This template should be transcluded as {{WikiProject Religion}} and not substituted {{subst:}} because it employs conditional code. Transclusion also allows easy updating of all the Project's talk pages without having to edit thousands of pages.

The template also employs several optional data field parameters as described below.

{{WikiProject Religion
|class =
|importance =
|attention =
|needs-infobox =
|category =
|listas =
|needs-image =
<!-- Workgroups -->
|FalunGong =
|Interfaith =
|LeftHandPath =
|NRM =
|NRMImp =
|Religiousleaders =
|UnitarianUniversalism =
|UnitarianUniversalismImp =
}}

• class – valid values are fa, a, ga, b, c, start, stub, fl, list, na (case-insensitive). See the project's quality scale for details. Setting an explicit value of NA is rarely necessary; for this, either leave |class= blank or omit the parameter.
• importance – valid values are: top, high, mid, low, na (case-insensitive). See the project's importance scale for details. Setting an explicit value of NA is rarely necessary; for this, either leave |importance= blank or omit the parameter.
• attention – set |attention=yes if the article needs immediate attention from experienced editors. Use only if another parameter does not cover the need for attention; this should be used sparingly. It is strongly encouraged to also add a section to the talk page explaining what needs attention.
  • This parameter populates Category:Religion articles needing attention.
• needs-infobox – set |needs-infobox=yes if the article needs an infobox. Remember that infoboxes are not suitable for all articles, and can overwhelm short articles.
  • This parameter populates Category:Religion articles without infoboxes.
• category – set |category=no if, and only if, a banner is being used for demonstration or testing purposes, to prevent unnecessary or undesirable categorization. Otherwise, omit this parameter.
• listas – This parameter, which is the equivalent of the DEFAULTSORT sortkey that should be placed on all biographical articles, is a sortkey for the article talk page (e.g. for John Doe, use |listas=Doe, John so that the talk page will show up in the D's and not the J's of the various assessment and administrative categories). This is important because it is one source used by those who set DEFAULTSORT on the article; consider also setting the DEFAULTSORT for the article when setting this parameter. For more information about this, please see Wikipedia:Categorization of people § Ordering names in a category.
  If the article is using {{WikiProject banner shell}} then it is preferable to add |listas= to that template instead of a project banner template. Putting the parameter on more than one template is not required.
• needs-image – set |needs-image=yes to request that a picture or pictures be included in the article to improve its quality.
  • This parameter populates Category:Wikipedia requested images of religious subjects.

Workgroups

• FalunGong – set |FalunGong=yes if the article is supported by Falun Gong work group.
• Interfaith – set |Interfaith=yes if the article is supported by Interfaith work group.
• LeftHandPath – set |LeftHandPath=yes if the article is supported by Left Hand Path work group.
• NRM – set |NRM=yes if the article is supported by New religious movements work group.
  • This parameter populates Category:New religious movements articles, and the relevant subcategory of Category:New religious movements articles by quality based upon the |class= parameter.
  • NRMImp (only used if |NRM=yes is set; uses the same values as |importance=) – Importance rating within New religious movements work group
    • This importance rating populates the relevant subcategory of Category:New religious movements articles by importance.
• Religiousleaders – set |Religiousleaders=yes if the article is supported by Religious leaders work group.
• UnitarianUniversalism – set |UnitarianUniversalism=yes if the article is supported by Unitarian Universalism work group.
  • This parameter populates Category:Unitarian Universalism work group articles, and the relevant subcategory of Category:Unitarian Universalism articles by quality based upon the |class= parameter.
  • UnitarianUniversalismImp (only used if |UnitarianUniversalism=yes is set; uses the same values as |importance=) – Importance rating within Unitarian Universalism work group
    • This importance rating populates the relevant subcategory of Category:Unitarian Universalism articles by importance.

To avoid needlessly cluttering up talk pages, it is usually appropriate to remove any unused parameters from the template. A common initial configuration for the template includes the following basic parameters: