Definition
In Harari's working definition, a religion is a system of human norms and values founded on belief in a superhuman order. The qualifying ingredient is not the existence of gods but the appeal to something above ordinary humans — laws of nature, a cosmic principle, the will of a people — to underwrite morality. Buddhism, Christianity, communism, and liberal humanism all qualify under this definition; they differ in what their superhuman order looks like.
This is a deliberately broad usage. It cuts across the standard secular-versus-religious divide and lets Harari treat modern ideologies as direct successors to traditional faiths rather than their opposites.
Why it matters
How it works
A religion does its work by anchoring norms in something beyond negotiation. If a rule is just a human preference, it is up for debate; if it is the will of a god, the order of nature, or the destiny of a people, it is harder to revise. The religion then equips itself with sacred texts, specialists, rituals, and institutions to transmit that anchoring across generations.
Harari emphasises that the same machinery operates whether the superhuman authority is Yahweh, the dharma, the dialectic of history, or the inalienable rights of man. Once a society treats some claim as beyond dispute, the religious structure has already locked in, whatever the label says on the door.