Final answer:
Religious belief systems emphasizing supernatural beings and forces provide cultural groups with a means to adapt to their environment, shape behaviors, and bind communities together.
Step-by-step explanation:
Beliefs and behaviors with respect to supernatural beings and forces often play a fundamental role in how a cultural group adapts to its physical environment. Religion and religious practices provide a structured way of understanding and interacting with the world, offering guidance on behavior and fostering community cohesion. For example, many religious traditions include doctrines or narratives that deal with the stewardship of the natural world, which can directly impact how communities treat their environment. The supernatural in these belief systems typically represent entities with human-like characteristics, and they often play a social role in the lives of adherents, reflecting and conditioning human interaction both within the community and with the natural environment.
Understanding the diversity of religious beliefs is critical, as the concept of religion itself is not universally defined. Anthropologists, through cultural relativism, seek to appreciate the vast array of belief systems without imposing their own cultural assumptions. Sociologist Emile Durkheim's definition of religion, for example, not only acknowledges belief in supernatural beings but also encompasses the practices and social institutions that unite communities.