At first glance, anthropology of religion sets off a spark of potential controversy: fusing religion with science is, according to popular culture, a big no-no.

Science and Religion are commonly called "Non-Overlapping Magisterium," or "NOMA," a phrase coined by biologist and paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould. NOMA expresses that these two spheres of human thought exist in separate realms, and need not even recognize, let alone influence, one another. While this concept is debated in philosophical circles, it is accepted by many moderates.

Looking more closely at anthropology's relationship with religion, one finds that it isn't as controversial as might be expected: it doesn't violate NOMA in any controversial way. Anthropology is a science of culture, and as a science of culture, it studies people. The four men who began anthropologizing religion in the late nineteenth century (Max Muller, W. Robertson Smith, Edward B. Tylor, and Sir James G. Frazer), made this clear: in anthropology, religion is studied from the outside, not the inside.

Anthropology has nothing to say about whether God, or Zeus, or tree spirits are real, or how they might function in their own realms. Anthropology of religion doesn't aim to explain ghosts, debunk the Shroud of Turin, or investigate the validity of near-death experiences.

Anthropology of religion seeks to unearth the whats and hows, rather than the whys, of religion, leaving the objective verification of religious ideas out of the equation. It focuses instead on learning about cultural practices, norms, and beliefs. Learning about how people practice religion, and their reasons for it, is what is important. Whether or not religious beliefs are true is left up to philosophy, theology and non-anthropological science.

The main way anthropologists learn about religion is by doing fieldwork, investigating cultures directly. While the earliest (Victorian) anthropologists of religion focused largely on foreign, tribal cultures, leaving their own religion and culture out of the study, all religions are now included under anthropology's investigative umbrella.

The field is incredibly diverse. Anthropology is but one of several lenses used in studying humans, anthropology of religion is one of many lenses used to study human cultures, and within anthropology of religion exist even more sub-categorical lenses of study. The anthropological study of religion may view religion existentially (as a creator or mediator

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