According to Functionalists, Families Serve All of the Following Basic Social Needs, Except:
Main Trunk
Chapter 15. Religion
Ron McGivern
Learning Objectives
15.1. The Sociological Approach to Religion
- Talk over historical view of religion from a sociological perspective
- Understand how the major sociological paradigms view religion
15.2. Types of Religious Organizations
- Explain the differences between diverse types of religious organizations
- Empathise classifications of religion, like animism, polytheism, monotheism, and atheism
15.3. Organized religion and Social Change
- Draw electric current North American trends of secularization and religious conventionalities
Introduction to Faith
Why do sociologists study faith? For centuries, humankind has sought to understand and explain the "meaning of life." Many philosophers believe this contemplation and the desire to understand our identify in the universe are what differentiate humankind from other species. Religion, in one course or another, has been found in all human societies since man societies first appeared. Archaeological digs have revealed ancient ritual objects, formalism burying sites, and other religious artifacts. Much social conflict and fifty-fifty wars have resulted from religious disputes. To empathise a culture, sociologists must study its religion.
What is organized religion? Pioneer sociologist Émile Durkheim described information technology with the ethereal statement that information technology consists of "things that surpass the limits of our knowledge" (1915). He went on to elaborate: Religion is "a unified organization of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say gear up apart and forbidden, beliefs and practices which unite into ane unmarried moral community, called a church, all those who adhere to them" (1915). Some people associate religion with places of worship (a synagogue or church building), others with a practice (confession or meditation), and still others with a concept that guides their daily lives (similar dharma or sin). All of these people can agree that religion is a arrangement of beliefs, values, and practices concerning what a person holds sacred or considers to be spiritually significant.
Religion can as well serve every bit a filter for examining other problems in society and other components of a culture. For example, afterward the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.s., it became important in North America for teachers, church leaders, and the media to educate citizens about Islam to prevent stereotyping and to promote religious tolerance. Sociological tools and methods, such every bit surveys, polls, interviews, and analysis of historical data, can exist applied to the study of religion in a culture to aid us better understand the role faith plays in people's lives and the way it influences order.
15.one. The Sociological Approach to Religion
From the Latin religio (respect for what is sacred) and religare (to bind, in the sense of an obligation), the term religion describes various systems of belief and exercise concerning what people decide to exist sacred or spiritual (Durkheim 1915; Fasching and deChant 2001). Throughout history, and in societies across the earth, leaders have used religious narratives, symbols, and traditions in an effort to give more pregnant to life and understand the universe. Some grade of organized religion is found in every known civilization, and information technology is usually practised in a public way past a group. The practise of organized religion can include feasts and festivals, God or gods, marriage and funeral services, music and art, meditation or initiation, sacrifice or service, and other aspects of culture.
While some people think of religion as something private considering religious beliefs can be highly personal, faith is also a social institution. Social scientists recognize that religion exists as an organized and integrated gear up of beliefs, behaviours, and norms centred on basic social needs and values. Moreover, faith is a cultural universal constitute in all social groups. For instance, in every civilisation, funeral rites are practised in some way, although these customs vary betwixt cultures and within religious affiliations. Despite differences, in that location are mutual elements in a anniversary marker a person's death, such every bit declaration of the death, care of the deceased, disposition, and ceremony or ritual. These universals, and the differences in how societies and individuals experience religion, provide rich material for sociological report.
In studying organized religion, sociologists distinguish between what they term the experience, behavior, and rituals of a religion. Religious experience refers to the confidence or awareness that one is connected to "the divine." This type of communion might be experienced when people are praying or meditating. Religious beliefs are specific ideas that members of a particular organized religion hold to be true, such every bit that Jesus Christ was the son of God, or believing in reincarnation. Another illustration of religious beliefs is that different religions adhere to certain stories of earth creation. Religious rituals are behaviours or practices that are either required or expected of the members of a detail group, such as bar mitzvah or confession (Barkan and Greenwood 2003).
The History of Organized religion equally a Sociological Concept
In the wake of 19th century European industrialization and secularization, three social theorists attempted to examine the relationship between faith and society: Émile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Karl Marx. They are among the founding thinkers of modern folklore.
As stated earlier, French sociologist Émile Durkheim (1858–1917) defined religion as a "unified organisation of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things" (1915). To him, the sacred meant boggling—something that inspired wonder and which seemed continued to the concept of "the divine." Durkheim argued that "organized religion happens" in order when there is a separation betwixt the profane (ordinary life) and the sacred (1915). A rock, for instance, isn't sacred or profane as it exists. Simply if someone makes information technology into a headstone, or another person uses it for landscaping, it takes on unlike meanings—i sacred, 1 profane.
Durkheim is generally considered the offset sociologist who analyzed faith in terms of its societal bear upon. Higher up all, Durkheim believed that religion is about community: it binds people together (social cohesion), promotes behaviour consistency (social command), and offers strength for people during life'due south transitions and tragedies (significant and purpose). By applying the methods of natural science to the study of society, he held that the source of religion and morality is the commonage mind-prepare of society and that the cohesive bonds of social order consequence from common values in a society. He contended that these values demand to exist maintained to maintain social stability.
Faith then provided differing degrees of "social cement" that held societies and cultures together. Faith provided the justification for society to exist beyond the mundane and partial explanations of beingness as provided in scientific discipline, even to consider an intentional futurity: "for organized religion is before all else an impetus to activity, while scientific discipline, no matter how far it may exist pushed, always remains at a distance from this." (Durkheim 1915, p. 431).
