Let’s try to define ‘religion’ – I find that many who address the question distinguish “religion” as a human codification of any relationship to the divine. The ‘Christian religion’ consists of hundreds of finely divided such codifications spanning so wide a reach that it’s actually difficult to believe that N extremes diminish the importance of a useful ‘middle.’
In my opinion FAITH is a person’s relationship to what he or she finds in Scripture, and RELIGION is a club with rules.
Nobody gets to institute such a set of rules into the realm of law as whole cloth. Sharia law for example insists that it IS law, full stop, everyone else kindly step to the rear and if you disagree, get off the bus.
FAITH on the other hand does stand at the center of the United States Constitution in the defenses written by each of the founding fathers.
Faith doesn’t require any other citizen to sign agreement on any dotted line, but it does provide that central ground of respect for others as collateral to reverence toward God.
I hope this is a useful distinction.
Oh, and Another Thing 