Religion is a social phenomenon involving beliefs and practices centered on a transcendent reality. It is a central part of life for many people and can contribute to health, morality, family stability, economic well-being, learning, self-control, social cohesion, and personal fulfillment. It reduces the incidence of many social pathologies, such as drug and alcohol abuse, crime, suicide, and out-of-wedlock births. It also helps individuals cope with death and other serious traumatic events. It teaches values, such as honesty, kindness, and compassion, and provides social support that can help alleviate loneliness.

Despite its vitality, religion is poorly understood. A common view is that religious belief and practice are a response to humankind’s need for meaning in life. It is not, however, clear how such beliefs and practices are “meaningful.” Psychologists have proposed a variety of theories of why people believe in religions. These include the influence of parents and culture, and the need for humans to feel that they belong to a group.

Sociologists have studied religions by examining their social functions. Emile Durkheim’s definition of religion as any dominant concern that organizes a society’s values still influences sociological thinking on the topic. Paul Tillich’s definition of religion as any axiological system of values that focuses on the ultimate concerns of humankind is another example of a functional approach.

For the last several decades, academic discussion of Religion has been dominated by two schools of thought. One, called the monothetic school, argues that every instance of religion has a specific defining property that sets it apart from other phenomena. The other, called the polythetic school, believes that every instance of Religion contains a number of different, but related, properties.