Merely what would happen if faith were to refuse? This question led Durkheim to posit that religion is not just a social cosmos merely something that represents the power of society: when people gloat sacred things, they celebrate the power of their society. Past this reasoning, fifty-fifty if traditional religion disappeared, lodge wouldn't necessarily dissolve.
Classical Sociology: Émile Durkheim
Durkheim'south father was the eighth in a line of begetter-son rabbis. Although Émile was the 2nd son, he was chosen to pursue his male parent's vocation and was given a good religious and secular education. He abandoned the thought of a religious or rabbinical career, withal, and became very secular in his outlook. His sociological analysis of religion in The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1912) was an example of this. In this piece of work he was not interested in the theological questions of God'southward existence or purpose, but in developing a very secular, sociological question: Whether God exists or not, how does organized religion function socially in a society? He argued that below the irrationalism and the "cruel and fantastic rites" of both the most archaic and the most modern religions is their ability to satisfy existent social and human needs. "In that location are no religions which are false" (Durkheim 1912) he said. Organized religion performs the key function of providing social solidarity in a society. The rituals, the worship of icons, and the belief in supernatural beings "excite, maintain or recreate certain mental states" (Durkheim 1912) that bring people together, provide a ritual and symbolic focus, and unify them. This type of analysis became the basis of the functionalist perspective in sociology. He explained the existence and persistence of religion on the basis of the necessary function information technology performed in unifying society.
Whereas Durkheim saw organized religion as a source of social stability, High german sociologist and political economist Max Weber (1864–1920) believed it was a precipitator of social change. He examined the effects of religious belief on economic activities and noticed that heavily Protestant societies—such every bit those in holland, England, Scotland, and Germany—were the well-nigh highly adult capitalist societies and that their well-nigh successful business and other leaders were Protestant. In his writing The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905), he contends that the Protestant work ethic influenced the development of commercialism by overturning the traditional anti-materialist Christian values of poverty.
Weber noted that sure kinds of Protestantism supported the pursuit of fabric gain past motivating believers to work hard, exist successful, and non spend their profits on frivolous things. Material wealth was no longer seen as a sign of sin, but as a sign of God's favour. (The modern use of "work ethic" comes directly from Weber's Protestant ethic, although as Weber noted, the compulsion to work hard in i's calling had by the 19th and 20th centuries largely lost its religious connotations.) As he summarized, "In [Puritan theologian Richard] Baxter's view the care for external goods should only prevarication on the shoulders of the 'saint similar a light cloak, which could be thrown aside at whatever moment.' But fate decreed that the cloak should become an atomic number 26 cage" (Weber 1905, p. 181).
The Protestant Work Ethic in the Information Historic period
Max Weber (1904) posited that, in Europe in his time, Protestants were more likely than Catholics to reflect the values of hard work and savings conducive to capitalist ideology. Focusing on Calvinism, he showed that Protestant values influenced the rise of capitalism and helped create the modern globe order. Weber idea the emphasis on customs in Catholicism versus the emphasis on private achievement in Protestantism made a departure. Weber'south century-old claim that the Protestant piece of work ethic led to the development of capitalism has been i of the nearly important and controversial topics in the sociology of faith. In fact, some scholars have found little merit to his contention when applied to contemporary club (Greeley 1989). (As an bated, if you lot enjoy "who done it" detective novels and are interested in Catholicism, the sociologist Reverend Andrew Greeley referenced here was also a prolific acknowledged novelist, whose protagonists Father Blackie Ryan and psychic Catholic Nuala McGrail solve circuitous crimes while maintaining, even rejoicing in, their faith.)
What does the concept of piece of work ethic hateful today? The work ethic in the information age has been affected by tremendous cultural and social change, just every bit workers in the mid to late 19th century were influenced by the wake of the Industrial Revolution. Factory jobs tend to exist uncomplicated and uninvolved and require very trivial thinking or decision making on the part of the worker. Today, the work ethic of the modernistic workforce has been transformed, equally more thinking and conclusion making is required. Employees likewise seek autonomy and fulfillment in their jobs, non just wages. Higher levels of pedagogy take become necessary, as well as people management skills and admission to the most contempo information on any given topic. The information historic period has increased the rapid step of production expected in many jobs.
Working difficult also doesn't seem to have any human relationship with Catholic or Protestant religious behavior anymore, or those of other religions; information age workers expect talent and hard piece of work to be rewarded by material gain and career advancement. As this is becoming an empty hope for many in Western societies, specially youth, attending has turned to more than critical analyses of the place and ability of religion in lodge.
German philosopher, journalist, and revolutionary socialist Karl Marx (1818–1883) also studied the social affect of religion. He believed religion reflects the social stratification of club and that information technology maintains inequality and perpetuates the condition quo. For him, religion was merely an extension of working-course (proletariat) economic suffering: "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the middle of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people" (1844).
For Durkheim, Weber, and Marx, who were reacting to the great social and economical upheaval of the late 19th century and early 20th century in Europe, religion was an integral part of society. For Durkheim, faith was a forcefulness for cohesion that helped demark the members of lodge to the group, while Weber believed organized religion could be understood every bit something separate from society. Marx considered religion inseparable from the economy and the worker. Religion could not be understood apart from its ideological role in perpetuating or mystifying the inequalities of capitalist guild. Despite their different views, these social theorists all believed in the centrality of organized religion to society.
