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T
here is no simple definition
of the concept of religion
that fully articulates all
its dimensions. Encompassing
spiritual, personal, and social
elements, this phenomenon is
however, ubiquitous, appearing
in every culture from prehistory
to the modern day—as evidenced
in the cave paintings and elaborate
burial customs of our distant
ancestors and the continuing
quest for a spiritual goal to life.
For Palaeolithic people—and
indeed for much of human history
—religion provided a way of
understanding and influencing
powerful natural phenomena.
Weather and the seasons, creation,
life, death and the afterlife, and the
structure of the cosmos were all
subject to religious explanations
that invoked controlling gods, or a
realm outside the visible inhabited
by deities and mythical creatures.
Religion provided a means to
communicate with these gods,
through ritual and prayer, and
these practices—when shared by
members of a community—helped
to cement social groups, enforce
hierarchies, and provide a deep
sense of collective identity.
As societies became more
complex, their belief systems
grew with them and religion was
increasingly deployed as a political
tool. Military conquests were often
followed by the assimilation of the
pantheon of the defeated people by
the victors; and kingdoms and
empires were often supported by
their deities and priestly classes.A personal god
Religion met many of the needs
of early people and provided
templates by which they could
organize their lives—through rites,
rituals, and taboos. It also gave
them a means by which they
could visualize their place in the
cosmos. Could religion therefore
be explained as a purely social
artifact? Many would argue that
it is much more. Over the centuries,
people have defied opposition to
their faiths, suffering persecution
or death to defend their right to
worship their God or gods. And
even today, when the world is
arguably more materialistic than
ever before, more than three-
quarters of its population consider
themselves to hold some form of
religious belief. Religion would
seem to be a necessary part of
human existence, as important to
life as the ability to use language.
Whether it is a matter of intense
personal experience—an inner
awareness of the divine—or a wayof finding significance and
meaning, and providing a starting
point for all of life’s endeavors,
it appears to be fundamental at
a personal as well as a social level.Beginnings
We know about the religions of the
earliest societies from the relics
they left behind and from the stories
of later civilizations. In addition,
isolated tribes in remote places,
such as the Amazonian forest in
South America, the Indonesian
islands, and parts of Africa, still
practice religions that are thought to
have remained largely unchanged
for millennia. These primal
religions often feature a belief in
a unity between nature and the
spirit, linking people inextricably
with the environment.INTRODUCTION
All men have need
of the gods.
Homer