The AHD holds many definitions of religion, but for the sake of time I'll go with the first.
"1a. Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe. b. A system grounded in such belief and worship."
The etymology of this word is unsure, according to the OED, but the most widely accepted explanation is that it came through French from Latin, and that the original word was "religare" (The "a" has a bar over it). The re- is our well known "again" prefix. -ligare means "to bind." From there I can't find the connection, and I haven't thought up a story yet. Many people translate "religare" as "to bind fast," meaning that our re- means "fast," but I wonder if we could still try to use our "again" translation. Is religion when one binds oneself to the beliefs of others, or is it when they bind themselves to their beliefs, or it is when they bind themselves to other people? Does the re- prefix mean that religion is the unbinding and rebinding of beliefs, or the unbinding and rebinding of relationships with others?
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I'm not in your class ( or even your school; Amy gave me this link), but I have a possible explaintion for the religare/religion connection. A Latin noun "religio", which is derived from "religare", means "religious scruple, awe, superstition, strict observance", the connection being that one bound "religare" to a religion will have "religio".
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