The Importance Of Religion On Religion

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.

Humanity is constantly searching for inclusion. Everyone has an innate and incurable desire to feel like, to feel wanted, to feel needed. For many people, religion is a tool to achieving that goal. Religion is like an open door to a group of peers who are often accepting and loving all all strangers who seek embrace. However, the problem of religion arises when it becomes too self serving and the original purpose of religion is forgotten, the morality and kindness that God embodies. Illuminating the undeniable similarities between all forms of religion, religious wars become insignificant, proving the human desire to achieve superiority and dominance with their social group.

This paper explores the different views of religion between three sociologist writers, Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Emile Durkheim. It discusses a few different religions and the percent of Indiana that is religious. It will go into examples about how religion has developed over time and how Christians all have one big thing in common. Throughout the paper, it will explain how Christians are trying to share the word of God and make their community a better place.

Marxist believe that religion acts inevitably as a conservative force because religion is an ideological state apparatus which spreads capitalist ideas, thus maintains the social hierarchy, and in doing so maintains harmony and consensus in society. This is reinforced by Marx who claims religion is the opium of the people hence religion dulls the pain of oppression for them. Marx claims that religion is still a conservative force as through the use of ideology it justifies the oppression of the proletariat e.g. in the hymn ‘rich man at his castle the poor man at his gate, god made them high and ordered their estate’. This suggests god created inequality; as a result

In reading the chapters for this week’s studies, I felt the conflict theory would be of most value in this topic simply because of its very nature. We learned that there is one origin by Mr. Karl Marx, who was able to see that there were two types of classes of people that we were dealing with. One was the producers and the other was the laborers. The conflict theory stresses the fact of how one class of people exploits the other class of people. Hence the distinction of the two classes, known as the lower class and the upper class. If we were to analyze these two classes of people we would see that this the very reason why segregation and division was born in this world in order for man to separate the good from the bad, the rich from the poor, the healthy from the unhealthy. It has been this way from the beginning of time. The cultural poverty class is known to have a stricken mindset mentally. They are not able to see past their current status nor are they able to train their mind to have hope for a better future, because they have already decided they will not flourish in their mind and they will struggle for the rest of their days. According to the word of God, we are to live a priestly lifestyle. It was never God’s intention for us to live below our means, it is his will that we live a holy, righteous life in Christ and be prosperous and blessed.

“Religion is a ritualized system of beliefs and practices related to things defined as sacred by an organized community of believers.” (Basirico et.al. 379). Religion is an important element in the society because it influences the way individuals act and think. It has shaped the relationship and bonding among families as well as influenced the decision made in economics and politics. Religion in general has contributed to shape a society and a government structure which will influence the way the individuals under certain governmental structure behave. Sociologists are interested in religion mainly because religious belief is heavily rooted in individuals’ lives and it helps sociologists to interpret human’s actions, expression, and

Religion is and has always been a primary foundation for individuals, families and communities. It plays a tremendous role, and can be interpreted as the engine of life, which holds people in good and in bad moments. Individuals find in religion a refuge. Such is the influence of worship, regardless of the type that it is, it has served in human beings over the centuries; therefore, these influences have brought with it a large number of situations and opinions which have indeed managed to leave no one indifferent. In the same way, there have been wars and armed conflicts of various kinds that have sustained in the religion to be carried out. According to Marsden “The term religion may be

Despite the religion or country, belief systems can prevail to form and encompass all aspects of society. From the way food is prepared to the architectural design of buildings are just some ways religion has the ability to mold the world. Whether it is Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, or another religion, they all play a key role in the American way of life. The consistent battle between different denominations, religions, and non-believers over how much of a specific religion can have how much control is viewed through the conflict perspective lens. The main religion, Christianity, is the most dominant religion in the United States; hence, the core to many systems in the public. Sociologists Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim show that religion surfaces in the way that believers act, think, and the choices that they make in everyday life. Certain belief systems have had the ability to pacify, to keep the believers optimistic, and to serve as the backbone of many laws.

Religion can be defined as a pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance. It contains a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices that allow its followers to live their life a certain way. The world consists of 19 major religions, which are further subdivided into 270 larger groups. According to David Barrett et al, editor of the “World Christian Encyclopedia,” there are 34,000 separate Christian groups around the world. Just from those numbers alone, we can conclude that religion has a prevalent effect on people and society. Religion is viewed as a positive influence on an individual both psychologically and physically. Throughout history we can study the various effects that religion has on society. Studies generally provide great evidence in favor of religion having a positive effect on individuals and society as a whole.

Regarding the functionalist view, according to Parrillo (2014), “Emile Durkheim identified religion as an integrative bond for society, a theme elaborated on by modern functionalists” (p. 423). Using religious bonds, the societies identity and resolve could be strengthened (Parrillo, 2014, p. 401). Regarding the conflict view, several theorists concluded that mechanisms of social control could be used to protect the power of those in interest (Parrillo, 2014, p. 424). Resources of political and economic competition support the argument of peaceful or violent religious confrontation (Parrillo, 2014, p. 424). According to Parrillo (2014), “appearance is a key element in perceptions of different religions”, (p. 424). Some religions have embraced

In this essay, I am going to challenge the meaning of religion and the dimensions that it covers, while discussing several different questions often asked. Is violence in the world due to religion and non-religious people? People often argue that violence from others is because they are not religious. Instead of concluding that violence and religion are indeed related, what can we do to promote peace and find ways to make things right in the world we live in.

One could also use the conflict theory to look at Religion as well. The conflict theory is

The functionalist analysis of religion is concerned with the contribution religion makes to meeting society's needs such as social solidarity, value consensus and harmony and integration between its parts. Durkheim = == ==

According to Marx, religion can be seen as the opiate of the people (Engels, Marx 1955, p.41). Here, Marx is suggesting that just like opium, religion is trying to relieve people of the pain and suffering in their lives. Marx also puts forward the idea that religion is used by its oppressors in order to make people feel better about their lives. Thus, it can be seen that Marx chooses to adopt a negative view of religion. Max Weber can be seen as the only sociologist to place so much scope and emphasis on the subject of religion (Nisbet, p.250). Biographical and textual evidence suggests that biblical religion played a part in shaping and influencing Weber's life and the context of his sociology. Weber's main concern was to attempt to demonstrate that religious ideologies were not mechanically connected to the economic structure of society, however it does shape individuals behavior and actions in everyday life (Swingewood 1984, p.152). Weber also came to several conclusions regarding the remarkable relationship between capitalism and Protestant. According to Weber, the more capitalism had a free hand to alter social distribution, the larger the relationship between capitalism and protestant (1930, p.4). Overall, it can be seen that the three main sociology theorists differ greatly when it comes to ideas regarding to religion.

Religious beliefs in conjunction with the necessary economic conditions led to the development of the a full blown capitalist society. However through time, the religious foundation that formed the capitalist society gave way and the yearn for material success became “a casing as hard as steel” (Weber PA: 170). Religion created capitalism, but once it was in full swing, religious convictions disappeared and human beings became trapped in an iron cage as prisoners to capitalism. Thus, it is possible to live in a society without religion, but it would be a society that is soulless with increased strive for technological efficiency, rational calculation, and control.