Religion is . . .

Religion is a belief system which must incorporate a group consensus of those beliefs in order to be maintained and followed. Each religion has its own symbols that has significant meaning to those involved. These symbols hold great power which creates long lasting moods and motivations in men as well as creates the continual spread of that religion.
Religion can create a sort of comfort zone to those who may be having hard times or for those who make religion something that is ingrained in their everyday lives. This comfort zone is created by the ornamented "facts" that are given by that religion. For example, if someone is told that they must endure hardships in order to get to heaven, they find comfort in their hardships because they believe that this pain will eventually lead them to heaven.
Although I'd like to think that religion originated from one, honest place, Geertz is correct in saying that the way our religion tells us to live, is clothed with "facts" that are realistic enough for us to stay true to and believe in, but are in fact not always accurate. Since every religion has its own set of "facts", there are bound to be religions with contradicting "facts"; which proves that these "facts" may be "uniquely realistic", but not necessarily "uniquely true".