1. Sociology of Religion
February 27th University of Toronto, Introduction to Sociology Christian Caron and Adam Isaiah Green
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2. What is Religion How do we know what we know? Historically: Religion
Offered answers to most of life’s questions (truth/false, right/wrong)
Imbued every aspect of human social life with meaning (birth, death, rites of passage)
Religious beliefs so common that most societies had no word for religion
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3. What is Religion Religion is ______?
You can also tweet your thoughts with #uoftsocrel on Twitter
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4. What is Religion Means different things – No consensus on definitions
Substantive definitions – Focus on what religion is
to be religious is to ‘believe’ in something
to be religious entails actions
to be religious involves emotions
religion is a social phenomenon
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5. What is Religion Functional definitions – Focus on what religion does
provides meaning and purpose to life
promotes social cohesion and a sense of belonging
provides social control
Many definitions attempt to combine both, such as sociologist Emile Durkheim:
Religion as a system of beliefs, symbols, rituals, based on some sacred or supernatural realm, that guides human behavior, gives meaning to life, and unites believers into a community
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6. World’s 16 Largest Religions
Christianity: 2.1 billion
Islam: 1.5 billion
Hinduism: 900 million
Chinese folk: 394 million
Buddhism: 376 million
Sikhism: 23 million
Juche: 19 million
Spiritism: 15 million
Judaism: 14 million
Falun Gong: 10 million
Baha'i: 7 million
Cao Dai: 5 million
Confucianism 5 million
New Age 5 million
Jainism: 4 million
Shinto: 4 million
Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 1.1 billion
Source: Bibby, Reginald W. (2011a). Beyond the Gods & Back: Religion’s Rise and Demise and Why it Matters. Lethbridge, AB: Project Canada Books, p.201. Drawn from and
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7. Religion in the news
Policemen and soldiers in Cameroon gather around the vehicle in which seven members of a French family were riding before being kidnapped near the Nigerian border on Feb. 19, 2013
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8. Religion in the news
PM establishes Office of Religious Freedom to promote freedom of religion around the world Stephen Harper looks on as Dr. Andrew Bennett, right, shakes hands with Muslim cleric Lai Khan Malik in Vaughan (Feb 20th)
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9. Religion in the news
Catholic schools: Ontario parents fighting to have children exempt from religious studies (Feb 3rd) Oliver Erazo, with sons Amilcar, left, and Jonathan (in grades 12 and 10, respectively), chose a Notre Dame Catholic school for his children because it’s close to home and garners favourable ratings on a school-ranking website
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10. Religion in Canada
National anthem includes the line “God keep our land glorious and free!” Religious authority has declined in Canada - governs fewer aspects of life than it used to Other institutions have grown in importance: Medicine, Psychiatry, Criminal Justice, Education
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11. RELIGIOUS IDENTIFICATION, CANADA AND THE PROVINCES AND TERRITORIES, 2001 (IN %)
In the 2001 census, 84 percent of Canadians indicated that they have a religious preference.
Nationally, Catholics compose 45 percent of the population; Protestants, 29 percent; and unspecified Christians 3 percent.
Seven percent consist of those with other religious preferences, and 16 percent have no specified religion (Table 13.2).
Such data suggest that it is an exaggeration to think of Canada as a highly diversified religious mosaic.
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12. A PROFILE OF RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY IN CANADA: TEENAGERS AND ADULTS, (IN PERCENTAGE)
We have a situation in which Canada’s established religious groups find themselves with lots of “affiliates” who identify with the group and aren’t about to turn elsewhere, and this is not limited to adults.
Our national surveys of teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19 have found that the country’s “emerging generation” closely resembles adults when it comes to current service attendance levels.
About 90 percent of teens claim the same group affiliation as their parents, and only about 2 percent indicate any strong interest in new religions.
Their belief, practice, experience, and knowledge levels, while typically lower than adults, are appreciable and, in at least some instances, can be expected to rise as they move into their 20s and beyond.
Some three in ten say religious involvement is important to them and their level of enjoyment of religious groups is on par with that of adults.
In addition, more than half acknowledge that they have spiritual needs (see Table 13.6).
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13. Religion
Religious beliefs vary in content and intensity Religious practices vary in form and frequency Due to structure of society and our place in it Effect: religious impulse takes thousands of forms The task of the sociology of religion is to account for these variations
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14. Sociology of Religion
Sociology: Systematic study of human behavior in social context
Bibby: Science and religion are compatible
Religion – about faith
Science – limits itself to perceivable, ‘observable parts’ of religion
For example
Written texts
Patterns of behaviors
Individuals’ opinions about religious matters
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15. Sociology of Religion
How many and what kinds of people are involved in religious groups?
Why does one religion predominate here, another there?
Who believes in life after death and what do individuals think will happen when they die?
The extent to which people have spiritual needs, and what they mean by spirituality?
What is the impact the religious involvement has on individuals and societies?
Under what circumstances does religion act as a source of social stability and act as a force for social change?
Are we becoming more or less religious? Implications of this?
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16. Sociology of Religion Wide array of research such as:
Religion and organizations (churches, sects, cults, etc)
Religion and education (role in schools)
Religion and gender (religious leadership)
Religion and politics (religious terrorism)
Religion and law (Charter of Rights and Freedom)
Religion and mass media (internet)
In the Sociology Department Prof. Bryant (religion and history) and Prof. Schieman (religion and mental health)
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17. Analyzes how individuals, social institutions, and cultures construe God or the sacred How these ideas penetrate public culture and individual lives Implications of those interpretations for individual, institutional, and societal processes The sociological study of religion is as old as the discipline of sociology itself
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18. Durkheim and Collectivity
Religion’s origin is social
People living in a community come to share common sentiments that form a collective conscience - ‘God’ is the group experiencing itself
Leads people to designate some objects as sacred – or totems - (deserving of profound respect) and others as profane – (objects of the everyday world)
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19. Cross held by Pope Benedict XVI, the head of the Catholic Church
Christianity - Sacred
Cross held by Pope Benedict XVI, the head of the Catholic Church
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20. Masjid al-Haram “The Sacred Mosque” built around the Kaaba in Mecca
islam - Sacred
Masjid al-Haram “The Sacred Mosque” built around the Kaaba in Mecca
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21. judaism - Sacred
Menorah: a symbol of Judaism since ancient times and the emblem of the modern state of Israel
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22. Durkheim and Collectivity
Religious beliefs articulate the nature of the sacred and its symbols
Religious rituals provide guidelines as to how people should act in the presence of the sacred
Religion creates and reinforces social solidarity (contributes to social stability - through establishment of moral standards, and sense of belonging)
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23. Criticisms of Functionalist Account
Overemphasizes religion’s role in maintaining social cohesion
Downplays religion’s dysfunctions - strongly held beliefs can generate social conflict (i.e. Fundamentalism)
When religion does increase social cohesion, it often reinforces social inequality
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24. Marx and Conflict Religion is a human creation
Religion is “the opium of the people”: it soothes the disadvantaged by minimizing the importance of “this world”
Religion encourages people to accept existing social inequalities instead of changing their oppressive conditions
Religion unites people under ‘false consciousness’ according to which they believe that have common interests with members of the dominant class
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25. Marx and Conflict
Historically some religions teach that the existing social arrangements of a society represent what God desires
Many rulers have historically declared their rule was legitimated by God
Conflict between religious groups (religious wars)
Conflict within religious groups (splinter group leaving an existing one)
Conflict between a religious group and the larger society (conflict over religion in the classroom)
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26. Critique of Marx
Religion can promote change towards equality (abolish slavery, civil rights movements)
Sense of community that some people find in religion is a positive force
Some contemporary religious movements challenge the rich and powerful by advocating for income redistribution in society (i.e. liberation theology originated in Latin America)
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27. Weber and Ideas
Religion is oriented toward this world – religious ideas and behaviour evident in everyday conduct
Weber examined the possibility that Protestant Reformation strongly influenced moral tone of capitalism in Western world through adoption of Protestant ethic
Weber argued that ideas – whether true or false - represent a person’s definition of reality and therefore have potential to influence behaviour
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28. Weber and Ideas
Need to interpret action by understanding actor’s motives (Verstehen)
Researchers should place themselves in roles of those being studied
Comparative and historical studies of religion and found that god-conceptions are strongly related to economic, social, and political conditions in which people live
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29. Criticism of Weber
Correlation between Protestant ethic and the strength of capitalist development is weaker than Weber thought
Weber’s followers have not always applied the Protestant ethic thesis as carefully as Weber did
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30. Conclusion Durkheim – Religion and Social Solidarity
Marx – Religion and Social Conflict
Weber – Religion and Social Change
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31. William James (1902)
Religion is a common human response to the fact that we all stand at the edge of an abyss. It helps us cope with the terrifying fact that we must die. It offers us immortality, the promise of better times to come, and the security of benevolent spirits who look over us. It provides meaning and purpose in a world that might otherwise seem cruel and senseless.

