ABSTRACT
In the study of religion the climate of opinion has changed much since Huxley’s day. Basically, in an anthropological study of religion, as in studies of art, we are concerned with the relevance of such affirmations rather than with their ultimate validity. The search for a single defining characteristic of religion has historically proved unsatisfactory. In this sense, religion may be defined as a concern of man in society with basic human ends and standards of value, seen in relation to non-human entities or powers. It is not easy to disentangle these personal assumptions from the presentation of most anthropological material. We have many accounts of religious systems in populations of upwards of hundreds of thousands where generalizations must have been made on the basis of an assumption of homogeneity in belief matching that of a homogeneity in observed action.
