Religion is an enormously complex, often difficult to define phenomenon that most of the world’s population participate in in one way or another. It seems to have something to do with belief in the supernatural, the spiritual and a code of conduct that is based on moral values. It may also involve a deity or gods, or a belief in reincarnation. It can be an incredibly powerful force for good, but it can also be the source of intolerance, cruelty and social oppression, and self-opinionated nastiness.

It is not unusual to hear claims that there is no such thing as religion, and that the concept of religion is a modern invention. This view is particularly common in the context of anti-colonialist and post-colonialist scholarship, and it reflects the potent ways in which the concept of religion has been used to categorize cultures as godless and inferior.

There are, however, many scholars who reject this claim and maintain that the idea of a “thing” called religion has always been with us, even before people had language to describe it. These scholars call for a “polythetic” approach to the study of religion, in which we avoid the idea that an evolving social category has an ahistorical essence, and instead recognize that many properties that make up what is called religion are both universal and human.

The first step in understanding religion is to recognize that it is a diverse and constantly shifting set of practices. These diverse and shifting practices are, however, all rooted in a similar set of assumptions about the world, life, and what is important. It is these common assumptions that allow religion to be a unifying force in the world.

Among the most basic assumptions that are shared by all religions is the idea that there are forces in the universe that can benefit or harm humans, and that there are spiritual powers that control them. Religions also believe that a soul exists for each human being, and that this soul is both a personal part of the individual and the collective spirit of the group.

In addition, most religions recognize a kind of immortality: the notion that some parts of a person’s body are reincarnated into other bodies (for example, in the case of the Christian god, the reincarnation of Jesus is sometimes referred to as the “ghost” of Christ). Religions also recognize a kind of transcendence: that there is a connection between the human spirit and the divine.

Aside from these common elements, religions are highly individualized and vary widely between groups of people. In this way they are a lot like the other human social structures that we have studied and understood.