Abstract: Based on relevant theories such as anthropology and religion, this paper excavates and analyzes the physical clue in religious culture. It suggests that religious culture needs physical explanation. The physical idols in religious worship experienced three stages: from the worship of natural soul when human body is absent, to the worship of totem spirit when human body looms, and till the worship of ancestors when human body can be seen clearly. Religious ceremony once dominates sports activities in all aspects. The secularization tendency of sport and modern religion’s adaptive spur on sports led to the independence of competitive sports which once was attached to religious rituals. What lies between religion and modern athletic sports is not a simple linear relationship and modern sports have a tendency of regressing to quasi?religion even developing into a new worship.

Key words: existence and continuity of religion, religious worship, religious ceremonies, physical clue, quasi?religion regression