Classical Theory: Max Weber
Weber is known best for his 1904 volume, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. He noted that in modernistic industrial societies, business leaders and owners of capital, the higher grades of skilled labour, and the most technically and commercially trained personnel were overwhelmingly Protestant. He besides noted the uneven evolution of commercialism in Europe, and in item how capitalism developed first in those areas dominated by Protestant sects. He asked, "Why were the districts of highest economic development at the same time especially favourable to a revolution in the Church?" (i.e., the Protestant Reformation (1517–1648)) (Weber 1904). His respond focused on the development of the Protestant ethic—the duty to "work hard in one'southward calling"—in particular Protestant sects such as Calvinism, Pietism, and Baptism.
Equally opposed to the traditional teachings of the Catholic Church in which poverty was a virtue and labour simply a means for maintaining the individual and customs, the Protestant sects began to meet hard, continuous labour as a spiritual end in itself. Hard labour was firstly an ascetic technique of worldly renunciation and a defence force confronting temptations and distractions: the unclean life, sexual temptations, and religious doubts. Secondly, the Protestant sects believed that God's disposition toward the individual was predetermined and could never be known or influenced by traditional Christian practices similar confession, penance, and buying indulgences. However, 1's chosen occupation was a "calling" given by God, and the but sign of God's favour or recognition in this world was to receive expert fortune in one'south calling. Thus cloth success and the steady accumulation of wealth through personal effort and prudence was seen as a sign of an individual'due south state of grace. Weber argued that the ethic, or way of life, that developed around these beliefs was a key factor in creating the weather condition for both the accumulation of capital, as the goal of economic activeness, and for the cosmos of an industrious and disciplined labour strength.
In this regard, Weber has oft been seen as presenting an idealist explanation of the development of upper-case letter, as opposed to Marx's historical materialist explanation. It is an element of cultural belief that leads to social change rather than the concrete organisation and class struggles of the economic construction. It might be more than accurate, however, to see Weber's work building on Marx's and to see his Protestant ethic thesis as function of a broader set of themes concerning the process of rationalization . Why did the Western world modernize and develop modernistic science, industry, and republic when, for centuries, the Orient, the Indian subcontinent, and the Middle East were technically, scientifically, and culturally more avant-garde than the Westward? Weber argued that the modern forms of lodge developed in the Due west because of the process of rationalization: the general tendency of modernistic institutions and most areas of life to exist transformed by the application of instrumental reason—rational bureaucratic organization, adding, and technical reason—and the overcoming of "magical" thinking (which we earlier referred to every bit the "disenchantment of the world"). Every bit the impediments toward rationalization were removed, organizations and institutions were restructured on the principle of maximum efficiency and specialization, while older, traditional (inefficient) types of organization were gradually eliminated.
The irony of the Protestant ethic as 1 stage in this process was that the rationalization of backer business practices and system of labour somewhen dispensed with the religious goals of the ethic. At the end of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Weber pessimistically describes the fate of mod humanity equally an "fe muzzle." The iron cage is Weber's metaphor for the status of modernistic humanity in a technical, rationally divers, and "efficiently" organized society. Having forgotten its spiritual or other purposes of life, humanity succumbs to an order "now bound to the technical and economic weather condition of machine production" (Weber 1904). The mod subject in the iron muzzle is "only a single cog in an always-moving mechanism which prescribes to him an substantially fixed route of march" (Weber 1922).
Theoretical Perspectives on Religion
Sociologists often apply one of three major theoretical perspectives. These views offering dissimilar lenses through which to report and understand society: functionalism, symbolic interactionism, and critical sociology. Let us explore how scholars applying these paradigms empathise religion.
Functionalism
Functionalists debate that religion serves several functions in order. Religion, in fact, depends on society for its existence, value, and significance, and vice versa. From this perspective, religion serves several purposes, similar providing answers to spiritual mysteries, offering emotional comfort, and creating a place for social interaction and social command.
In providing answers, organized religion defines the spiritual world and spiritual forces, including divine beings. For example, information technology helps answer questions like "How was the world created?" "Why do nosotros endure?" "Is there a programme for our lives?" and "Is there an afterlife?" As another function, religion provides emotional condolement in times of crisis. Religious rituals bring order, comfort, and system through shared familiar symbols and patterns of behaviour.
I of the about important functions of organized religion, from a functionalist perspective, is the opportunities it creates for social interaction and the germination of groups. It provides social support and social networking, offering a place to meet others who hold similar values and a place to seek help (spiritual and cloth) in times of need. Moreover, it tin foster group cohesion and integration. Because religion tin can be central to many people's concept of themselves, sometimes there is an "in-group" versus "out-group" feeling toward other religions in our club or within a item practise. On an farthermost level, the Inquisition, the Salem witch trials, and anti-Semitism are all examples of this dynamic. Finally, organized religion promotes social command: information technology reinforces social norms such equally appropriate styles of dress, following the constabulary, and regulating sexual behaviour.
Disquisitional Sociology
Disquisitional theorists view religion as an institution that helps maintain patterns of social inequality. For instance, the Vatican has a tremendous amount of wealth, while the boilerplate income of Catholic parishioners is small. Co-ordinate to this perspective, religion has been used to support the "divine right" of oppressive monarchs and to justify unequal social structures, similar India'southward caste arrangement.
But humankind has a way of responding to perceived injustices and religions that lose relevancy. One of the fastest growing arenas of global Christianity are the evangelical churches that are making formidable inroads non only in North America, but fifty-fifty more and so in South America. This growth has been at the expense of the Catholic Church, long a bastion of force in Latin and South America. Latin America refers to countries in the subregion of the Americas where Romance languages, primarily Spanish and Portuguese, are spoken. As Christina Vital, an anthropologist at the Constitute of Studies of Organized religion in Rio de Janeiro points out,
[Evangelical] churches prefer less-rigid rules than the Catholic Church … they adapt to the customs and values seen today in our society, such as the importance of financial prosperity, importance of entrepreneurship to reach this prosperity, importance of discipline (Fieser and Alves 2012).
