What is Religion?
Obtaining inspiration from Cavanaugh and Marty on the definition of religion, I take it to be an entity defined by its sense of community, the sharing of a concern/priority, particular conduct and adherence to a set of behaviors, connection to mythical and symbolic elements, and brought together through practices and ceremonies. It is important to note, though, that something can still possess all of these characteristics and still not be a religion. In the context of the many things which an individual could hold against religion on the grounds of promoting violence or hatred, it is necessary to make the distinction clear. Speaking with respect to what is relevant to us and in the course of our study, religion is the application of these characteristics to God. The shared concern is loving, serving, and understanding God, the sense of community is that which is found among people addressing the above concern, and in those communities, that goal is achieved through engaging with and following God’s word. For me, religion becomes the organization of all of these characteristics into a system that people can identify with to different degrees and by different levels of commitment. As pointed out by Cavanaugh, there is a “capacity of religion to inspire total loyalties or commitments.” For this reason it is really easy to liken something to religion that is actually not, because many things such as nationalism and coordinated hatred and violence can appear to adhere to these same characteristics. There is an inherent, and perhaps undeniable characteristic of religion that can appear to be nationalistic, and for that reason it is necessary to not be too loose or too strict with considerations for religion. Of the characteristics, they almost all possess a nature that can be interpreted out of a proper context, but for the purposes possessed here to want to properly define religion, the best distinction is made clear by the possession of a unifying factor that is along the lines of a superhuman or supernatural controlling power.
Foundations of Theology (sgutier5) 
The points you highlight are interesting and ideas that I hadn’t really considered before. I like how you implicitly describe how complex religion is and some of the misconceptions/false perceptions that are often tied to religion like how it can appear nationalistic. I do have one question, though, regarding the one unifying factor (“superhuman or supernatural controlling power): do you consider non-theistic religions – Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism – to be “true” religions?
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Great thoughts! You state “Speaking with respect to what is relevant to us and in the course of our study, religion is the application of these characteristics to God.” Do you think, out of the context of this class, an institution can be considered a religion if no belief in a superhuman power is emphasized?
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For sure. Speaking outside of this class, I would definitely agree that there exists a broader consideration, but I would still say that compared to a non-religion, there is still some shared concern that inevitably has some element of a higher order and/or extraordinary (not just regular life).
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