Religion is a collection of ideas, symbols and practices based on the belief that human life can be meaningful and that the universe is ordered. Despite its diverse forms, religion is found throughout the world, practiced by more than 80% of the global population. The five largest religions are Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism (with their variants).
Religion has provided the resource and inspiration for virtually all the most beautiful and memorable of human creations—art, architecture, music, dance, poetry, drama, and the explorations of nature that issued in time as the natural sciences. Yet it is also a risky enterprise, and history shows that people are willing to persecute, torture, kill and go to war over religious differences.
In the academic study of religion, there are debates over how to define what religion is. Some think that it is possible to correct a real or lexical definition of the term; but it is not so for a stipulative definition, which is an assessment of what one believes to be a valid use of the term.
Most scholars agree that there is a single meaning to be attached to the word religion, but differ over how to interpret that definition and how to apply it. Some scholars take a polythetic approach, viewing the concept of religion as a complex. Others, such as the 19th century German philosopher G.W.F. Hegel, see it as a synthesis of many different approaches to the subject.