Chapter Fourteen

Religion

Using a separate sheet of paper answer the following questions:

How do you define religion?

What does religion mean to you?

Do you believe in the supernatural?

If you do believe in the supernatural, how do you imagine it to be?

Religion – A unified system of beliefs and practices concerned with sacred things

Sacred – Holy; set apart and given a special meaning that goes beyond, or transcends, immediate existence

Profane - Nonsacred

Sociologists do not study religion to find out its truths, rather they study religion to understand the role in plays in peoples lives

Read “Religion at War” pg. 466 T/F Most wars are about religion?

Are religious wars a part of functionalism or conflict theory?

All societies have religion in some form…what is its function?

Emile Durkheim – 1st to study religion scientifically

His social functions of religion…do you agree?

-Gives formal approval to existing social arrangements

-Encourages a sense of unity

-Provides a sense of understanding

-Promotes a sense of belonging

Conflict Theory, Karl Marx & “The Opiate of the Masses”

How did Marx see the powerful using religion? Do you agree?

Max Weber & Social Change through Religion

Spirit of Capitalism – The obligation to reinvest money in business rather than spend it

Protestant Ethic – A set of values, norms, beliefs, and attitudes stressing hard work, thrift and self-discipline

How did these ideas lead to social change?

What role did Calvinists play in developing these ideas?

Church – A life-encompassing religious organization to which all members of a society belong

Denomination – One of several religious organizations that most members of a society accept as legitimate

Sect – A religious organization that arises out of a desire to reform an existing religious organization

Cult – A religious organization whose characteristics are not drawn from existing religious traditions within a society

Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas

1993

Religiosity – Ways in which people express their religious interests and convictions

How do people display religiosity?

Belief – what a person considers to be true

Ritual – a religious practice

Intellectual dimension – knowledge of faith

Experience – feelings attached to the religion

Consequences – what happens as a result of your choices

Snapshot of America pg. 480 – What generalizations can you make?

Secularization – Process by which the sacred loses influence over societyHow does Fig. 14.6 on pg. 485 compare with the chart on pg. 468?1

Fundamentalism – The resistance of secularization and the rigid adherence to traditional religious beliefs, rituals, and doctrines

Why is fundamentalism so strong today?

Religion, Class, Politics, Science and Society