Studying Religion gives students the opportunity to better understand their peers from different cultural backgrounds. Whether a student is interested in learning more about their new best friend or coworker or they want to take a course to get more out of their travel experience, the study of religion can help open doors to understanding others’ beliefs.

Religion is typically defined as a human being’s relation to that which is deemed holy, sacred, absolute, spiritual, divine, or worthy of especial reverence. These concerns may be oriented toward the gods or spirits of various traditions; in more humanistic and naturalistic forms, they may be directed toward the broader human community or the natural world. These concerns often involve texts and people regarded as having scriptural status or invested with spiritual or moral authority.

Scholars have debated what defines religion. One school of thought, influenced by Protestantism, emphasizes the importance of neutral description and of avoiding subjective interpretations. This approach shifts attention from internal, hidden mental states to the visible institutions and disciplinary practices that produce religious behaviors. Another school of thought, influenced by anthropologists like Clifford Geertz and Marxist scholars such as Asad, attempts to balance this emphasis on structure with a recognition that human subjectivity is itself the product of these structures.

Some scholars have defined religion functionally, as a set of beliefs and behaviors that generate social solidarity or provide orientation in life. In this sense, they treat religion as a universal phenomenon that appears in every culture.