7) the ground of being;

8) a source of transcendent knowledge and wisdom;

(b) Practices which constitute obedience, reverence or worship;

(c) The collective or group character of religious life.

Although causes are rarely included in definitions of religion, “an experiential encounter with the spiritual” is sometimes indicated. The consequences and functions of religion are indicated as:

(a) maintenance of a moral community;

(b) the conferment of group and/or individual identity;

(c) a framework of orientation;

(d) a humanly constructed universe of meaning;

(e) reassurance and comfort respecting prospects of help and salvation.

Religion is always normative, but since each religion differs from others, modern specialists in the sociology of religion and comparative religion seek to discuss the normative without themselves becoming committed to it.

Such is the diversity of patterns of belief, ritual, and organization, however, that any definition of religion is strained in attempting to encompass all the manifestations of religion that are known.