Commentators are defining the boundaries, and noting the overlaps, in this week’s Comment is Free belief question at the Guardian:
If a religion is a moral community with a shared founding myth, or collection of myths, then lots of fan communities seem to approach that as an ideal. You can see this most obviously with science fiction fandom. But there are semi-serious believers in Elvis, too. The shared histories of football clubs make for something quite like a religion in this country.
Communities and myths generate each other. So what is needed to lift a fandom over the threshold, so to say, from being a shared game to something more powerful? Conversely, can religions dwindle into social games? And if this happens, what has changed?
Find the responses here.