What are six common features of religion?

Many
scholars have attempted to provide comprehensive yet concise descriptions of what is common to
all religions. I think that Huston Smith, a Doctor of Religious Studies, has best summarized the
features of religion without some sort of bias or favoritism towards a particular tradition. He
describes these features as the following:

First, religion offers
explanations. Who are we? Why are we here? What do we do now?seeks
to answer big questions like this as well as questions about more minute aspects of life.
Religious explanations often cover topics like eschatologywhat happens after death or at the
"end of the world"and cosmologyhow the world (or universe) is organized and how it
came to be. 

Second, there is a sense of mystery
in religion. Some faiths explicitly address the sense of mystery (as in Catholicism) while
others may be more subtle (as in Buddhism.) As humans, our experiences and understandings are
finite by the very nature of what it is to be a human being. Religion is empowering for many in
that it transcends the finite boundaries of human experience and offers a means for negotiating
that which we cannot know.

Often times this negotiation occurs by way
of ritualthe third feature of religion. Rituals are prescribed,
repeated behaviors with desired and intended outcomes. Ritual and habit are somewhat similar in
that they are repeated behaviors which offer a sense of comfort. Where ritual differs from habit
is that ritual is understood to be in accordance with some supernatural force and it is carried
out with specific intentions. 

Ritual can give way
to tradition, and may even transform through tradition. For
example, the Christian baptism stems from the Jewish mikveh. The mikveh is used for ritual
immersion (or bathing) in order to be spiritually pure. When Jesus Christ was baptized, he was
undergoing a form of mikveh initiating him into the Priesthood. Today, most Christians are
baptized to initiate them into the faith either by immersion or a sprinkling of holy water.
Notice how this tradition began with total bodily immersion and an intent of marking someone as
spiritually pure and has since transformed into only requiring a sprinkling of water to mark
someone as of a particular spiritual identity.

All religions have a sense
that there is a right way to live and act, and if we do this, we reap some sort of spiritual
benefit. In Christianity, this is often called grace, and this is
the term Smith uses. However, I feel using the term "grace" is Christo-centric and
seems to exclude religions which do not employ a concept of God. Some other examples of
"being right with all that is" would be the concept of dao in
Daoism (Taoism) and kamma (or Karma) in Buddhism.

Finally, all religions have a sense of authority in
regards to religious matters. In some cases, the people with religious authority are priests who
undergo years of training and education to fulfill their role. In other faiths, emphasis is
placed on an internal authority and personal understanding of how to live in the
world.

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