Is Confucianism a religion or an ethical system? Why or why not?

Is Confucianism a religion or an ethical system? Why or why not?

It depends on the approach

Confucianism can be both but it is primarily an ethical,cultural and social system

There is organized religious worship if one wishes it in some Confucianist groups
but most Confucianists are either religiously secretest, belong to another religion or have no set religion

Check out in Wikipedia"Is Confucianism A Religion?"

As far as I know, it's an ethical system. It makes few, if any, explicit references to god(s).

There is *way* more (and sometimes less) to Confucianism than ethics. It is a religion.

Good Question. I've always compared Confucianism with Proverbs. Very interesting. I'd say both.

Doesn't anyone believe that the proverbial sayings in Proverbs , written in Jerusalem by Solomon; Agur: and Lemuel and completed 717 (BCE) could have been inspiration for the writings of Confucianism. I forget which one, but one of the writers of Proverbs was Oriental.