Religion can be roughly divided into three broad categories: world religions, which includes transcultural, international faiths such as Christianity; indigenous religions, which refers to culture and place-specific religious groups; and new religious movements, which describe recently developed faiths.
Religion essentially describes a cultural system that connects humanity with beliefs and values through narratives, symbols, and histories. These often deal with questions about the meaning of life, death, and the origin of the universe.
Whereas “spirituality” or one’s “belief system” is individual and oftentimes private, religion is public, organized, and typically involves adherence or membership, meetings, and services which bring together the congregation for commemoration of the activities of a god or gods, festivals, feasts, trance, initiations, births, funerals, music, art, dance, public service, or other aspects of human culture.
