sociology in religion

In Chapter 2, “Religion Matters”, Prothero briefly discusses how religion has impacted America even if it seems subsided, and why we tend to neglect it. When it comes to some of the major events of American history, Prothero argues that “none of the classic events in American history…can be understood without some knowledge of the religious motivations” of its major players. (Prothero) Perhaps part of the reason we generally ignore this statement is because of confusion and controversies it presents in government rulings and school teachings.

“American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us,” by Robert D. Putnam and David E. Campbell, and “America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity,” by Robert Wuthnow, give different thoughts to religion and politics in the United States. Putnam and Campbell utilize the concepts of shocks and aftershocks to highlight religious changes in the United States. On the other hand, Wuthnow uses observations to focus on the encounters of religious diversity in the United States. Wuthnow compares American Christianity with other popular religions in America and how Christianity has affected the perception of religion. Putnam and Campbell’s “American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us” is a more persuasive assessment of American religion and politics.

In American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation, Jon Meacham explores the dynamic relationship between religion and government in America in the hope that contemporary America can learn from the past. The period covered by the book spans from 1620 until Reagan’s presidency in the late 1980s. However, Meacham focuses on the Founding Fathers stances and their continued impact on American politics. More specifically, the book details the conflict over the separation of private religious expression and the more neutral ‘public religion’.

Hey Diana, I am writing this letter today with hopes to inform you about a religions course I am taking. I know you are a history guy so I thought it would be interesting to write about the religious history of America. The United States happens to be one of very few major nations in history to be founded and established on principles of separation of church and state. This book I am reading, “The Religious History of America”, by Edwin Gaustad and Leigh Schmidt, gives a great overview of the different strand of religious development in the United States. They are divided into four fundamental time periods: the Colonial times; the Revolutionary War to the Civil War; Post Civil War to

Today there are more than 1,500 religious bodies in the United States, ranging from the more than 66 million members of the Roman Catholic Church to sects with fewer than 1,000 adherents. In virtually every region of the country, religion is being expressed in greater variety, whether it be the Latinization of Catholicism and some Christian faiths or the de-Europeanizing of some established Protestant faiths as with Asian Americans or the de-Christianizing of the overall religious landscape with Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, and others (Roof, 2007).

From American journal Daedalus ‘Biblical Religion and Civil Religion in America’, pages 1-22, written by distinguished American sociologist Robert N. Bellah in 1967. Bellah examines presidential addresses and argues that American civil religion is distinct from other religions present in America but, displays significant characteristics of religion. The purpose of this review is to critically evaluate ‘Civil Religion in America’ and the key concepts of whether a secular society is guided by religious ideologies, concentrating Bellah’s argument that there is an unconsciousness ‘civil religion’ guiding the American society.

"Given the division of opinion on religion's contribution to American society, this present study seeks to shed light on the topic by making an estimate of religion's socio-economic value to society," the Grims said in the study.

This week we are focusing on the types of people who come to our selected field site. The individuals who frequent Free Church all have one thing in common, they attend the church because they want to learn more about the Christian religion, worship God, and possibly meet other people who have the same desire. In some cases the members may have grown up in a Christian family where they have been going to church since they were young, or they could have found Christianity later in their lives. Moreover in my research, I saw that men were going to men’s ministry to learn what it means to be a “man” within the context of Christian teachings, and women were going to women’s ministry to lean the same thing. Josie and I discussed that in terms of the racial make-up of, The Free Church’s membership is predominantly European-American, although almost all ethnic groups are represented in the Church’s population. With regards to socio-economic status, most of the people at the

In conclusion, religious participation has influenced key aspects in Americans and has suffered from the numbers of Americans losing influence of participating. Putnam’s book gives a major insight on how Americans hold the power to raise and lower rates of religious participation. The ability to give readers an insight on Americans power is a key reason as to why I would recommend Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community to others.

An examination of data from the 1980s and 1990s from the General Social Survey; concluding that at the end of the twentieth century American religion reflected major social-economic differences between denominations; arguing those distinctions were modeled by if necessary, theology, liturgy style, and race; groups with a hierarchical church organization and their styles of worship are formal then they tend to rank higher in the socio-economic groups and the groups they have the emotional styles of worship, theologically conservative and sectarianism, with congregational polity, and more informal services had the propensity to rank lower on the socio-economic scale. Points out that it has been noted that there is a connection in the styles of

Religion is one of the most difficult topics in life, not to mention the oldest. People look for the ultimate truth to religion, which in my opinion leads to misguidance and a slant of science. I think this helps true believers find their way to a faith; it certainly helped me. Science does get carried away at times; however, it is good that people are questioning stories from the bible because then we can see how corrupt the world is. Why can 't faith exist? Why does everything have to be black and white? The real truth is within yourself! Believing or not believing in something is solely your decision. Nonetheless, does the sociological study of religion undermine one 's religious faith, make it stronger, or does no harm?

Overall, the service felt like they were lecturing people and guiding them to live better lives. Actually, this could be related to Sigmund Freud’s theory on religion. It felt like all the people were treated as children, and according to Freud, through religion we are infants to God(s). Joachim Wach’s descriptive definition of religion can be found throughout the service I attended. In service, they read from the bible and that is the theoretical part of religion that communicates the belief system. Service required a gathering of people, so religion was sociological. During service, I witness recitation, sermon, sacramental rite, personal prayers, and song. Indeed, these met the criteria that religion requires doing something to get in touch

This work examines Durkheim’s sociological approach to religion. Several central aspects of Durkheim’s approach are defined, including the concepts of religion, clan, and totem. The Totemic Principle and how it can be applied to religion is also discussed. Supporting evidence for Durkheim is offered through Eliade, while dissension is offered by Malinowski. This work concludes with an example of Durkheim’s ideas applied to the story of Lame Deer.

Along with Durkheim and Marx, Weber was one of the most influential thinkers in the foundation of the field of sociology, Weber namely in establishing the subject of the sociology of religion. Weber’s mother was a devout Calvinist, while his father was involved in politics and intellectual pursuits. In addition to his vast education in many fields, Weber was also a jurist, and a teacher at the Universities of Berlin and Heidelberg. Max Weber favoured a hermeneutical approach to studying religion (McCutcheon 2007, p.188) in a method known as Verstehen. This refers to wishing to understand the deeper significance of something, in this case religion, by studying it from the perspective and experience of another, and the meaning they then attach to it. Since religious beliefs affect people’s behaviour, Weber believed that religions could have profound effects on societies and their development (Connolly 1999, p.199).

In society, people strived for social interaction among one another by grouping themselves with individuals who are like minded. This type of classification normally consist of various type of cultural similarities to include but not limited to ethnic background, food, music, fashion and arts. Another form of classification that has been instilled in the world for many years is religion. Religion is the organization of spiritual, sacred and biblical beliefs that express the existence of a higher supernatural power or god. Even though every religion has their own specific practices, it has been apparent that such beliefs have a profound effect on society. How much social purpose and control can religion have on an individual is yet to be seen.