People who study the societies of the world have never found one without a religion. Individuals may not believe in God, but in the long history of humanity, people in societies have almost always followed one or more religions. The modern exceptions to this pattern are societies that are officially atheistic, namely Communist nations, but individuals are still religious. Governments may be secular, as American democracy, but the population is still free to follow a variety of religions or no religion.

Rodney Stark, the sociologist of religion, defines religion as: “Explanations of the meaning of existence based on supernatural assumptions and including statements about the nature of the supernatural.”

Some concept of the supernatural is an essential part of a religion. In history religi

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