Benthall (2008) adopts a “fuzzy” concept of religion, arguing
that it is not a single category but a social field. He suggests
a provisional set of nineteen criteria that might be used to
identify “family resemblances” between social phenomena in
order to classify them as strongly or weakly “religious.” Religion
in his view is an evolving setting or arena in which agents
are located; in which they share common beliefs, dispositions,
and perceptions; in which interaction is based on accepted
social rules; and which relates to and is penetrated by other
social fields such as those associated with class, politics, ethnicity,
or the arts.