: Starting my essay with one word (MLA) This is how it starts.... Is it grammatically correct for MLA? "Religion" (I'm sure you've all heard of this before). Religion has.....

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I'd do:

Religion. I'm sure you've all heard of this before. Religion has...

or:

Religion – I'm sure you've all heard of this before –[,] Religion has...

or:

Religion, I'm sure you've all heard of this before, [religion] has...

that is, enclose the inserted sentence in the same punctuation before and after it. Which punctuation you use – comma, full stop or dash – does not matter grammatically, but will depend on the intensity of the break you want to make and your writing style. All three of my examples are grammatically correct. Punctuation and words in square brackets are optional.

I did not use a parenthesis, because it does not work well for inserting a sentence between two repetitions of the same word. This would work:

Religion (I'm sure you've all heard of this before) has...

although it is not common to use a parenthesis in this way.

I left out the quotation marks, because I do not understand what their significance is in your example. Add them as you need them, but maybe like this:

"Religion," I'm sure you've all heard this before, "religion has..."

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I don't think this is grammatically correct for anything. Is "Religion" the title, and (I'm sure you've all heard of this before). a subtitle? If so, I think it's a weird subtitle, and it's weird to put your subtitle in parentheses.

If this is the body of your essay, then you have the serious problem that "Religion" (I'm sure you've all heard of this before). is not a sentence. I'm sure you've all heard of this before. is, but you can't have your sentence in parentheses unless you put its punctuation there too, and in that case what is "Religion" doing here at all?

Also, if you begin by telling me that I've already heard everything you have to say, I'm not going to keep reading. Why not just begin differently?