Religion - Definition

Beliefnet

Religion for me involves two components.  The first is an irrational belief in the superiority of some conceptual entity, God, the Buddha, The Tao, Deepak Chopra, a sport team, a political position, etc.  The second is a passionate commitment to that belief in the sense of spending considerable time and money on following the belief.  Wearing the "colors," going to events, socializing preferentially with those of a similar religion, and usually dislike or hatred of the other. 

One may support a conceptual entity based on some rational criteria, a university for its academic credentials; a sport team for its skill set relative to the others or its proximity; a political position for its support of your values; without it becoming a religious passion.  If the rational criteria change the support will vanish.