Another 'theory of religion'

There have been a number of conversations on this thread about 'what religion means'. Here is a contribution based on a couple of standard definitions of the term 'religion'.

In academic religious studies, I was taught that the word 'religion' has two likely derivations with distinct, but overlapping, meanings.

This first is from the Latin 'religio' which means 'attitude of awe and respect to the Gods'.

This is really what most people understand by 'religion'. This derivation can be traced back to the various deity-cults, the Gods who were objects of supplication, sacrifice and prayer, from time immemorial, on the village, tribal or national level. Evidence of this kind of religious practise goes back at least to the earliest archelogical finds and indeed to Neanderthal relics and gravesites, and is preserved in many cultures in both written and aurally transmitted traditions.

With Christianity, the local, village, tribal and national deities were supplanted by the One True God, but many of the practises and underlying concepts of deity-worship remained the same. Evidence for this is found in the pagan origins of many Christian beliefs and practises, which are numerous, including, for example, the Christmas Tree, the Easter Egg, and the incorporation of the various pagan rituals such as Mid-Winter and Harvest Festival into the Christian calendar.

An alternative derivation of religion is from the Latin 're-ligare', the meaning of which is not so straightforward; it is usually translated as to 're-bind' (note similarity to words 'ligature' and 'ligament', both being 'things that join'.) Compare this to the meaning of the term 'yoga'. The derivation of 'yoga' is from the meaning 'to bind' or 'to yoke', as 'an oxen is yoked to a cart'. The underlying meaning of yoga is often understood to be the 'union of the soul with the supreme' which I think is very close to the meaning of 're-ligare' as discussed here.

My understanding is that this tradition is derived from different sources to that of 'religion as awe and respect for the Gods'. It is derived from such sources as the esoteric philosophical and spiritual traditions of ancient Greece (Pythagorism, Platonism), from the Vedic and Buddhist traditions of India, and from shamanism. Indeed many of these streams (such as early Buddhism and other schools of Indian philosophy) are explicitly non-theistic and not at all religious in the sense of 'religio'.

I think these two sources of 'religion' are actually quite distinct human cultural forms in terms of meaning, tradition, and psychology. Although they overlap and co-exist in many places - even inside the same religious institutions - there is often conflict between them, and they appeal to very different kinds of people. This is because they are actually different things. So before you launch into your 'theory of religion', it is helpful to understand this distinction.