beliefs Flashcards
What are substantive definitions of religion?
- Those that focus on the content or substance of religious belief.
- WEBER defines religion as belief in a supernatural power.
- Exclusive definitions which draw a clear line between religious and non religious beliefs.
x This definition leaves no room for beliefs that don’t involve belief in God
x Western bias
What are functional definitions of religion?
- Those which focus on the social or psychological functions of religion
- DURKHEIM: defines religion in terms of the contribution it makes to social integration
+ Inclusive of a wide range of beliefs
+ No western bias as it doesn’t specify belief in God
- Just because an institution integrates people doesn’t mean it’s a religion
What are constructionist definitions of religion?
- Those which focus on how members of society define religion
- It’s not possible to produce a universal definition of religion to cover all cases since everyone defines religion differently
- ALDRIDGE: followers of scientology believe it’s a religion but the government has denied it legal status as one
- This shows that definitions of religion are influenced by those in power
+ This approach allows for the meanings people give to religion to be identified
x Generalisations about the nature of religion can’t be made
What are Durkheim’s 4 key ideas about religion?
- The sacred are things which are set apart and forbidden, surrounded by taboos and evoking feelings of awe. The profane are things which have no special significance. When people worship sacred things they worship society itself.
- He studied Arunta clans who worshipped a sacred totem and found that the rituals reinforce the group’s solidarity and sense of belonging.
- Sacred symbols represent society’s collective conscience. Shared religious rituals bind individuals together and religion motivates and strengthens individuals to overcome obstacles.
- Religion is the source of our cognitive capacities and is the origin of human thought, reason and science.
What are the criticisms of Durkheim?
x WORSLEY: there isn’t a sharp division between the sacred and the profane and different clans share the same totems
x MESTROVIC: Durkheim’s ideas can’t be applied to contemporary society because diversity has fragmented the collective conscience
What are the psychological functions of religion according to Malinowski?
- Where the outcome is important but uncontrollable so uncertain
Malinowski studied Trobriand islanders and found a difference between lagoon fishing, which uses safe, predictable methods, and ocean fishing which is dangerous and uncertain so requires rituals to ensure success. The rituals reinforce group solidarity and act as a ‘god of the gaps’. - At times of life crises
Events like brith and death cause disruptive changes in social groups but religion helps to minimise the disruption. Malinowski says death is the main reason for the existence of religious beliefs.
What are Parsons’ views on religion?
He says religion
1. creates and legitimate society’s central values by making them sacred, thus promoting value consensus and social stability
2. is the primary source of meaning because it answers questions that seem to have no answer. This helps people to adjust to adverse events and maintains stability.
What are Bellah’s ideas about civil religion?
- Civil religion is a belief system that attaches sacred qualities to society
- It involves loyalty to the nation state and a belief in God and is expressed through rituals such as singing the national anthem.
- It involves belief in an ‘american god’ rather than a Jewish, Protestant or Catholic god and so it binds together americans from all backgrounds
What does Bellah say about functional alternatives?
Bellah says that although civil religion involves a belief in God, it doesn’t have to be the case and some other belief system could perform the same functions but have non religious beliefs.
Evaluate the functionalist beliefs of religion.
x It neglects negative aspects like religion as a source of oppression of the poor or women
x It ignores religion as a source of division and conflict
x Civil religion may not actually be a religion because it doesn’t involve belief in the supernatural
What are the Marxist ideas about religion as an ideology?
- MARX says religion acts as an ideological weapon used by the ruling class to legitimate the suffering of the poor as something inevitable and god-given
- The poor are misled into believing that their suffering is virtuous and will be rewarded in the afterlife, which creates a false consciousness.
- LEVIN: religion is a spiritual gin doled out to the masses by the ruling class or prevent them from trying to overthrow the ruling class.
What are the Marxist ideas about religion and alienation?
- Under capitalism, workers are alienated because they become separated from what they have produced.
