Relation between ritual and religion. (A short description about an athropologist and Religionswissenscaftler) Part 8.

Turner regarded that there is in ritual an essential element of religious belief. The religious component in ritual was essential for Turner. We see that for Turner ritual is religious, and religion involves both social experiences in ritualistic activity and a systematic corpus of beliefs "which have for their object invisible and intangible beings or powers which a human group recognizes as superior, on which it depends" (Victor Turner in ‘From ritual to theatre: The human seriousness of play’). Ritual is inspired by a religious belief in supernatural beings or powers.

 Religion in Turner's work refers to both belief (religion as thought) and practice (religion as ritual action). The component of practice or action is clearly demonstrated by Turner's focus on detailed analyses of ritual performances. The component of religious belief and its significance in ritual, however, are less well developed in Turner's writings.

The religion is above any secular form of thought since by religious belief in supernatural beings and its powers; its nature is different from the worldly or better inner-worldly forms of knowledge. The references are made to the supernatural or ‘really real’ and they are independent from man made arrangements.  In this way, it can be said that religion is not just like any other system of ideas and does have supreme ontological value, but only for the subjects involved in religious rituals. Religion, referring to the supernatural, is more than "theory," but only in the eye of the believer.