There is a lot of confusion between similar terms. As a group of people think there is no difference between religion and culture, they are the same. Let me tell you that they are not the same, and there are many differences between them.
Religion vs Culture
The difference between religion and culture is that religion is related to the almighty or the creator who created the whole universe. On the other hand, culture is related to the evolution of humans and their practices and beliefs.
The words religion can be defined as to believe in God or several gods; it is a system of beliefs in rules and ceremonies used to pray to God or some gods. It is a belief, interest, or activity that is very important to a person or a group of people.
A culture can tell as a word for the way of life for several people. It means how a group of people do things like excellence in the taste of fine arts and humanities, also known as high culture. In simple words, it can be told as the person’s outlook, values, morals, attitudes, goals, and customs in the society.
Comparison Table Between Religion and Culture
|Parameter of Comparison||Religion||Culture|
|Meaning||Religion can be defined as a group of people who believe in rules and ceremonies to pray almighty.||Culture can define a way of life of the belief. Culture is a word for a person’s outlook, belief, attitude, and custom in society.|
|Motive||Religion is related to a god or the creator who created the world.||Culture is related to the human being, which is its social heritage.|
|Existence||The existence of the religion is written in the holy scripture, which has come from God.||The existence of culture is not in writing.|
|Changes in time||The fundamental of religion is fixed from the beginning.||Culture can change through the passes of time.|
|Evolution||Religion is concerned with the creator of the world, and It is not concerned with the evolution of human beings.||Culture is concerned with the evolution of the human being.|
What is Religion?
Religion is defined as the relationship of every person to the spiritual things which are regarded as holy and worthy of their highest reverence. It is also referred to as the comfort of the person whenever they have to deal with the truth of life and death, anything in between. Many religions in the world follow their sacred text as the guidance and authority for spiritual and moral conduct.
It is to be believed that prayers connected the people to the gods and spirit. Believers and worshipers participated in religious activities such as rituals and meditation done in the institution.
It helps people to understand the natural calamities happening around the world. It provides an explanation of phenomena such as earthquakes, floods. The person’s ethical values and morals are also based on the religion that they have been practicing. In other words, religion plays an important role in a person’s life.
Different religions have different backstories that are written in scriptures, representation, and sanctuaries. A person who believes in religion is called religionists. Three religions that are followed by most of the people are Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. Some people follow different religions at one time.
What is Culture?
A culture does not have a universal definition. It refers to the collective knowledge of the people who live in society. It refers to every person’s social heritage that includes knowledge which they have earned from being together in one particular society. If one fully understands the concept of culture, then they can tell why people in a particular area behave in a certain way that they always do.
Culture can answer why the person in a particular society is dressing up that way or speaks up this way, believes, or practices. Whenever it comes to the material aspect of culture, the things will reflect what their culture is in a society.
Culture is defined as a person’s language, architecture, clothing, greeting, eating habits, or other tradition. The things mentioned above are only the physical part of the culture. What matters is the cultural view of the humanity of how people become aware of themselves. It is the knowledge that is not acquired through genetics. It means a person born in the society builds up the familiarity with the happening around him and develops it into the tradition. It is known as constitutes cultures that include religion as one of its many subsets.
Main Differences Between Religion and Culture
- Religion is considered one subset of culture, while religion is considered a bigger picture than religion.
- Culture is considered a body of knowledge acquired from people by years of living with them. On the other hand, religion is a belief system towards something that may or may not accept someone’s culture.
- Religion is related to the almighty or creator who created the world. On the other hand, culture is concerned with a human being, which is its social heritage.
- Culture can change by passing of time while the basic terms in religion are fixed.
- The existence of religion is written in the holy scripture from God. On the other hand, culture is more while people behave in a particular community.
As the primary difference between religion and culture is pointed out, we can easily distinguish between them. As culture is considered a bigger picture than religion and religion is only the subset of the culture.
Both religion and culture play an important role in in-person life. Religion is the one that makes a personal belief in faith, while culture is the personal attitude which he or she acquired by living in a society.