- Religion acts as an opiate to dull the pain of exploitation; MARX says religion is the ‘opium of the people’.
- Religions’ promises of sn afterlife create an illusory happiness to distract attention from capitalism.
Evaluate the Marxist theories of religion.
- Neo-Marxists say that there are forms of religion which assist rather than hinder the development of class consciousness.
- ALTHUSSER: alienation is an unscientific concept based on a romantic idea that humans have a ‘true self’
- HILL & TURNER: Although Christianity was a big part of ruling class ideology, it had a limited impact on the peasantry, therefore religion doesnt necessarily function as an ideology to control the population.
What do feminists present as evidence of patriarchy in religion?
- Religious organisations are mainly male dominated. Orthodox Judaism and catholicism forbid women from becoming priests. ARMSTRONG: this exclusion is evidence of women’s marginalisation.
- Places of worship marginalise women, restrict women’s participation and have taboos regarding menstruation, pregnancy and childbirth eg in Islam, menstruating women can’t touch the Quran. HOLM: describes this as the devaluation of women in religion.
- Sacred texts feature the doings of male gods and are usually written by men with stories reflecting anti-female stereotypes.
- Religious laws and customs may give women fewer rights that men and legitimate women’s traditional domestic role. WOODHEAD says this is evidence of the church’s deep unease about the emancipation of women.
What are feminist critiques regarding the evidence of patriarchy in religion?
- ARMSTRONG: women haven’t always been subordinate to men within religion. 6000 years shim religious placed women at the center eg mother goddesses.
- SADAAWI: religion isn’t the direct cause of women’s subordination but it’s the patriarchal forms of society which have developed.
- WOODHEAD: criticises feminist explanations that equate religion with patriarchy and argues that there are ways women can use religion to gain freedom and respect eg hijabs as a source of liberation not oppression.
- BRUSCO: belonging to a Pentecostal group can be empowering for some women such as using bible study groups to share and support each other.
What are the two religious forms of feminism?
- Piety movements
Conservative movements that support traditional teachings about women’s rule. - Liberal protestant organisations
Movements committed to gender equality and where women play leading roles. eg Quakers, Unitarians.
What are the two ways in which religion acts as a conservative force?
- Religions beliefs
Religion upholds traditional beliefs about how society should be organised - Religion functions to preserve things as they are by maintaining the status quo (consensus, capitalism, patriarchy)
What are the 4 key Calvinist beliefs identified by Weber?
- Predestination
God had predetermined which souls would be saved - the ‘elect’ - and nothing could be done to change it. - Divine transcendence
God is far and above the world so no one can claim to know His will. This created a salvation panic- not knowing whether they were part of the ‘elect’ and not being able to change their position. - Asceticism
Abstinence, self discipline and self denial to devote your life to God. - The idea of a vocation/ calling
Before calvinism there was other-worldly asceticism which was renouncing daily life to join a monastery. Calvinism brought about this-worldly asceticism which is a vocation involving constant, methodical work in an occupation. Their hard work had 2 consequences:
- their wealth was seen as a sign of God’s favour and helped them to cope with their salvation panic.
- their wealth was invested and led to prosperity which brought about capitalism.
What are the ideas about Hinduism and Confucianism?
- Hinduism was ascetic but other-worldly; it directed its followers away from the material world and towards the spiritual world.
- Confucianism this-worldly and directed it’s followers towards the material world but it wasn’t ascetic.
- Both religions lacked the drive to gain the wealth required for capitalism. Calvinism combined asceticism and a this-worldly orientation to allow capitalism to emerge.
Evaluate Weber’s ideas about religion as a force for change.
- KAUTSKY: Weber overestimates the rise of ideas and underestimates the role of economic factors in bringing about capitalism. Capitalism came before rather than after Calvinism.
- TAWNEY: technological change rather than religious ideas caused the birth of capitalism.
- Capitlism didn’t develop in every county where there were calvinists.
What was the American Civil Rights Movement?
