I would have to say all of the above.Depending on the context and the situation.It is a group of people who are following a spiritual path providing a moral code of conduct to base their lives upon...

As I define religion, it is a perspective on life that is based upon one or more deities that have either created or control human life. And that really leaves a lot of room open for the subsets of sects/cults/etc.

I would say that it is the belief in something not provable i.e. a faith, and all the actions which follow from this belief. Thus if faith makes people gather together and worship, that is religion. If faith makes people mutilate themselves or their children, declare ware, help the weak - all these things are religion.

It comes from the Latin "religio" -- "to bind together". The interpretation which I think best captures the spirit of "good" religion is "that which makes whole". Life can seem to be a bunch of disconnected parts: there's you and me and the universe full of dead rocks and trees and the letter Q and Barbie's pink Corvette. A LOT of stuff! Where's the unifying theme? Where's the wholeness? That's what religion is about. Many people think that religion is about believing in supernatural or unprovable things, and certainly most religious traditions have a lot of this kind of "magical thinking" wired into their belief systems and practices. But the essential core of religion does NOT require belief in the supernatural -- what a religion must have to be worthwhile is a way to unite and integrate the disparate "stuff" of life, and give a human being a path for transforming themself so that their own life realizes and expresses that integration. Personally, I think that the more streamlined versions of Buddhism do the best job of tackling this assignment without adding a lot of divisive and questionable baggage about things which can't be proven, that's why I'm a Zen student. But I recognize this integrative theme going on in other religions as well. There's more than one way to skin the cat -- we can argue about how well it gets skinned, but everybody gets some fur.

To me it is all of those things you mentioned. Each part of that is important to me.

Religion is a form of belief. People can worship anything...Money, Statues, Flags, etc. It can all be grouped into a religion. So many new religions everyday proves my piont. Most religions are based on some consept of worshipping God alone. But do we as humans really do that?

My understanding is that religion is a scripted set of church/synagogue/mosque dogma that one has to embrace in order to be considered one of the "faithful". Being religious connotes adherence to a specific set of "rules"..being spiritual does not! :)

ALL OF THE MENTIONED

Religion, I believe are traditions, and there are many traditions that people share in accord with others. For the most part todays religious customs are no more then external rituals, such as, congregating, preaching, singing. These to me are the trademarks of Western religions, and mechanical prayer. Eastern religions also have exoteric or "outer rituals", such as the West, but Buddism, and Hinduism, Concentrate more heavily not on the outer customs, but on the esoteric perpective or "inner" religion of God realization. The real purpose of religion is for Spiritual Union, with our One Spiritual Maker. The only Real purpose of any religion is to relieve man of his three fold suffering, body, mind, and Soul, ignorence. Liberation into Spirit, is the purpose that Prophets declare we must achieve, because Spirit is what we truly are, beyond the delusion of seperateness from It. To much focus has been put onto the outer ways of religion and it has misconstrude and mis-guided many into a blind faith. Meditation, Pranayama, Life-force control are the inner principles to all true religions. The Prophets of God Meditated, and Do Meditate. Don't be as the hypocrites and who preach about God and the Kingdom without seeing it for themselves. Who flatter there followers with man reasoning, and humor, and convert the Prophets words into shallow minded understanding, Who think of themselves as a higher power among the congregation. Who make themselves Idols and holders of Gods wisdom, and try to convince others that without them you are powerless. Infinate Christ is guiding us always closer to God, not men. I say, come unto me you false gods and bring your bag of tricks and see what ye are left with to hold! The Kingdom of God is in you. Meditate, Dive deep with a fire devotion to behold It, all you children. Have Faith for He is Faithful to all, and He made us like Himself. God Bless

Religion is ritual it really doesn't have anything to do with your faith your hope or the intent of your heart.

Religion: c.1200, "state of life bound by monastic vows," also "conduct indicating a belief in a divine power," from Anglo-Fr. religiun (11c.), from O.Fr. religion "religious community," from L. religionem (nom. religio) "respect for what is sacred, reverence for the gods," in L.L. "monastic life" (5c.); according to Cicero, derived from relegare "go through again, read again," from re- "again" + legere "read" (see lecture). However, popular etymology among the later ancients (and many modern writers) connects it with religare "to bind fast" (see rely), via notion of "place an obligation on," or "bond between humans and gods." Another possible origin is religiens "careful," opposite of negligens. Meaning "particular system of faith" is recorded from c.1300. "To hold, therefore, that there is no difference in matters of religion between forms that are unlike each other, and even contrary to each other, most clearly leads in the end to the rejection of all religion in both theory and practice. And this is the same thing as atheism, however it may differ from it in name." [Pope Leo XIII, Immortale Dei, 1885] Modern sense of "recognition of, obedience to, and worship of a higher, unseen power" is from 1535. Religious is first recorded c.1225. Transfered sense of "scrupulous, exact" is recorded from 1599. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=religion 1. beliefs and worship: people's beliefs and opinions concerning the existence, nature, and worship of a deity or deities, and divine involvement in the universe and human life 2. system: an institutionalized or personal system of beliefs and practices relating to the divine 3. personal beliefs or values: a set of strongly-held beliefs, values, and attitudes that somebody lives by 4. obsession: an object, practice, cause, or activity that somebody is completely devoted to or obsessed by The danger is that you start to make fitness a religion. [12th century. Via French< Latin religion- "obligation, reverence"] http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?refid=1861700316 Religion, sacred engagement with that which is believed to be a spiritual reality. Religion is a worldwide phenomenon that has played a part in all human culture and so is a much broader, more complex category than the set of beliefs or practices found in any single religious tradition. In all cultures, human beings make a practice of interacting with what are taken to be spiritual powers. These powers may be in the form of gods, spirits, ancestors, or any kind of sacred reality with which humans believe themselves to be connected. The word religion is derived from the Latin noun religio, which denotes both earnest observance of ritual obligations and an inward spirit of reverence. In modern usage, religion covers a wide spectrum of meanings that reflect the enormous variety of ways the term can be interpreted. At one extreme, many committed believers recognize only their own tradition as a religion, understanding expressions such as worship and prayer to refer exclusively to the practices of their tradition. Although many believers stop short of claiming an exclusive status for their tradition, they may nevertheless use vague or idealizing terms in defining religion—for example, “true love of God,” or “the path of enlightenment.” http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=761565187 The outward act or form by which men indicate their recognition of the existence of a god or of gods having power over their destiny, to whom obedience, service, and honor are due; the feeling or expression of human love, fear, or awe of some superhuman and overruling power, whether by profession of belief, by observance of rites and ceremonies, or by the conduct of life; a system of faith and worship; a manifestation of piety; as, ethical religions; monotheistic religions; natural religion; revealed religion; the religion of the jews; the religion of idol worshipers. http://www.biology-online.org/dictionary/Religion Some modern sects who wanted to avoid worship adopted the following definition given by sociology. Their percentage is less than 10. "A set of cultural ideas, symbols, and practices that focus on the meaning of life and the nature of the unknown." http://www.webref.org/sociology/r/religion.htm Although most religions and spiritual beliefs are clearly distinct from science on both a philosophical and methodological level, the two are not generally considered to be mutually exclusive. A majority of humans hold a mix of both scientific and religious views. The distinction between philosophy and religion, on the other hand, is at times less clear.

Religion is what you do with your beliefs. In James 1:27, the apostle writes: 27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. Religion is not what saves you, but the outworking of your thankfulness for being saved in Christ.