A religious community is a community (group of people) who practice the same religion.
In the wider sense it may describe members of one religion who live near or intermingled with members of other religions, who may often mix in everyday life but worship separately. One might speak of the Catholic community of Londonderry (a city), or the Jewish community of France (a country). The community may be defined informally: people who practice, say, Catholicism consider themselves members of the Catholic community of their region. In other cases the distinction is more formal. To become a part of a Baptist church, you need to be accepted as a member. And in Israel only people from the same officially recognized religious community may marry each other (see Marriage in Israel).
In a narrower sense a religious community is a group of people living together specifically for religious purposes, such as a monastery.
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Famous quotes containing the words religious and/or community:
“In the dominant Western religious system, the love of God is essentially the same as the belief in God, in God’s existence, God’s justice, God’s love. The love of God is essentially a thought experience. In the Eastern religions and in mysticism, the love of God is an intense feeling experience of oneness, inseparably linked with the expression of this love in every act of living.”
—Erich Fromm (1900–1980)
“This is the only “wet” community in a wide area, and is the rendezvous of cow hands seeking to break the monotony of chuck wagon food and range life. Friday night is the “big time” for local cowboys, and consequently the calaboose is called the “Friday night jail.””
—Administration in the State of Texa, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)