Chapter 13 - Religion

Persistence thesis

(proposed by proposed by Daniel Bell, Rodney Stark, William Bainbridge) the assertion that religion will continue to have a significant place in the modern world because it has never actually declined or because people continue to have interests and needs that only religion can satisfy.

Structural Functionalist approach to Religion

Emile Durkheim. Through the use of totems (objects that symbolize or represent the sacred) and rituals (social practices whose purpose is to create and/or regulate the relationship between individuals and the divine), individuals experience the social solidarity-enhancing effects of religion.

Profane

Encompasses essentially everything else that are not deemed to warrant profound respect

Max Weber's view on Religion

Falls under Conflict Theory. A religion may arise as a counter-cultural social movement led by a charismatic leadership promoting social change, equality, and freedom. Yet, charismatic religious leadership has a tendency to become routinized. The routinization of charisma transforms divine enlightenment or inspiration into a permanent feature of everyday life.

Karl Marx's view on religion

Falls under Conflict Theory. Instead of changing unjust circumstances, the oppressed use religion to reinterpret these circumstances, and the dominant elite use religion to elicit submission and acceptance from the oppressed.

Feminist Theory approach to Religion

Frequently, religion has been used to reinforce patriarchy by placing women in a subordinate position.

Conflict Theory approach to Religion

Religion has been used to support inequalities based on social class and on race.

Dimensions of religiosity

the various facets of religious commitment, including belief, experience, practice, and knowledge.

Organizational typologies

This approach regards religious organizations as "firms" or "companies" who compete with each other for "market share" In a market of religion, governed by the economic principles of supply and demand, religious organizations supply services (e.g. counselling, pastoral care, youth activities, adult education, etc.) to the faithful who demand such religious activities to meet their various needs.

Church-sect typology

a framework, originating with Weber, in which religious organizations are studied in terms of ideal-type characteristics. Among these, churches emphasize works and accommodation to society, and are more highly bureaucratized; while sects emphasize faith and separation from society, tend to be less highly bureaucratized, and are often led by individuals with charismatic authority.

Monotheism

refers to belief in one god

Religious polarization

refers to the growing tendency of some people in a given setting to embrace religion and the tendency of others to reject it.

Secularization thesis

holds that religion as it has been traditionally known is continually declining, resulting in a loss of religious authority, societally and individually, as well as changes in religious organizations themselves, and becomes largely a matter of personal choice.

Sects

in contrast to cults, are groups that have broken away from established religions

Fundamentalists

interpret their scriptures literally, seek to establish a direct, personal relationship with the higher being(s) they worship, are relatively intolerant of non-fundamentalists, and often support conservative social and political issues

Collective conscience

is Durkheim's term referring to awareness that a group is more than the sum of its individual members and the belief that such awareness is experienced as the supernatural.

Personal religiosity

refers to the level of religious commitment characterizing an individual. Measured on these dimensions: Belief, Practice, Experience: have supernatural experiences, Knowledge: are aware of the central tenets of the faith group

Denominationalism

refers to the tendency for a wide variety of Protestant religious groups to come into being, seemingly reflecting variations not only in theology but also- and perhaps primarily- in social characteristics

Civil religion

refers to the tendency for nationalistic emphases to be nurtured by a society's religions, so that a culture takes on many religious-like characteristics. The term is most often used with respect to the United States.

Collective religiosity

religious commitment as manifested in and through religious groups; it is key to the creation and sustenance of personal religiosity. Measured on either typology: Church-sect typology Organizational typological approaches

Cults

religious groups that have their origins outside older religions.

Sacred

represents those things that are deemed to warrant profound respect

Religions

systems of meaning for interpreting the world that have a supernatural referent. "are concerned with discovering life's meaning"

Humanist perspectives

the systems of meaning that do not have a supernatural referent and that are used to interpret the world. "are concerned with making life meaningful"

Sacred and Profane

the two categories by which Durkheim claimed all things are classified