At the same time, evangelical and fundamentalist Christian sects oftentimes introduce strange conventionalities systems that are homophobic or undermine family planning and anti-AIDS strategies. The persecution of gays in Uganda through the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act (2014) was prompted past the influence of American evangelicals in the land (Gentleman 2010).
Conversely, the power of Weber'southward theories of sociology to help understand religious history was brought to contemporary public and academic audiences in the publication of the seminal work by Norman Gottwald, The Tribes of Yahweh: A Sociology of the Religion of Liberated State of israel, 1250-1050 BCE (1999). Gottwald elucidates this relationship even more clearly in his book The Politics of Ancient Israel, which was a response to the question posited in Weber's 1921 classic Ancient Judaism: "how did Jewry develop into a pariah people [guests hosted by larger societies] with highly specific peculiarities?" (Gottwald 2001, Weber 1921). Fifty-fifty critics of Gottwald's arroyo such equally Kenton Sparks provide alternative Weberian interpretations to early Israel's survival:
Israel's survival tin be every bit attributed to religious innovations of the state-era mono-Yahwistic prophets, who interpreted foreign oppression as the hand of Yahweh then preserved Israel's religious faith and ethnic distinctiveness in contexts where information technology might otherwise have perished (Sparks 2004 p. 126).
In that location is still a rich debate on the utility of Weberian theory in the interpretation of social behaviour, including social behaviour dating back thousands of years. Weber yet has relevancy in the sociology of religion.
Critical theorists are concerned about the fashion many religions promote the idea that one should be satisfied with existing circumstances because they are divinely ordained. Information technology is argued that this power dynamic has been used past religious institutions for centuries to keep poor people poor, teaching them that they should not be concerned with what they lack because their "true" reward (from a religious perspective) will come after death. Critical theorists also point out that those in power in a religion are often able to dictate practices, rituals, and beliefs through their interpretation of religious texts or via proclaimed directly advice from the divine. In recent history, the argument past George W. Bush-league that God told him to "end the tyranny in Iraq" is a instance in point (MacAskill 2005). A key element in the Enlightenment projection that remains key to the disquisitional perspective therefore is the separation of church building and state. Public policy that is based on irrational or a-rational religious belief or "revelation" rather than scientific prove undermines a cardinal component of autonomous deliberation and public scrutiny of the conclusion-making process.
The feminist perspective focuses specifically on gender inequality. In terms of faith, feminist theorists assert that, although women are typically the ones to socialize children into a religion, they accept traditionally held very few positions of ability inside religions. A few religions and religious denominations are more gender equal, but male say-so remains the norm of almost. Only even this assertion is carefully scrutinized by feminist scholars. Those for example following the seminal work of Elaine Pagels's The Gnostic Gospels have been instrumental in rediscovering the place of women in Christian history (1979). Merlin Stone'due south When God was a Adult female (1976) traces the pre-history of European lodge dorsum to feminine-centred cultures based on fertility and creator goddesses. It was not until the invasions of the Kurgans from the northeast and Semites from the due south in the fifth millennium BCE that hierarchical and patriarchal religions became ascendant.
Symbolic Interactionism
Rising from the concept that our world is socially constructed, symbolic interactionism studies the symbols and interactions of everyday life. To interactionists, behavior and experiences are not sacred unless individuals in a society regard them as sacred. The Star of David in Judaism, the cross in Christianity, and the crescent and star in Islam are examples of sacred symbols. Interactionists are interested in what these symbols communicate. Additionally, because interactionists study one-on-i everyday interactions betwixt individuals, a scholar using this arroyo might ask questions focused on this dynamic. The interaction between religious leaders and practitioners, the role of religion in the banal components of everyday life, and the means people limited religious values in social interactions—all might be topics of study to an interactionist.
It is of import to understand that the in a higher place theoretical paradigms each provide only a partial caption of religious beliefs and behaviours.
15.2. Types of Religious Organizations
Religions organize themselves—their institutions, practitioners, and structures—in a variety of fashions. For instance, when the Roman Catholic Church emerged, it borrowed many of its organizational principles from the ancient Roman military, turning senators into cardinals, for example. Sociologists use different terms, like ecclesia, denomination, and sect, to define these types of organizations. Scholars are as well enlightened that these definitions are non static. Nigh religions transition through unlike organizational phases. For instance, Christianity began as a cult, transformed into a sect, and today exists every bit an ecclesia.
Cults, like sects, are new religious groups. In pop usage, this term oft carries debasing connotations. Today, the term "cult" is used interchangeably with the term new religious movement (NRM). However, well-nigh all religions began every bit NRMs and gradually progressed to levels of greater size and organization. In its pejorative use, these groups are often disparaged as being secretive, highly controlling of members' lives, and dominated by a single, charismatic leader.
Controversy exists over whether some groups are cults, perhaps due in part to media sensationalism over groups like polygamous Mormons or the Peoples Temple followers who died at Jonestown, Republic of guyana. Some groups that are controversially labelled equally cults today include the Church building of Scientology and the Hare Krishna movement.
A sect is a minor and relatively new group. Almost of the well-known Christian denominations in Due north America today began as sects. For example, the Presbyterians and Baptists protested against their parent Anglican Church in England, just as Henry VIII protested against the Catholic Church by forming the Anglican Church. From "protest" comes the term Protestant.
Occasionally, a sect is breakaway group that may be in tension with larger society. They sometimes claim to exist returning to "the fundamentals" or to contest the veracity of a particular doctrine. When membership in a sect increases over fourth dimension, it may grow into a denomination. Ofttimes a sect begins as an offshoot of a denomination, when a group of members believes they should divide from the larger group.
Some sects evolve without growing into denominations. Sociologists call these established sects. Established sects, such as the Hutterites or Jehovah's Witnesses in Canada autumn halfway between sect and denomination on the ecclesia–cult continuum considering they accept a mixture of sect-like and denomination-like characteristics.
A denomination is a large, mainstream religious organization, but it does non claim to be official or state sponsored. It is one organized religion among many. For example, The Church of England in Canada, the Presbyterian Church, the United Church building, and Seventh-twenty-four hours Adventist are all Christian denominations.
The term ecclesia, originally referring to a political assembly of citizens in ancient Athens, Greece, now refers to a congregation. In sociology, the term is used to refer to a religious group that nigh members of a society vest to. It is considered a nationally recognized, or official, religion that holds a religious monopoly and is closely allied with state and secular powers. Canada does not have an ecclesia by this standard.
One way to remember these religious organizational terms is to remember of cults (NRMs), sects, denominations, and ecclesia representing a continuum, with increasing influence on society, where cults are least influential and ecclesia are most influential.
Types of Religions
Scholars from a diverseness of disciplines accept strived to classify religions. Ane widely accepted categorization that helps people understand different belief systems considers what or who people worship (if anything). Using this method of nomenclature, religions might fall into one of these basic categories, as shown in Tabular array 15.ane.
| Religious Classification | What/Who Is Divine | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Polytheism | Multiple gods | Ancient Greeks and Romans |
| Monotheism | Single god | Judaism, Islam |
| Atheism | No deities | Atheism |
| Animism | Nonhuman beings (animals, plants, natural world) | Ethnic nature worship (Shinto) |
| Totemism | Human-natural beingness connection | Ojibwa (First Nations) |
Note that some religions may be practised—or understood—in various categories. For case, the Christian notion of the Holy Trinity (God, Jesus, Holy Spirit) defies the definition of monotheism to some scholars. Similarly, many Westerners view the multiple manifestations of Hinduism'south godhead as polytheistic, while Hindus might describe those manifestations are a monotheistic parallel to the Christian Trinity.
It is also important to notation that every social club likewise has nonbelievers, such as atheists, who exercise not believe in a divine existence or entity, and agnostics, who concur that ultimate reality (such as God) is unknowable. While typically not an organized grouping, atheists and agnostics correspond a significant portion of the population. It is important to recognize that being a nonbeliever in a divine entity does not mean the individual subscribes to no morality. Indeed, many Nobel Peace Prize winners and other dandy humanitarians over the centuries would have classified themselves as atheists or agnostics.
15.3. Religion and Social Alter
Organized religion has historically been a major impetus to social alter. In early Europe, the translation of sacred texts into everyday, non-scholarly language empowered people to shape their religions. Disagreements betwixt religious groups and instances of religious persecution accept led to mass resettlement, state of war, and even genocide. To some degree, the modern sovereign country system and international law might exist seen as products of the conflict between religious beliefs every bit these were founded in Europe by the Treaty of Westphalia (1648), which ended the 30 Years War. As outlined below, Canada is no stranger to faith as an agent of social change.
Secularization
At the same time that faith is notwithstanding a major forcefulness in Western lodge, it is inside a backdrop of societies condign more and more secularized. Secularization as a social and historical process has been outlined past the sociologist Jose Casanova equally three interrelated trends, all open up to argue: one) the turn down of religious behavior and practices in mod societies, two) the privatization of organized religion, and iii) the differentiation of the secular spheres (state, economy, science), commonly understood as "emancipation" from religious institutions and norms (Casanova 2006).
Historical sociologists Émile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Karl Marx and psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud anticipated secularization, claiming that the modernization of society would bring well-nigh a decrease in the influence of religion. Weber believed membership in distinguished clubs would outpace membership in Protestant sects as a way for people to proceeds potency or respect.
Conversely, some people contend that secularization is a root cause of many social problems, such every bit divorce, drug use, and educational downturn. U.S. presidential contender Michele Bachmann even linked Hurricane Irene and the 2011 earthquake felt in Washington D.C. to politicians' failure to listen to God (Ward 2011).
While some scholars come across the Western world, including Canada, becoming increasingly secular, others observe that religion is still all around us. For example, recent statistics testify that most 75 percent of Canadian marriages still involve a religious ceremony. But this varies from a a high of 90 percent in Ontario to less than 40 percent in British Columbia (Black 2007, B.C. Vital Statistics 2011).
At the fourth dimension of this writing, religion impacted post-secondary education in Canada. Trinity Western University, a respected private Christian university in British Columbia, is embroiled in controversy as several provincial bar associations have voted not to have graduates of Trinity's proposed law program. One of the primal issues is the "covenant" the academy requires its students to sign that forbids sex unless information technology is within a union between a man and a adult female. The university intends to have the bar associations in British Columbia, Ontario, and Nova Scotia to court "to reply to what information technology calls threats against freedom of religion" (CBC 2014). At this time, law societies in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Isle, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nunavut have decided to accept Trinity Western'south graduates.
