A Functionalist View Of Religion

In his view it serves psychological functions for individuals helping them cope with emotional stress that would undermine social solidarity. He argues that death is the main reason for religious beliefs and identifies two types of situations: where the outcome is important but uncontrollable and thus uncertain and at times of life crises events such as birth, death etc. religion helps to minimise disruption.

As time has progressed, religious scrutiny has expanded. Systems of faith are often written off as fruitless, but religion holds strong purposes. Cultures have religion to explain surroundings, unite individuals, and provide hope.

Religion is defined as A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual being (Mifflin). It is known that many of our behaviours are determined by the presence of religion in one's life. Religion implants its principles in a person and their attitudes, personality, morals and ethics and alters it to a great extent. This

Religion has held an important role in society since the beginning of civilisation and it has such power over people’s minds and shape the way our world developed. Whilst some sociological theories such as functionalist sees religion as performing a positive function in society as it can lead to social solidarity, integrating people into society, other sociological theories such as Marxist and Feminist totally disagrees with this and would argue that religion leads to instability and conflict in society.

In the study of religion, one can quickly discern that there are two major differentiations between the anthropological definition of religion, and that of religion in the context of belief systems. Religion, in the context of anthropology, can often be related to social institutions. On the other hand, religion in the context of belief systems indicate faith in something or someone...such as oneself, a god, or object. As identified by scholar Clifford Geertz, the anthropological definition of religion is “a system of symbols which acts to (1) establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by (2) formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and (3) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality

Religion and Education is a society "norm", meaning it is very typical. Norms such as these are apart of what keeps our society balanced. Society is a giant system of interconnected parts that work together to maintain a state of balance; Or is society just in a state of perpetual conflict? Rather than conformity, balance is maintained through domination and power of the higher class. Two Sociologist set out to find the answer of how our society remains relatively stable and gave us two theories. The "Conflict theory" and "Functionalist Theory". Though these Sociologist both agree that religion and education help maintain societies stability, there reasoning behind it couldn 't be more opposite.

Functionalism is a macro theory, which is based on society as a whole, rather than just that of the individual. It is argued that functionalism generates many things for society. Religion, from a functionalist point of view, socialises people, teaching them norms and values of society, which are the basis for social unity. Religion further is a structure within functionalism which aids in influencing individuals lives. Functionalism claims that social solidarity, the uniting of people in society is an important part of maintaining social order, which is a functional pre-requisite for society to survive. In addition, Functionalists use the term, ‘Organic Analogy’,

According to the book, World Religions Today, by John L. Esposito, Darrell J. Fasching, and Todd Lewis, under the section entitled The Sacred, it states that religion “expresses our sense of being “tied and bound” by relations of obligation to whatever powers we believe govern our destiny-whether these powers be natural or supernatural, personal or impersonal, one or many” (9). Furthermore, the book World Religions Today, by John L. Esposito, Darrell J. Fasching, and Todd Lewis, states that the religions of various people over the years or centuries have proven to be essentially as diverse as the types or forms of power that people essentially believe govern human destiny. In which these types or forms of power “ have ranged from gods as

Theorists philosophical attempt at understanding and interpreting why religion has played a significant part in human society from an early time period is a result of the humans’ thirst for knowledge. Scientific and intellectual advancement is the only way to achieve maximum potential in our lifetimes. For this sole purpose, scientists idealize theories that could potentially be a breakthrough in our knowledge of the beginning of religion. If scientists’ discovered this anomaly, our understanding from that time period could possibly open up many doors into research. According to B. A. Robinson, from a time when homo-sapiens brains were

The meaning of religion is something that scholars, along with society at large, have attempted to define for centuries. Although the term cannot truly have one solid meaning, it is clear that religion is much more than a set of beliefs and practices. In Religion: The Basics, author Mallory Nye discusses his approach to studying religion. In arguing that culture and religion strongly influence each other, he explains that those studying religion must make people and culture their focus, as variations even within the same religions exist and must be considered. Moreover, Nye explains how religion is, essentially, a universal concept, as it takes form in an array of shapes across the globe. With Nye’s argument, I have developed new insights

Religion has been taught as a set of beliefs that relates to the forces of nature, a cause, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a deity and/or associates. It would often contain a moral pull to themselves and onto others and creates the goodness they believe in and what they think what is right and what is wrong. Whatever the religion they worship, many of them strongly believes on their beliefs and their ties would become so powerful, it could give hope to many, or be seen as a controlling cult. In their own way, they are their own utopia and society like the books, "The Giver" and "Fahrenheit 451." Though not all, the worshippers believe the other is wrong and tries to convert or condemns them, they

In this essay I will be looking at the theories of Edward Burnett Tylor and Émile Durkheim, and comparing them to see which theory I think gives a better explanation about what religion is, or whether religion is actually definable. On the one hand we have Tylor’s theory that tells us that religion is belief in spiritual beings and that religion is just a step on the way to reaching full evolutionary potential. Durkheim’s theory, however, says that religion is very much a social aspect of life, and something can only be religious or “sacred” if it is something public (Durkheim 1965:52). Ultimately these theories do not give us an outright explanation about what ‘religion’ is, but there are aspects of the theory that can be used to gain an understanding or idea.

Freud believes that religion holds a value, but not that value that appears at the surface. According to Freud, religion is a “illusion”. In other words, God was just created for another purpose. “They are illusions, fulfilments of the oldest, strongest and most urgent wishes of mankind. The secret of their strength lies in the strength of whose wishes” (Freud 38).

Religion has been a powerful force in human history. Mankind has longed and searched for the answers to its purpose, the reason for being and the possibility of life after physical death. They reasoned that an afterlife would be a place of accounting and reckoning for the life they lived on earth. Religious belief systems seemed to give the answers as to how to prepare for the afterlife. Religion became the means of giving answers to those basic yet deep-seated questions of both life and death. Religion provided a format of rules and laws for conduct and treatment toward others based on the desires and wishes of a god or gods that people envisioned, imagined or invented. Religious belief systems have been a powerful force for good and bad...good in the sense that it provided a measure of individual behavior and order in society for the wellbeing of the whole, but bad in the sense that men of ambition who craved power and control over others would often use religion as a tool of manipulation and fear. A casual glance of history tells us that complete civilizations have been built, grown and maintained around elaborate religious systems, ancient Egypt being a prime example.

The Problem of Definition of Religion The study of religion is problematic. There are so many dimensions to religion (belief, practice, experience, knowledge and consequences) that it is impossible to provide a conclusive definition. Most sociologists do not believe in God. Functionalist views on Religion -------------------------------