Organized religion

Organized religion (or organised religion—see spelling differences), also known as institutional religion, is religion as a social institution, in which belief systems and rituals are systematically arranged and formally established. Organized religion is typically characterized by an official doctrine (or dogma), a hierarchical or bureaucratic leadership structure, and a codification of rules and practices.

The term organized religion is frequently used in the mass media to refer to the world's largest religious groups, especially those known by name internationally, and it also refers to organizations with which one can legally or officially affiliate oneself or not.

Organized religion is distinguished from the broader idea of religion especially in anthropology, sociology and philosophy. American philosopher William James describes that

Religion... shall mean for us the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude... in relation to whatever they may consider the divine. Since the relation may be either moral, physical, or ritual, it is evident that out of religion in the sense in which we take it, theologies, philosophies, and ecclesiastical organizations may secondarily grow.

James further comments that the essential elements of "institutional religion" are "worship and sacrifice, procedures for working on the dispositions of the deity [i.e.] theology, and ceremony and ecclesiastical organization."

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