This is not a new boxing for Trinity Western Academy. In 2001, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled confronting the B.C. College of Teachers in its bid to uphold the original decision not to take Trinity Western graduates into the didactics profession. This action would have effectively blocked Trinity graduates from education in British Columbia (Wikipedia N.d.). The 2001 courtroom determination makes for an interesting read, even providing insights into Trinity's next legal battle to assert its rights equally a religious organization (Supreme Courtroom of Canada 2001).
Religious independent schools teaching from kindergarten to grade 12 receive varying degrees of public funding across Canada. In British Columbia, these schools are countering the student population declines found in the public schools and have generally increased enrolments annually (B.C. Ministry of Education 2014).
Compared to other autonomous, industrialized countries, Canada is generally perceived to be a fairly religious nation. Whereas 42 per centum of Canadians in a 2009 Gallup survey said religion was an important part of their daily lives, 65 percent make this claim in the United states of america. The numbers were also higher in Spain (49 pct), only lower in France (30 percentage), the United Kingdom (27 percent), and Sweden (17 percent) (Crabtree and Pelham 2009). Secularization interests social observers because information technology entails a pattern of change in a fundamental social institution.
The above data on the importance of religion in daily lives tell us much about our views on other issues. For instance, countries such equally Canada that have a lesser level of impact from organized religion on our day-to-day routine are more than tolerant, even accepting of, homosexuality (Trinity Western Academy notwithstanding). A recent study shows that countries where religious influence is low are by and large also the richest countries (Pew Research 2013). They are more accepting of homosexuality than poor countries where religious influence is high. Predominantly poor and/or Muslim countries have almost no levels of acceptance of homosexuality. In that location is a strong human relationship betwixt a land's religiosity and opinions about homosexuality. The fact that Canada has become more secular is evidenced in the ten percentage increase in acceptance of homosexuality over the last decade.
While less than one-half of Canadians state that religion is of import, fourscore per centum of Canadians merits a religious affiliation (Statistics Canada 2011). Canada is known for its religious diverseness, yet it is predominantly Christian, with 72 percent declaring membership in one of its denominations or sects. Catholicism stands out as the most popular choice with nearly l percent of Christian Canadians. Religious affiliations amongst recent immigrants to Canada are similar for Christians and those claiming no faith, according to statistics gathered between 2001 and 2011 (Statistics Canada 2011). Other common affiliations for new immigrant are Muslim (18 per centum), Hindu (8 pct), and Sikh (v percentage).
The power of the sociological study of faith goes well beyond how we think and comport over organized religion. These views and behaviours spill over in cardinal means into other important arenas inside our lives. Whether we consider our views on politics, homosexuality, or our children's education, the sociological study of organized religion provides valuable insights into our collective behaviour.
Key Terms
animism the faith that believes in the divinity of nonhuman beings, like animals, plants, and objects of the natural earth
disbelief belief in no deities
cults religious groups that are small, secretive, and highly controlling of members and have a charismatic leader
denomination a large, mainstream faith that is not sponsored by the land
ecclesia a religion that is considered the country organized religion
established sects sects that last but do not get denominations
interactionists individuals who believe that experiences are not sacred unless individuals in a society regard them as sacred
monotheism a religion based on belief in a unmarried deity
new religious move (NRM) see "cult"
polytheism a organized religion based on belief in multiple deities
religion a organisation of beliefs, values, and practices apropos what a person holds to be sacred or spiritually significant
religious beliefs specific ideas that members of a particular faith agree to be true
religious feel the confidence or sensation that one is connected to "the divine"
religious rituals behaviours or practices that are either required for or expected of the members of a particular group
sect a small, new offshoot of a denomination
symbolic interactionism written report of the symbols and interactions of everyday life.
totemism belief in a divine connection between humans and other natural beings
Section Summary
15.i. The Sociological Approach to Religion
Religion describes the beliefs, values, and practices related to sacred or spiritual concerns. Social theorist Émile Durkheim divers religion as a "unified organisation of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things" (1915). Max Weber believed religion could be a force for social change. Karl Marx viewed organized religion as a tool used by backer societies to perpetuate inequality. Religion is a social institution considering information technology includes beliefs and practices that serve the needs of society. Religion is also an example of a cultural universal considering it is found in all societies in i form or another. Functionalism, conflict theory, and interactionism all provide valuable ways for sociologists to empathise religion.
15.2. Types of Religious Organizations
Sociological terms for different kinds of religious organizations are, in order of decreasing influence in society, ecclesia, denomination, sect, and cult. Religions tin be categorized according to what or whom its followers worship. Some of the major types of religion include polytheism, monotheism, atheism, animism, and totemism.
fifteen.3. Organized religion and Social Change
Many of the classical sociological theories predicted that levels of religiosity in Western societies would decline due to the process of secularization. However, while society has certainly become more secular, a large majority of people in Canada all the same merits religious affiliation. The clash of secular and religious values in mod lodge produces problems that are difficult to resolve.
Section Quiz
fifteen.1. The Sociological Approach to Faith
1. In what ways does organized religion serve the role of a social institution?
- Religions have a circuitous and integrated ready of norms.
- Religious practices and beliefs are related to societal values.
- Religions often encounter several basic needs.
- All of the above
2. A cultural universal is something that:
- Addresses all aspects of a group's behaviour
- Is found in all cultures
- Is based on social norms
- May or may not exist of value in meeting social needs
3. Which of the principal theoretical perspectives would approach religion from the micro-level, studying how faith impacts an individual'south sense of back up and well-beingness?
