Geertz, Clifford. 1973. “Religion as a Cultural System,” in The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books, p. 90.
a system of symbols which acts to
establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by
formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and
clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that
the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.