32. Karl Marx (1843)
Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions Karl Marx, Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right

33. GOD?

34. GOD?

35. DIVINE CONTROL
“…divine control involves the extent that one believes that God exercises a commanding authority over the course and direction of his or her own life”
- Schieman, Pudrovska, and Milkie 2005
“The belief that there exists a superhuman, supernatural intelligence who deliberately designed and created the universe and everything in it”
- Richard Dawkins 2007

36. SES
SES = Socioeconomic Status, usually includes one’s yearly income and the years of formal education one attained.

37. DEPRIVATION-COMPENSATION THESIS
Individuals in disadvantaged socioeconomic conditions are more likely to be religious in order to compensate for their plight and acquire otherwise unattainable rewards
- Glock and Stark (1965)

38. AFRICAN AMERICAN CHURCH

39. DEMYTHOLGIZATION THESIS
Higher socioeconomic (SES) status diminishes the belief in the supernatural-mythological orthodoxy of religion

40. 3 TEST GROUPS Group 1 received prayers and didn’t know it.
Group 2 received no prayers and didn’t know it.
Group 3 received prayers and did know it.

41. STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF PRAYER FOR HEALTH
RESULTS: Prayer has no effect on recovery.
“Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP) in cardiac bypass patients: A multicenter randomized trial of uncertainty and certainty of receiving intercessory prayer. Clinical Investigation “
-- American Heart Journal. 151(4): , April 2006.

42. RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM
a term used to describe the actions or ideologies of religious individuals or groups outside the perceived center of a given religion; or otherwise claimed to violate common moral standards of a given religion.

43. 50,000 WOMEN BURNED ALIVE

44. LINKS The Phelps I The Phelps: Canada Shirley Phelps and Fox News
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The Phelps: Canada
Shirley Phelps and Fox News
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