الدين نظامٌ موحَّد من المعتقدات والممارسات المتعلقة بالأشياء المقدسة، أي الأشياء المفرَزة والمحرَّمة، وهي معتقدات وممارسات توحّد في مجتمع أخلاقي واحد يُسمّى كنيسة كلَّ من يعتنقها.

“A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden-beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them.”Emile Durkheim — The Rules of Sociological Method: And Selected Texts on Sociology and Its Method (2014)