ABSTRACT
Religious organisations do two things: they facilitate worship or other symbolic actions, and they control the beliefs and practices of members of that religion through laws and through approving or disapproving of writings and teachings directed at members of the religion. Most religions have a third set of organisations that perform a number of specialised roles within the religion. These include organisations of certain elect members of the religion, such as religious orders, and their specialised places of residence and worship (called variously monasteries, convents, temples and so on). Religious organisations are member-serving organisations. They differ from other membership organisations in that most people are born into a religion. Although religion is primarily a system for signifying beliefs beyond everyday life, religious organisations are nonetheless part of everyday life and as dependent upon revenue and property as any other third sector organisation.
