Religion vs Faith (sacred)

I hate the word religion. When we talked in class about religion, we talked about how it is very ritualized. Tradition is important in any aspect I agree with that, but it doesn't make it sacred. The Sacred, or Faith as I like to call it is real and powerful. It is a spiritual connection to a higher being, God. In Christianity we hate the word Religion as well because so many people who have not received Christ as their savior but who claim they are religious, truly are not believers of God. The traditions that religious people follow usually don't have any spiritual connection to anything for that matter, but rather it is an act of going through the motions. It's not real! But the Sacred, or Faith, is very much real and we should stand strong in it.