Religion isn’t just a set of “hypotheses”, though; it’s also a set of human social behaviors. Religions entail various sorts of group and individual practices — such as worship ritual, fellowship, prayer or meditation, study of received texts, adherence to charismatic leaders, moral correction of “straying” members, instruction of children, evangelism of adults, rites of passage (including baptisms, weddings, and funerals), financial support of institutions and leaders, and so forth.
Not every “religion” has all of these, and some institutions that exhibit these behaviors, we would say are not “religion”. (So “religion” may be kind of like Wittgenstein’s “game”.) But often when people refer to a movement or group as being “like a religion” (or “cultish” for that matter), they’re referring to practices like these, rather than beliefs. The more “religion-like” practices a group has, the more likely people are to think of it as one.
Religion isn’t just a set of “hypotheses”, though; it’s also a set of human social behaviors. Religions entail various sorts of group and individual practices — such as worship ritual, fellowship, prayer or meditation, study of received texts, adherence to charismatic leaders, moral correction of “straying” members, instruction of children, evangelism of adults, rites of passage (including baptisms, weddings, and funerals), financial support of institutions and leaders, and so forth.
Not every “religion” has all of these, and some institutions that exhibit these behaviors, we would say are not “religion”. (So “religion” may be kind of like Wittgenstein’s “game”.) But often when people refer to a movement or group as being “like a religion” (or “cultish” for that matter), they’re referring to practices like these, rather than beliefs. The more “religion-like” practices a group has, the more likely people are to think of it as one.