The way we do things religiously, the way we talk, the way we run our country's, and how we convict a person. May be all based on this thing called "religion" yet when asked what religion is there is no possible way to explain it easily. So why do we have religion? I think that religion is a need for human diplomacy, to see someone/something who is higher in all aspects to our leaders of whom we can not ask to help us. In this aspect is religion a way of making it is that we have a leader of a country who doesn't listen to his people, and as a denial to that power we create a thing that is greater than this leader? But what about the aspect of asking for assistance in something that doesn't at all relate political issues then is that a different form of religion?
Many religions create a being who is capable of anything. If not one being then there are multiple beings with individual "special abilities". Such as a Sun God. They thus pray to these beings in a plea to assist them in their plait, in some religions prayers are accompanied with a sacrifice of some sort, i.e. Goats, sheep, cattle and in history so were humans.
But why? What is the whole purpose of this "religion"?
Religion is a basis of human emotion, if we were not emotional we would not need religion, there are few people who are emotionally obsolete, they have no capable emotions. When asked what religion was they still were incapable of explaining due to the fact that every decision we make is all emotionally connected. When you have an emotionally inclined question asked to an emotionless person it is still an unviable solution to define it.