Try the definition I gave: "An ideology that requires acts of worship that have supernatural justifications". Some ecologists are indeed close to having a religion. If you recycle your trash to help your own self-sustainability, it is not an action that has a natural justification. If you light some candles on the crescent moon to help the harvest, yes, you are acting religiously.
> Any old ritual might be described as a religion
Depends on the justification. Do you do that because of nostalgia or because of habit? Not religion. Do you do it because you think the ley lines will feed you energy for the day? Religion.
> A morning commute might be a religion
Are you doing your morning commute because you want a salary by the end of the moon (not a religion) or because you think that commute helps prevent the Ragnarok (religion)?
This is not an analogy, this is a pretty well-defined notion. And you need a wide encompassing definition if you want to be inclusive to all the religions usually recognized in the world. Jealous god, covenant and hell, these are far too restrictive christian-centric (protestant-centric actually) criterion, and would exclude the religion of at least a billion of believers.
> Any old ritual might be described as a religion
Depends on the justification. Do you do that because of nostalgia or because of habit? Not religion. Do you do it because you think the ley lines will feed you energy for the day? Religion.
> A morning commute might be a religion
Are you doing your morning commute because you want a salary by the end of the moon (not a religion) or because you think that commute helps prevent the Ragnarok (religion)?
This is not an analogy, this is a pretty well-defined notion. And you need a wide encompassing definition if you want to be inclusive to all the religions usually recognized in the world. Jealous god, covenant and hell, these are far too restrictive christian-centric (protestant-centric actually) criterion, and would exclude the religion of at least a billion of believers.