Defining religion is quite a challenge, one that academics and laypersons alike wrestle with. In a recent essay exploring the art of creating religion, Aidan Kelly makes the following observation:
"In 1963, thinking about how to define religion, I realized that the one characteristic all religions have in common is that they provide a system of values, which we humans must have in order to make important decisions, importance itself being a value. That fact implies that whatever system of values a person may have, it provides the functional equivalent of a religion—whether the person chooses to label it a religion or not."
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What do you think about characterizing religions as systems of value? *source*