Sociological theories of religion

Emile Durkheim

All societies divide the world into two categories, the sacred and the profane.

B. Malinowski

Malinowski identifies specific areas of social life with which religion is concerned.

1. Situations of emotional stress which threaten social solidarity.

2. Undertakings which cannot be fully controlled or predicted by practical means.

Talcott Parsons

Religion is a part of the cultural system which provides guidelines for human action and standards against which man’s conduct can be evaluated.

Parsons like Malinowski sees religion to address particular problem which occurs in all societies:

1. Events which cannot be foreseen or be prepared for or controlled.

2. Uncertainty

Religion provides a range of answer:

1. Suffering is imposed by god

2. Punishment for sins

3. Will bring reward after life

Religion a Marxian perspective

Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the sentiment of a heartless world and the soul of soulless conditions; it is the opium of the people.

Religion is an illusion which eases the pain produced by exploitation and oppression.

Religion does not simply cushion the effects of oppression; it is also an instrument of oppression.

It acts as a system of social control maintaining existing system of exploitation and reinforcing class relationship.

Religion is only the illusory sun which revolves around man as long as he does not revolve around himself.

Types of religious practices: animism, monism, pluralism, sects, cults

Animism

E. B. Tylor argues that religious belief originated in the primordial mistake of attributing life, soul or spirit to inanimate objects.

E. B. Tyler’s theory of animism is derived from the primitive inability to distinguish between dreams and waking consciousness.

Out of dreams evolved the doctrine of souls and other spiritual beings in general.

Another evidence of animism was the involuntary physical phenomenon of sneezing. Zulus thought that deceased ancestors caused sneezing.

Sneezing was not a psychological phenomenon but was still in the theological stage.

Monism

Monism is any philosophical view which holds that there is unity in a given field of inquiry.

Monism in philosophy can be defined according to four kinds;

1. Idealism – only mind is real

2. Neutral monism – both the mental and the physical can be reduced to some sort of third substance

3. Physicalism or materialism – only the physical is real and the mental can be reduced to physical

4. Holistic gnoseology – only a global approach to reality, by means of a global knowledge, is able to get the truth.

Pluralism

Pluralism refers to the standpoint that the world may be interpreted in several ways or to the evaluation that science is enhanced by competition between several interpretations.

Religious pluralism can be analyzed at 3 consecutive social levels;

1. Macro-level - societal authorities recognize and accept a plurality within the religious field.

2. Meso-level – acceptance of multitude of religious organizations which function as competitive units

3. Micro-level – individuals freedom to choose and develop her or his own private belief

Religion in modern society: religion and science, secularization, religious revivalism, fundamentalism

Magic and science

Similarities

1. Like science magic has a specific aim related with human needs and instincts. Both are governed by a set of rules.

2. Both develop technique for carrying out certain activities. Malinowsky called magic a pseudo-science.

Differences

1. Science is based on observation and reason over their interaction with nature. Magic on the other hand, founded in particular experience of tense emotional states.

2. Basis of science is conviction in validity of experience. Magic is based on belief that one can still hope, one can still desire.

3. Malinowsky concludes that science belongs to the domain of the profane while magic comprises half of the domain of the sacred.

Magic and religion

Similarities

1. Both belong to the area of sacred.

2. Born and function amidst emotional tension.

3. Both provide escape from emotional stress.

4. Mythological traditions closely surround both magic and religion.

Differences

1. Magical acts are a means to an end. Religious acts are self-contained acts, performed in self-fulfillment

2. The art of magic has a clearly marked and limited technique in which spell, rite and the magician are the main element. Religion has no simple technique.

3. Magical belief concerns one’s faith in one’s power. Religion concerns with a whole range of supernatural powers.

4. Magical art is handed down from generation to generation. In religion everyone takes an active part.

5. In magic there are both positive and negative types. In religion in its early stages, according to Malinowsky, there is little distinction between beneficial and malevolent powers.

Function of magic, science and religion

Function of primitive knowledge is making the tribal familiar with their surroundings and enabling them to use natural resources.

Function of religion is to establish mental attitudes.

Function of magic is to supply primitive people with a practical way out of difficulties faced by them in day to day pursuit of their survival

Secularization

Secularization is the process whereby religious thinking, practice and institutions lose social significance.

Secularization has been conceptualized and measured in the following way:

1. Institutional religion – participation

2. Institutional religion – disengagement and differentiation

3. Institutional religion – religious pluralism

4. Institutional religion – the secularization of religious institutions

5. Religion and society – generalization

6. Religion and society – individuation

7. Religion and society – transformation

8. Religion and society – desacralization

Religious revivalism

Refers to the renewal and intensification of spiritual life in an existing religious congregation, denomination, region or country, without implying a doctrinal or organizational change or a basic reform.

Fundamentalism

Fundamentalism means belief in the literal truth of religious scriptures and fundamental religious beliefs of any religion.