"What is Religion?" A human frailty..

actually a small child has a good deal of that path chosen for him/her. so s/he has no choice at that time, and maybe people just follow the path on which they're set from childhood. that's the reason.

you know what religion is. why do you ask? it's not actually an issue. couldn't you think of anything else to post?

what has my happiness got to do with any of the rest of your question? i'm an atheist; what has religion got to do with my happiness?

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I don't understand why you think the first question is connected to the second and third ones. Defining religion is one thing, choice of one's life path, and one's reaction to that choice, are very different things. It is possible, probably more likely, to live happily WITHOUT religion than with it. Most people, in my opinion, don't think about whether they are happy; they just travel the path that they think is expected of them. Asking them if they are happy would probably surprise and confuse them.

Ok, that is three big questions.
I am happy, as a general state. Of course, we all have ups and downs, but my downs don't weigh on me too much.
Religion is: Any system of belief intended (at the personal level) to provide guidance and reassurance to the participants, as well as (at the community level) a means of social control of individuals. Essential components include doctrine, ritual and tradition, community reinforcement, and some degree of faith....AKA suspension of critical thinking. I believe religion is, on a practical level, what one chooses to make of it. It can be comforting and provide motivation toward kind and caring behavior. But all too often, in practice, it is a cauldron of hurtful manipulation, crushing fear and shame that diminishes people's sense of self-worth and invites hateful judgment and condemnation of people different from ourselves. It claims sole possession of a path to love and fulfillment but is in actuality closer to the opposite.
The remaining question of the reason for my current path takes too long to explain here....I tend to ramble. But The abstract might be "Agnostic Atheist: I was first raised steeped in evangelical religion. My subculture wrapped me in it. I left in stages; first in my early teens, seeing the hypocrisy of religious leaders, the church; then learning the utter fallability and error-riddled state of "holy" scripture, and finally realizing the fear of punishment for disbelief had no legitimacy, that any god portrayed as all-loving and at the same time all-powerful, and all-knowing could not possibly create a system knowing full well that billions of "his" own beloved creations would be doomed to eternal torture for their own ignorant mistakes and after having been made by "him" to be so limited in understanding....the idea of such eternal punishment by all-powerful, omniscient, and loving creator is an oxymoron, an impossibility. That last realization, in my early adulthood, allowed me to finally let go of religion without fear. It is really ok if I am wrong. I most certainly don't understand everything there is to know about existance, but I don't need to. I know for a fact that religionists from my Christian background are, themselves, absolutely wrong in their claims. Their paradigm is demonstrably false and does not even lead to more loving and moral living. It only leads to fear, judgment, and shame. Fuck that shit."
I don't derive my values from religion. They (my values) are curiosity and passion for learning, practice of appreciation for life and the amazing surprizes it brings, empathy and compassion for my fellow- living beings, and acceptance of imperfections, limitations, and mistakes as a part of being human, and, as an outgrowth of acceptance, the practice of honesty and integrity, as it only seems difficult; in reality it is much easier than coping with the fallout from deceit and manipulation and all the webs that weaves.

1. A naturally evolved, cultural counterbalance to the evolutionary mismatch thrown into high gear during the agricultural revolution. Not really sure which came first, but they are a pair.
2. Because it works.
3. Very.

I believe that the question that you should be asking on this site is “ Why not religious? “ but to answer what is religion? Religion is a cult ideology that has become mainstream and more often than not they’ve plagiarized others that existed before them and reformatted to either include themselves within a society like in the case of Islam.

Or to separate themselves from other societies like Hinduism or to establish themselves as being superior and divine above all others such as Judaism.

And from there you can usually find the answer for why aren’t some of us religious.