Chapter 17- Religion Flashcards
A cultural system of commonly shared beliefs and rituals that provides a sense of meaning and purpose by creating an idea of reality that is sacred, all-encompassing, and supernatural.
Religion
Religion is a form of culture and a cultural universal
All religions have a behavioral aspect
Religion provides a sense of purpose in life
Religion.
Not concerned with truth of religion
Focus is on the organization and institutionalization
Often see religions as unifying but also see where they can lead to conflicts
Religious is explained by social, rather than psychical or spiritual factors
Sociologists approach to religion
Saw eastern religions as oriented differently
For him, religion is a means to bring social change
Max Weber
Called religion the “opium of people”, tool for oppression and exploitation
Felt that people are drugged by religion and do not have an accurate view of the social problems around them,
Felt that religion leads people to a false consciousness
Felt that religion serves to enhance and protect the dominating group of society
Karl Marx
The sense that our own abilities as human beings are taken over by other entities
Karl Marx said religion controlled us
Alienation
Said that:
Societies that provide less personal security are more likely to lead people to find security through religion and prayer
Poor people are more likely to be religious
Norris and inglehart (2004)
Said religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things
Ex: Beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a church
For him, religion is a means of COHESION
Emile durkheim’s
The elementary forms of the religious life
3 elements of religion in his “The elementary forms of the religious life”
Beliefs that some things are sacred and forbidden
Practices(rituals) centered on things considered sacred
A moral community(church) resulting from a group’s beliefs and practices
Durkheim
The sacred beliefs, practices, and symbols associated with a particular nation, state, or community, which may or may not contain elements of a traditional organized religion
Ex: constitution; flag; july 4th
Civil religion
His article “civil religion in America” wrote of how American ideals have taken on a role similar to those of traditional religious symbols in the United States
He analyzed key speeches by presidents in American history, noticing their parallels with biblical imagery
Ex: presidents usually end speeches by said “God bless America”
Civil religion
Robert N. Bella’s
Beliefs: ideas that explain the world and identify what should be sacred or held in awe
Rituals: a set of regularly repeated, prescribed, and traditional behaviors that serve to symbolize some value or belief
Components of religion
New religion with few followers
It’s teachings and practices are at odds with the dominant culture and religion
Stark said, in 1989, that all religions begin as cults
Most cults fail, but if they succeed, cults change into a sect
Cult
A religious group larger than a cult that feels hostility from and toward society
Behavior of members tends to be spontaneous
Tend to see themselves apart from the larger society
If a sect grows, it changes into a denomination
Sect
An organized religious group with at least a few different beliefs that distinguish it from other such groups
More than 200 in the US
Typically provide resources to individual congregations who affiliate with them
Denomination
A religious group deeply integrated into the dominant culture
Also called state religion
Government and religion work together to try to shape society
Ecclesia
Religious movements that help its followers succeed in the outside world
World affirming movements
Religious movements that at exclusive in nature, critical of the outside world, and DEMANDING of their members
Total institutions: groups who exercise control over their members
World rejecting movements
Religious movements that emphasize the importance of inner religious life and spiritual purity over worldly concerns
World accommodating movements
Women more likely to take up new religions; treated badly by old religions
Religion and motherhood are the key bases of self validation available to most traditional women, including those in the developed world
Women are more religious than men
Usually believed that people generally get more religious as they age
In the US:
Childhood religiosity is high
Less religious post high school period
Increased religiosity during child upbringing years
Do we become more religious as we age?
A process of declining influence of religion in society
Religion loses significance in a society
Secular means belonging to world and its affairs
Secularization theory- religion eventually will die with the gradual separation of religion from state and progress of society
Secularization
Said “Secularization is best understood not as a decline of religion, but as the declining scope of religious authority”
Chaves (1994)
Developed a Secularization theory based on existential security
This theory claims that high levels of physical and economic security in the society are closely associated with the Secularization process
Norris and Inglehart(2004)
Religions are organizations in competition with each other for followers
Religious pluralism and religious participation are positively correlated
Religious economy (religion-market theory) early 1990s
Only 10% Europeans go to church on sunday
Religion is kept private
Greater safety nets for poor
Morals are still high
Homicide (murder) rate is 25% in Europe compared to the US
European irreligion
Higher level of religiosity than almost any other developed country
Twice as many Americans as Europeans say they attend church regularly
80% Americans believe in God
2/3 Americans would not vote for an irreligious president
American exceptionalism
Fastest growing religion in US is “ no religious preference”
Decline of religion in America
Prosperity becomes the goal of being religious
Prayer and good works will make an individual prosperous
Grace comes to those who donate to church of prosperity preacher
Promise of Prosperity
A God exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life
God wants people to be good to each other
The central goal of life is to be happy and feel good about oneself
God does not need to be particularly involved in ones life except when god is needed to solve a problem
Good people go to heaven when they die
Smith(2009): moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD)