- Although slavery had been abolished, black people were still denied legal and political rights due to segregation.
- BRUCE: the black clergy were able to shame whites into changing the law by appealing to their shared Christian values of equality.
- Religious organisations are well equipped to contribute to social change by:
- taking the moral high ground
- channeling dissent
- acting as honest broker
- mobilising public opinion across america
- Bruce says the movement was successful because it shared the same values as wider society and those in power.
What was the New Christian Right?
- It aimed to ‘take America back to God’ such as by criminalising abortion, homosexuality, abortion & divorce and reinforcing traditional family nd gender roles.
- It used televangelism to raise funds and broadcast programmes aimed at making concerts and recruiting new members.
It was unsuccessful because: - it’s campaigners couldn’t cooperate with other religious groups despite campaigning on the same issues.
- it lacked widespread support and was met with opposition from people who stood for freedom of choice
What did Bloch say about the principle of hope?
- Religion is an expression of the principle of hope; our dreams for a better life that contains images of utopia.
- Bloch says we should look at both the positive and negative influence of religion on social change: religion may deceive people with promises of rewards in heaven but may also help people see what needs to be change.
- If the vision of a better world is combined with effective leadership, to can bring about social change.
What is liberation theology?
- A movement with strong commitment to the poor and opposition to military dictatorships.
- Priests helped the oppressed against the dictatorships such as by developing literacy programmes.
- Pope John Paul condemned it on the grounds that it resembled Marxism and the movement lost its influence.
- CASANOVA: LT played an important part in resisting state terror and bringing about democracy.
- MADURO: religion can be a force for change; the LT used religious ideas to make the catholic clergy defend the peasants.
Explain how Lehmann identified between liberation theology and pentecostalism.
- LT is an option for the poor through community consciousness. It is a radical solution to poverty; collective improvement through political action in the public sphere.
- Pentecostalism is an option for the poor by individuals using their own efforts to pull themselves out of poverty with the support of the congregation. It is a conservative solution to poverty; individual improvement through the private sphere of the family and church.
Describe the millenarian movements.
- Movements with the desire to bring about change here and now and bring the kingdom of God on earth
- WORSLEY studied MMs in Melanesia known as cargo cults. They arose because the islanders felt wrongfully deprived when cargo arrived for the colonists. These movements led to unrest which threatened colonial rule.
- Worsley says these movements are pre-political; they used religious ideas and images but they united native populations in mass movements.
- ENGELS: the movements represent the first awakening of proletarian self consciousness.
What did Gramsci say about religion and hegemony?
- Hegemony is the way the ruling class use ideas and popular consent to maintain control. The working class can develop an alternative vision of how society should be organised which is a counter hegemony.
- Gramsci says religion has a dual character; it can both challenge and support the ruling class.
What did Billings’ case study reveal about religion and class conflict?
- His case study of miners and textile workers showed that differences in levels of militancy can be understood in terms of hegemony and the role of religion.
- There are 3 ways in which religion euther supported or challngedthe employers’ hegemony:
- Leadership
The miners benefittedfrom the leadership of organic intellectuals like preachers, the textile workers lacked this leadership. - Organisation
The miners used churches to hold meetings and organise, the textile workers lacked such spaces. - Support
The churches kept the miners’ morale high with supportive sermons, prayer meetings and group singing. Textile workers who engaged in union activity were met with opposition from church leaders.
Billings concluded that religion can either defend the status quo or justify the struggle to change it.
What is secularisation?
WILSON defines it as the process by which religious beliefs, practices and institutions lose social significance.
What was church attendance in Britai like in the 19th century and why did this change?
- Evidence from the 1851 census of religious worship made CROCKETT estimate that in 1851, 40% of the adult population went to church on sundays. But this changed because of:
- a decline in the proportion of the population going to church
- a decline in the number of people holding religious beliefs
- an increase in the average age of churchgoers
- greater religious diversity
- fewer baptisms and church weddings