- Functionalism
- Symbolic interactionism
- Conflict theory
- Feminism
4. Which perspective nearly emphasizes the ways in which religion helps to keep the social system running smoothly?
- Functional perspective
- Symbolic interactionist perspective
- Disharmonize perspective
- Feminist perspective
5. Which socialist perspective most emphasizes the means in which faith helps to maintain social inequalities inside a guild?
- Functional
- Symbolic interactionist
- Conflict theory
- Feminist perspective
6. Which of the post-obit do the functionalist and conflict perspectives share?
- Position that faith relates to social control, enforcing social norms
- Emphasis on religion as providing social support
- Belief that religion helps explain the mysteries of life
- None of the above
vii. The Protestant work ethic was viewed in terms of its human relationship to:
- Evolution and natural selection
- Capitalism
- Determinism
- Prejudice and bigotry
xv.2. Types of Religious Organizations
8. What are some denominations of the Christian Protestant church?
- Cosmic and Jewish
- Jehovah's Witnesses and the United Church of Canada
- Scientology and Hare Krishna
- The Church of England (Anglican) in Canada and the Roman Cosmic Church
9. A sect:
- Has by and large grown so large that it needs new buildings and multiple leaders
- Often believes it must carve up from the larger group to render to important fundamentals
- Is another term for a cult
- All of the above
10. The principal difference between an ecclesia and a denomination is:
- The number of followers or believers is much larger for denominations
- The geographical location varies for ecclesia versus denominations
- Ecclesia are state-sponsored and considered an official religion
- There are no important differences; the terms are interchangeable
eleven. Some controversial groups that may be mislabelled every bit cults include:
- Scientology and the Hare Krishna
- the Peoples Temple and Heven's Gate
- the Co-operative Davidians and the Manson Family unit
- Quakers and Petecostals
xv.3. Religion and Social Change
12. Secularization refers to a number of interrelated trends including:
- The Protestant work ethic
- Television ministries
- Separation of church building and land
- Liberation theology
13. The percent of people in Canada claiming a religious affiliation is:
- l percentage
- 12 percent
- 95 percent
- lxxx percent
Short Answer
15.1. The Sociological Arroyo to Faith
- List some means that you encounter religion having social command in the everyday earth.
- What are some sacred items that yous're familiar with? Are there some objects, such as cups, candles, or vesture, that would be considered profane in normal settings merely are considered sacred in special circumstances or when used in specific means?
- Consider a religion that you are familiar with and discuss some of its beliefs, behaviours, and norms. Discuss how these meet social needs. Then research a religion that you don't know much about. Explicate how its beliefs, behaviours, and norms are like/unlike the other religion.
15.2. Types of Religious Organizations
- Consider the different types of religious organizations in Canada. What role did ecclesia play in the history of Canada? How accept sects tended to change over time? What role practise cults accept today?
- What is your understanding of monotheism, polytheism, and animism? What are examples of these belief systems in Canada? How do these different belief systems bear on relationships to the environment, sexuality, and gender?
- In Canadian society, practice you believe at that place is social stratification that correlates with religious beliefs? What almost within the practitioners of a given religion? Provide examples to illustrate your indicate.
xv.three. Organized religion and Social Change
- Practice you lot believe Canada is condign more secularized or more fundamentalist? Comparison your generation to that of your parents or grandparents, what differences practice you encounter in the relationship betwixt faith and gild? Why exercise yous retrieve Canada differs from the United States in the role that religion plays in public and political life?
Farther Research
xv.1. The Sociological Approach to Religion
For more discussion on the study of sociology and religion, check out the post-obit blog: http://openstaxcollege.org/l/immanent_frame/. The Immanent Frame is a forum for the commutation of ideas well-nigh religion, secularism, and order by leading thinkers in the social sciences and humanities.
Read more about functionalist views on religion at http://openstaxcollege.org/l/Grinnell_functionalism, symbolic interactionist view on religion at http://openstaxcollege.org/50/flat_Earth, and women in the clergy at http://openstaxcollege.org/l/women_clergy.
Some would argue that the Protestant piece of work ethic is still live and well in Northward America. Read British historian Niall Ferguson's view at http://openstaxcollege.org/l/Protestant_work_ethic.
xv.two. Types of Religious Organizations
PBS'south Frontline explores "the life of Jesus and the rise of Christianity" in this in-depth documentary. View the piece in its entirety hither: http://openstaxcollege.org/50/PBS_Frontline.
Sorting through the dissimilar Christian denominations tin be a daunting job. To help clarify these groups, get to http://openstaxcollege.org/l/Christian_denominations
Ayahuasca ("the vine of the soul") is a ceremonial tea used traditionally in animistic healing practices in the Amazonian basin. It is an entheogen that induces visions. For more on how ayahuasca ceremonies have come to the attention of North Americans and Europeans as a promising healing modality, come across the CBC Nature of Things episode "Jungle Prescription": http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/features/what-is-ayahuasca
xv.3. Religion and Social Change
What are megachurchs and how are they changing the face of faith? Read "Exploring the Megachurch Phenomena: Their Characteristics and Cultural Context" at http://openstaxcollege.org/50/megachurch
Secularization is an ambiguous trend, non least because the concept of secularization suggests that being secular or being religious is an either/or proposition. For an exploration of contemporary relationship between secularism and religion meet the CBC Ideas serial "After Atheism: New Perspectives on God and Religion": http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/episodes/2014/07/14/afterward-atheism-new-perspectives-on-god-and-religion-part-5-1/
References
15. Introduction to Organized religion
Durkheim, Émile. 1947 [1915]. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, translated by J. Swain. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
15.1. The Sociological Approach to Organized religion
Barkan, Steven E. and Susan Greenwood. 2003. "Religious Omnipresence and Subjective Well-Being amidst Older Americans: Prove from the General Social Survey." Review of Religious Research 45:116–129.
