Religion is a term that is often used in the media and public life without any clarification. However, it is a word that encompasses hundreds of different beliefs. It is a loaded word that has a different meaning for every person; religion can be seen as a source of war and peace, love and hate, dialogue and narrow-mindedness.

Symon Hill’s No-Nonsense Guide to Religion tries to explain what religion means, how we relate to it, how it was created, and how it affects us culturally, politically, and spiritually today.

Drawing on a wide range of sources, The No-Nonsense Guide to Religion does not just concentrate on the popular and well-established traditions, which normally over-emphasize powerful figures. The guide also focuses on the diversity within religions as well as the similarities between them.

The globalization of communications has made more people aware of religious conversion, with more people than ever before belonging to a different religious community from their parents. The No-Nonsense Guide to Religion considers how religion has shaped our culture as well as how our culture is shaping religion today.

Symon Hill is a tutor in practical theology, a writer, a trainer, and an activist. He has written comment pieces for newspapers ranging from the Sunday Herald to The Daily Mail and contributes regularly to the Guardian's website, The Friend, and Ekklesia.