What is Religion

Question 1

Substantive definitions

Answer 1

• defines religion by explaining what religion is in terms of content, rather than what it does e.g. religion is the belief in one God.
• exclusive : they draw a clear line between religious and non religious beliefs.
• to be a religion, a set of beliefs must include belief in God or the supernatural.
• conform to a widespread view of religion as belief in God

Question 2

Substantive definition - Weber

Answer 2

defines religion as belief in a superior or supernatural power that is above nature and cannot be explained scientifically.

Question 3

Substantive definition - Critcisms

Answer 3

• defining religion in this way leaves no room for beliefs and practices that perform similar functions to religion but do not involve belief in God.
• accused of Western bias because they exclude religions such as Buddhism which do not have the Western idea of a God.

Question 4

Functional Definition

Answer 4

• defines religion in terms of social or psychological functions it performs for society and it’s individuals.

Question 5

Functional definition - Durkheim

Answer 5

defines religion in terms of the contribution it makes to social integration, rather than any specific belief in God or the supernatural.

Question 6

Functional Definitions - Yinger

Answer 6

identifies functions that religion performs for individuals such as answering ‘ultimate questions’ about the meaning of life and what happens when we die.

Question 7

Functional Definition - Criticism

Answer 7

• an advantage is that they are inclusive: allowing us to include a wide range of beliefs and practices that perform functions such as integration.
• Since they do not specify belief in one God or the supernatural there is no bias against non Western religions such as Buddhism. However just because an institution helps integrate individuals into groups, this does not make it a religion. For example collective chanting at football matches might give individuals a sense of integration but this does not mean it’s a religion.
• therefore it is too inclusive including agencies that provide similar functions to society as traditional religions but are not religious.

Question 8

Constructionist Definitions

Answer 8

• take an interpretivist approach that focuses on how members of society themselves define religion. They argue that it is not possible to produce a single universal definition of religion to cover all cases since in reality different individuals and groups mean very different things by ‘religion.’
• interested in how definitions of religion are constructed, challenged and fought over.

Question 9

Constructionist Definitions - Aldridge

Answer 9

shows how for it’s followers scientology is a religion, whereas several governments have denied it’s legal status as a religion and sought to ban it. This shows that definitions of religion can be contested and are influenced by who has power to define the situation.

Question 10

Constructionist definitions - Evaluation

Answer 10

• do not assume that religion always involves a belief in God or the supernatural, or that it performs similar functions for everyone in all societies.
  Their approach allows them to get close to the meanings people themselves give to religion.
  However this makes it impossible to generalise about the nature of religion, since people may have widely differing views about what counts as a religion.