What is religion? Well, that depends on who you ask. It also depends on when or where you ask. The one thing almost everyone can agree on, though, is that some form of religion is practically universal. There are very few, if any, places on Earth that have never seen any kind of religion.
Some say that religion is part of human nature. Others say that curiosity is part of human nature and that religion is the result of curiosity as finding comfort in things beyond the basics of food and shelter. Human nature is itself an equally elusive concept. Smart people have tried to figure out what exactly constitutes human nature for centuries. To this day, it is a subject of great debate.
The dictionary defines religion as “belief in and worship of “ something “superhuman,” something with unlimited power, something of “supreme importance,” something above all else. Religion manifests itself in numerous ways, commonly in complex systems of practices such as offering explanations for unknowns like creation or natural phenomena or guidance for behavior and relationships in society. Sometimes, religion is used as a way to exert power over people.
Christianity is just one of many thousands distinct religions in existence around the world, most of which only have small numbers of followers. The vast majority belong to one of a handful of religions with near global reach. Christianity is one of them. Christianity itself has thousands of variations worldwide, several hundred in the U.S. alone.
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