than a single property.