Durkheim, Emile, 1915, "The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life", The Project Gutenberg EBook #41360, p. 431, Release Date: November 13, 2012. Retrieved May 15, 2014: (http://world wide web.gutenberg.org/files/41360/41360-h/41360-h.htm#Page_445)
Durkheim, Émile. 1933 [1893]. Division of Labor in Club. Translated by George Simpson. New York: Free Press.
Durkheim, Émile. 1947 [1915]. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. Translated by J. Beau. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
Fasching, Darrel and Dell deChant. 2001. Comparative Religious Ethics: A Narrative Approach. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwel.
Fieser, Ezra, and Alves, Lise, 2012, Latin evangelicals' explosive growth, May 08, Catholic San Fransisco, Retrieved June eighteen, 2014 from http://world wide web.catholic-sf.org/ns.php?newsid=2&id=59891
Gentleman, Jeffrey. 2010. "America's Role Seen in Ugandan Anti-Gay Button." New York Times. January iii. Retrieved July half-dozen, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/earth/africa/04uganda.html?_r=0
Gottwald, Norman. 1999. The Tribes of Yahweh: A Sociology of the Religion of Liberated Israel, 1250-1050 BCE, Bloomsbury Bookish.
Gottwald, Norman. 2001. The Politics of Ancient Israel. Louisville, Westminister : John Knox Printing.
Greeley, Andrew. 1989. "Protestant and Catholic: Is the Analogical Imagination Extinct?" American Sociological Review 54:485–502.
MacAskill, Ewen. 2005. "George Bush: 'God told me to end the tyranny in Iraq'." The Guardian. Oct 7. Retrieved September 23, 2014, from http://world wide web.theguardian.com/world/2005/october/07/republic of iraq.united states
Marx, Karl. 1973 [1844]. Contribution to Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right. Cambridge, England: Cambridge Academy Press.
Pagels, Elaine, The Gnostic Gospels, (1979) Random Business firm, New York.
Sparks, Kenton, 2004. "Review of The Politics of Aboriginal State of israel." Journal of the American Oriental Lodge, Volume 124, i.
Weber, Max. 1967 [1921]. Ancient Judaism. Hans H. Gerth (ed.), Don Martindale, Costless Press.
Weber, Max 1958 [1905]. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, translated by Talcott parsons. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
15.iii. Religion and Social Change
B.C. Ministry building of Education. 2014. Independent Schoolhouse Reports. BC Ministry of Education Website. Retrieved June xiv, 2014 from http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/reporting/ind.php
B.C. Vital Statistics. 2011. "Selected Vital Statistics and Health Status Indicators." British Columbia Vital Statistics Agency. Retrieved September 23, 2014, from https://www.vs.gov.bc.ca/stats/annual/2011/pdf/ann2011.pdf
Black, Debra. 2007. "Marriages rise in Ontario, B.C. while Canadian rate plateaus". The Star Newspaper. Jan eighteen, 2007. Retrieved June eighteen, 2014 from http://www.thestar.com/news/2007/01/18/marriages_rise_in_ontario_bc_while_canadian_rate_plateaus.html
Casanova, Jose. 2006. "Rethinking Secularization: A Global Comparative Perspective." The Hedgehog Review, Spring and Summertime, 06. Retrieved May 22, 2014 from http://iasc-culture.org/THR/archives/AfterSecularization/8.12CCasanova.pdf
CBC News. 2014. "Trinity Western launches court action to defend law school." BC News. May 06, 2014. Nova Scotia. Retrieved June 12, 2014 (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/trinity-western-launches-court-action-to-defend-law-school-1.2633816)
Crabtree, Steve and Brett Pelham. 2009. "What Alabamians and Iranians Have in Common." Gallup World. February 9. Retrieved February 21, 2012 (http://www.gallup.com/poll/114211/alabamians-iranians-common.aspx).
Pew Research. 2013. "The Global Divide on Homosexuality Greater Acceptance in More Secular and Affluent Countries." Pew Research Global Attitudes Projec., June 2013. Retrieved June xviii, 2014 (http://world wide web.pewglobal.org/2013/06/04/the-global-divide-on-homosexuality/)
Statistics Canada. 2011. Religion, Immigrant Condition and Period of Immigration, 2011 National Household Survey. Retrieved June 25, 2014. (http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/dp-pd/dt-td/Ap-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&Detail=0&DIM=0&FL=A&Costless=0&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=105399&PRID=0&PTYPE=105277&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2013&THEME=95&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=)
Supreme Court of Canada. 2001. Trinity Western University 5. British Columbia College of Teachers, Supreme Courtroom Judgements, May 2001 Retrieved June 25, 2014 (http://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/detail/1867/alphabetize.do)
Ward, Jon. 2011. "Michele Bachman Says Hurricane and Earthquake Are Divine Warnings to Washington." Huffington Post. August 29. Retrieved Feb 21, 2012 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/29/michele-bachmann-hurricane-irene_n_940209.html).
Wikipedia. North.d. "Trinity Western Academy v. British Columbia College of Teachers" Wikipedia. Retrieved September 23, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_Western_University_v._British_Columbia_College_of_Teachers
Solutions to Section Quiz
one. D | 2. B | 3. B | 4. A | five. C | 6. A | 7. B | 8. D | 9. B | 10. C | 11. A | 12. C | 13. D |
Source: https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontosociology/chapter/chapter-15-religion/
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