- organized system of beliefs, practices, rituals, and community centered on the sacred or transcendent
- major world religions by adherents: Christianity (~2.4B), Islam (~1.9B), Hinduism (~1.2B), Buddhism (~500M), folk religions, Judaism, Sikhism
- components: cosmology (origin stories), ethics (moral codes), ritual (prayer, sacrifice, meditation), community (congregation, sangha, ummah)
- Abrahamic: Judaism, Christianity, Islam → monotheistic, prophetic, scripture-based
- Dharmic: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism → karma, dharma, liberation, cycles of rebirth
- East Asian: Confucianism, Daoism, Shinto → harmony, ancestor veneration, natural order
- religion and mythology share narrative structure; religion adds institutional authority, moral law, and eschatology
- historically intertwined with art, architecture, music, philosophy, and governance
- sacred texts are among the earliest and most widely reproduced products of the printing press