general character of religion

Broader Term: religious beliefs327 Documents

Scope Note

Conception of what constitutes religion; differentiation of the sacred and the profane; distinctions drawn between religion and superstition; relation of religion to the unknown and the unpredictable; relative prominence of magical and anthropomorphic elements; evidence of the expression of projective mechanisms in religious beliefs; primary orientation of the religious system (e.g., ancestor worship, nature worship, totemism, ritualism, mysticism, redemptive religion); social and individual role of religion (e.g., services and disservices); incidence of faith, indifference, and skepticism; existence of non-supernatural ideologies supported with a faith akin to that in religion (e.g., ethical systems, political philosophies); etc.

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