What is Religion? What is God? Who are the Followers?

http://artbyleakelley.wordpress.com/2011/06/11/followers/

My smart group member, Olivia, requested a definition of Religion from the other group members.
This is really stretching it for me. I started out with all those philosopher definitions that we have been reading about, but that's not working for me.
So here's what I'm working on—hopefully I can narrow it down...

God.
A collective agreement.
An existential personification created by the need to perceive beyond the knowable.
A motivation to aspire from the mundane existence of the organism.
God.
Love.
God.
Terror.
God.
The evolution of cells, incorporating consciousness through tangible experience.
Subjective, metaphoric, and sometimes physical interpretation of neurological stimuli.
God.
The top of Mazlow’s pyramid.
The ultimate revelation.
Ecstasy.
Intermittent comprehension outside the limits of the corporeal.
God.
The most remote dimension of Flatland.
Kether.
YHVH
Elohim.
Jehovah.
Allah.
Zeus.
The Nameless One.
One.
A conspiracy of manipulation to modulate behavior of the masses.
Control of primal instincts through adherence to civilized laws and puritanical concepts. 
The funneling of deemed inadequacies into marketable forgiveness.
The simultaneous creation and alleviation of shame.
The annihilation of spirit.
God.
A mystery.
A legend.
A myth.
The truest story ever told.
The most insidious of deceits.
The most profound recognition.
Source of life.
Denial of death.
Authenticity.
Love.
The secret of the great void.
The artist’s hand.
Sherpa to the Universe.
Oracle of truth.
Every molecule in existence.