Organized religion

Organized religion is distinguished from the broader idea of religion especially in anthropology, sociology and philosophy. American philosopher William James considered organized religion to be distinct from and secondary to religion in and of itself, stating that "out of religion in the sense in which we take it, theologies, philosophies, and ecclesiastical organisations may secondarily grow".[1] James further comments that the essential elements of "institutional religion" are "worship and sacrifice, procedures for working on the dispositions of the deity [i.e.] theology, and ceremony and ecclesiastical organisation".[2]

Organised religion seems to have gained prevalence since the Neolithic era with the rise of wide-scale civilization and agriculture. Organized religions may include a state's official religion, or state church. However, most political states have any number of organised religions practiced within their jurisdiction. Due to their structured, standardized, and easily proliferated form, organised religions comprise many of the world's major religious groups. The Abrahamic religions are all largely considered organised (including Christianity, Islam, Judaism and the Baháʼí Faith), as well as some schools of thought within Indian religions (for example, Sikhism and Buddhism).

Religions that are not considered organised religions, or only loosely so, include many indigenous and folk religions, such as traditional African religions, Native American religions and prehistoric religions, as well as Hinduism.[3]

In the modern era, the definition of the term 'religion' is becoming increasingly opaque, making the task of defining 'organised religion' difficult. Anthropologists, theologians and scholars have thus attempt to embed the idea of an 'organisation' into the definition of religion itself. Some examples of this are found in the definition provided by Clifford Geertz, who defines religion as a "Cultural system."[4] Furthermore, Max Weber's prominent definition of a religion includes the idea of a 'Church', not necessarily in the Christian formulation, but insisting on the notion of an organised hierarchy constituting a palpable religious body.[5] Therefore, it becomes apparent that 'organised religion' has also been considered as part of the definition of religion itself, which in the modern era has caused a degree of controversy with the prominence of aforementioned personalized faith systems.