Religion is not a relationship with Christ.
It’s simply works one does for whatever reason, usually to earn a place in heaven or appease a wrathful God.
Cynical Bear posted a good comment about the meaning of the Greek word for *religion* in James.
It’s this......
http://biblehub.com/greek/2356.htm
threskeia: religion
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: threskeia
Phonetic Spelling: (thrace-ki’-ah)
Short Definition: ritual worship, religion
Definition: (underlying sense: reverence or worship of the gods), worship as expressed in ritual acts, religion.
You should be able to see there why seemingly every translation renders the Greek into English as "religion."
And the Holy Spirit through James uses "religion" in a positive sense. Not "pathetic" as you phrased it. I'll go with the Holy Spirit on this one, thank you.
My original comment to NYer was in the context of her post about the eastern rite liturgy, which is "ritual worship." My use was wholly in accordance with your lexicon here.