What is religion Flashcards
(10 cards)
Define religion
Substansive definitions:
Weber: belief in a superior or supernatural power that is above nature and can’t be explained scientifically.
Advantages / Disadvantages
+) conform to widespread view of religion as belief in God
-) they have a Western bias
-) defining this way leaves no room for beliefs and practices that perform similar functions that don’t involve God.
Functional definitions
Durkheim: the key function of religion is to strengthen social solidarity and integration.
Yinger: answer questions about the meaning of life and what happens when we die.
Advantages / Disadvantages
+) inclusive- allows wide range of beliefs and practices
+) No bias
-) Just because an institutions helps integrate individual into groups doesn’t make it religious - football stadium
Social constructionist definitions
Not possible to produce a single universal definitions of religion since different individuals and groups mean different things by ‘‘religion’’
Alfridge:
Advantages / Disadvantages
+) allow them to get close to the meanings people with themselves give to religion because it does not assume all religion involves God and perform same functions
-) makes it impossible to generalise about the nature of religion since people may have different views.
Functionalists
Durkheim: all societies divide the world into 2 basic categories:
The profane: refers to mudane ordinary life daily routine
The sacred: anything which transcends the humdrum of everyday life. Take the form of collective representations.
Durkheim
Religion is the collective practice of marking off and maintaining distance between the sacred and the prone, done through rituals.
Totemism
Australian Aborginal tribe, The Aruna who came together to worship the totem.
Totem rituals served to reinforce the group’s solidarity.
Collective Conscience
