RELIGION

Religion: Basic Concepts

Religion is a social institution involving beliefs and

practices based on a conception of the sacred.
Sacred: what people set apart as extraordinary,
inspiring awe, reverence, and fear
Profane: ordinary elements of life
Ritual: formal ceremonial behaviour
Faith: belief anchored in conviction rather than
scientific evidence
Religion was defined by Emile Durkheim as a
unified system of beliefs and practices relative to
sacred things

Animism
Belief
that people have souls or spirits in addition
to physical, visible bodies.
 Polytheism
The belief in the existence of many gods.
Monotheism
The belief in only one god.
Totenism: Religious practices centered
around animals, plants, or other aspects of
the natural world held to be ancestral or
closely identified with a group and its
individuals.
 Animatism
Belief in a generalized, impersonal power over
which people have some measure of control.
Mana
An impersonal supernatural force, inhabiting
certain people or things, which is believed to
confer power, strength, and success.
Supernatural Healing

A traditional healer
uses supernatural
powers.
Magic

Vodoo, a form of
imitative magic, is
practiced in Togo.
Witchcraft

Witchcraft is an inborn, involuntary, and often

unconscious capacity to cause harm to other people.
Myths

Sacred literature that states certain religious truths.

Include stories of the gods, their origins, their
activities, and the moral injunctions they teach.
A cultures mythology is closely connected to its
moral and social order.
Classifying Religions:
Anthony Wallace

Wallace identified four principal patterns of

religious organization based on what he calls cults.
Wallace uses the term cult to refer to forms of
religion that have their own set of beliefs, rituals,
and goals.
This use of the term should not be confused with the
definition used to refer to an antisocial religious
group that brainwashes its members before leading
them to mass suicide.
Classifying Religions:
Anthony Wallace

Four forms of religious organization:

Individualistic cults
Shamanistic cults
Communal cults
Ecclesiastical cults
Individualistic Cults

The least complex form of religious organization in

which each person is his or her own religious
specialist.
Vision quest
A ritual found among a number of Plains
Indian cultures wherein through visions
people establish special relationships with
spirits who provide them with knowledge,
power, and protection.
Shamanistic Cults

Forms of religion in which part-time religious

specialists called shamans intervene with the deities
on behalf of their clients.
Shaman
A part-time religious specialist who is thought to have
supernatural powers by virtue of birth, training, or
inspiration.
Shamans

They uses medicinal

plants to heal certain
diseases.
Communal Cults

Societies in which groups of ordinary people

conduct religious ceremonies for the well-being of
the total community.
Rites of passage
Any ceremony celebrating the transition of a
person from one social status to another.
Rites of solidarity
Any ceremony performed for the sake of
enhancing of social integration.
Ecclesiastical Cults

Highly complex religious systems employing full-

time priests.
Ecclesiastical cults are characterized by full-time
professional clergy, who are formally elected or
appointed and devote all or most of their time to
performing priestly functions.
Unlike shamans who conduct rituals during times of
crisis or when their services are needed, these full-
time priests conduct rituals that occur at regular
intervals.
 THEORETICAL
PERSPECTIVE OF
RELIGION
Structural-Functionalism

The Structural-Functional approach to religion has

its roots in Emile Durkheim's work on religion.
Durkheim argued that religion is, in a sense, the
celebration and even (self-) worship of human
society.
Structural-Functionalism

Given this approach, Durkheim proposed that

religion has three major functions in society:
social cohesion - religion helps maintain
social solidarity through shared rituals and
beliefs
social control - religious based morals and
norms help maintain conformity and control
in society; religion can also legitimize the
political system
Structural-Functionalism

providing meaning and purpose - religion

can provide answers to existential
questions (see the social-psychological
approach below)
STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM

MARY DOUGLAS (1921-

2007):
SOCIETIES MAINTAIN ORDER
THROUGH FUNCTIONAL
CLASSIFICATIONS, FOR EXAMPLE
WITH RELIGIOUS MANDATES THAT
SPECIFY WHAT IS PURE AND
PERMITTED, AND WHAT
POLLUTES AND IS TABOO.
STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM

VICTOR TURNER (1920-

1983):
THE FUNCTION OF RITUALS IS THE
VITAL ROLE THEY PLAY IN
MAINTAINING SOCIAL SOLIDARITY
AND COHESION.
 INTERPRETIVE/SYMBOLIC
THEORY
Focuses on the realm of thought, meaning, and ideas.
Defines culture in terms of systems of signs and symbols, and
their meanings.
Humans are suspended in webs of signification that they create
for themselves.
Religion is a cultural system of meanings that explains:
Reality for its adherents
The meanings of that reality
How people should think, behave, and interact within that reality.
CRITIQUES:
Descriptive and does not lend itself to theoretical formulations.
Applies to the local and not bigger pictures of culture.
Social-Conflict

The social-conflict approach is rooted in Marx's

analysis of capitalism.
According to Marx, religion plays a significant role
in maintaining the status quo.
Social-Conflict

Marx argued that religion was actually a tool of the

bourgeoisie to keep the proletariat content. Marx
argued that religion is able to do this by promising
rewards in the after-life rather than in this life.
Types of Religious
Organization
Religious Organizations
Church: a type of religious organization well integrated into
the larger community
Ecclesia or State church: is formally allied with the state
Denomination: independent of the state
Sect: stands apart from the larger society
Charisma: extraordinary personal qualities
New religious movement: movement to renew an existing
church
Cult: largely outside the cultural traditions
Christianity

2 billion followers
85% of Canadians and Americans
Christianity originated as a cult
Monotheistic: belief in a single divine power
Jesus is considered divine and was crucified making
the cross a central symbol
Takes many forms: Roman Catholicism,
Protestantism, Orthodox, and others
Islam

1.2 billion followers

Muslims are found predominantly in the
Middle East, Asia, and North Africa
Islam is the word of God as revealed to the
prophet Muhammad, born in Mecca about
570.
The Quran urges submission to Allah as the
path to inner peace
Islam

Five Pillars of Islam:

1. Recognize Allah as the one true God
2. Ritual prayer
3. Giving alms to the poor
4. Fasting during Ramadan
5. Making a pilgrimage to Mecca
Judaism

Judaism is the smallest of the world religions. It

centers around the concept of the covenant
15 million followers
National majority in Israel
Jews believe that a covenant exists between God
and the Jewish people
The Torah emphasizes moral behavior
Judaism

Four denominations
1. Orthodox are very traditional
2. Reform Judaism are churchlike
3. Conservative Judaism are in the middle ground
4. Reconstructionist Judaism blends tradition and
egalitarianism
Anti-Semitism: prejudice and discrimination
against Jews
Hinduism

Oldest of all religions

800 Million followers
Found mostly in South Asia and Africa
Not linked to one person and no sacred writings
Principles:
DHARMA refers to correct living
KARMA refers to belief in spiritual progress
through REINCARNATION, cycle of birth and
rebirth
MOKSHA: state of spiritual perfection
Buddhism

325 million followers

Almost all Asians
Resembles Hinduism in doctrine
Inspired by Siddhartha Gautama, who achieved
enlightenment, NIRVANA, and became a Buddha
Daily action has spiritual consequences
Confucianism

100s of millions of Chinese are influenced by it

Confucius instructed his followers to engage in the
world according to a strict code of moral conduct
No sense of sacred, rather a sense of disciplined
living
Religion in a Changing Society

Civil religion: quasi-religious loyalty to a secular

society, or ones way of life
Spirituality without formal religion: new age
Religious revival: membership and church going
has plummeted over the last decades