Religion is Relationship

The mantra typically heard from folks is,"I don't believe in religion,  I believe in a relationship with Christ."  This is a nice way of saying they  don't believe God is to be worshipped and related to by rituals (which is true...to an extent). It is an aspersion at liturgical "Christianities" (those who emphasize a set form for worship).  My contention is that religion rightly understood is relationship.  Why?
Religio is literally what binds one back re- back,  ligio-  bind.  This is where I agree with a famous (NB infamous) mentor of mine  Dr.  Pentiuc.  A theologian  is a philologist (one who loves words).  Relate is from  Latin  relatus, from  referare  to bring back.  In a relationship  you bring yourself back to the other- you bind yourself to them. "the bond of love" as St. Paul calls it.  Religion  binds us to  our culture, the people of God and God Himself. So are we religious? yes we are bound to Him in the cords of love.  Everything we do  we should do religiously.
Religion  also  implies a form of worship, which we affectionately call liturgy. But this is the subject of another post...which I will religiously try  to follow up