Religion is a swarm of different practices, beliefs, and institutions that people use to make sense of their lives and of the world around them. Some of these are large-scale and international, ranging from Islam to Hinduism and Buddhism; others may be small-scale and local, such as those practiced by the Cherokee or the Yoruba. Regardless of their size, most religions share some features: They protect and transmit information that is deemed to be valuable; they organize this information in ways that evoke the distinctive word we use for religion; they share it with others or with other parts of their organization; and they control access to that information (a powerful means for controlling aberrant beliefs and practices).
Whether and how to define religion is one of the most important issues facing sociologists. Functionalists often argue that the best way to analyze a religious phenomenon is to see how it benefits society; this can be done by looking at the goals that the religion achieves and the consequences of those goals. However, this approach can also create problems, as it imposes a particular set of values on the results. It also tends to reinforce a certain ideological image of humans as passive social actors, and this can be countered by turning to more substantive definitions of religion.
These often take the form of a master list of features that something must have in order to be considered a religion. This list is usually based on prototypes—that is, more or less the things that first come to mind when someone hears the word “religion.”