alternatives can be compared through their structures
One important structure that permits comparison between religions is indicated with the binomial "transitive" and "intransitive". See https://4banks.net/Mes-Rel/temi/transitivity.htm for a short treatment of this issue.
This short article aims to deal with the definition of religion, but must be completed.
This is the character of a map, which as it gains precision, it also loses usability. A completely precise map, as has often been pointed out, would cease to be useful because it would simply be a copy of the reality it was meant to model. In a similar way, a completely precise definition of "religion" would serve no general purpose, because it would coincide with one or another historical experience.
See Metaphors and Maps, by Fitz John Porter Poole.