1. Chapter 17
Religion

2. Chapter Outline The Sociological Study of Religion World Religions
Sociological Perspectives on Religion
Types of Religious Organization
Trends in Religion in the United States
Religion in the Future

3. The Sociological Study of Religion
Religion is a social institution composed of a unified system of beliefs, symbols, and rituals— based on some sacred or supernatural realm— that guides human behavior, gives meaning to life, and unites believers into a community.
Spirituality is the relationship between the individual and something larger than oneself, such as a broader sense of connection with the surrounding world.
Faith refers to a confident belief that cannot be proven or disproven but is accepted as true.

4. Sacred refers to those aspects of life that exist beyond the everyday, natural world that we cannot experience with our senses.
Profane refers to the everyday, secular, or “worldly” aspects of life that we know through our senses.
Rituals refers to regularly repeated and carefully prescribed forms of behaviors that symbolize a cherished value or belief.

5. Theism is a belief in a god or gods who shape human affairs.
Simple supernaturalism refers to the belief that supernatural forces affect people’s lives either positively or negatively.
Animism is the belief that plants, animals, or other elements of the natural world are endowed with spirits or life forces that have an impact on events in society.
Theism is a belief in a god or gods who shape human affairs.
Monotheism is a belief in a single, supreme being or god who is responsible for significant events such as the creation of the world.
Polytheism is a belief in more than one god.
Transcendent idealism is a belief in sacred principles of thought and conduct.

6. World Religions Major Religion: Hinduism Current Followers: 1 billion
Founder/Date: No specific founder/ 1500 BCE
Beliefs: Brahma (creator), Vishnu (preserver), and Shiva (destroyer) are divine. Union with ultimate reality and escape from eternal reincarnation are achieved through yoga, adherence to scripture, and devotion.

7. World Religions Major Religion: Buddhism
Current Followers: 488 million
Founder/Date: Siddhartha Gautama/ BCE
Beliefs: Through meditation and adherence to the Eightfold Path (correct thought and behavior), people can free themselves from desire and suffering, escape the cycle of eternal rebirth, and achieve nirvana (enlightenment).

8. World Religions Major Religion: Confucianism
Current Followers: 6.3 million
Founder/Date: K’ung Fu-Tzu/500 BCE
Beliefs: The sayings of Confucius (collected in the Analects) stress the role of virtue and order in the relationships among individuals, their families, and society.

9. World Religions Major Religion: Judaism Current Followers: 14 million
Founder/Date: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob/2000 BCE
Beliefs: God’s nature and will are revealed in the Torah (Hebrew scripture) and in His intervention in history. God has established a covenant with the people of Israel, who are called to a life of holiness, justice, mercy, and fidelity to God’s law.

10. World Religions Major Religion: Islam/Muslim
Current Followers: 1.6 billion
Founder/Date: Muhammad/600 CE
Beliefs: Muhammad received the Qur’an (scriptures) from God. On Judgment Day, believers who have submitted to God’s will, as revealed in the Qur’an, will go to an eternal Garden of Eden.

11. World Religions Major Religion: Christianity
Current Followers: 2.2 billion
Founder/Date: Jesus/first century CE
Beliefs: Jesus is the Son of God. Through good moral and religious behavior (and/or God’s grace), people achieve eternal life with God.

12. Sociological Perspectives on Religion
Functionalist Perspectives
Religion is a cultural universal found in all societies because it meets basic human needs and serves important societal functions.
Meaning and purpose
Social cohesion and a sense of belonging
Social control and support for the government
Civil religion is the set of beliefs, rituals, and symbols that makes sacred the values of the society and places the nation in the context of the ultimate system of meaning.

13. Discussion
Does the United States have a civil religion?

14. Conflict Perspectives on Religion
Religion tends to promote conflict between groups and societies.
Karl Marx: religion is the “opiate of the masses”
Max Weber: religion could be a catalyst to produce social change
Feminist perspectives

15. Discussion
Do you agree that religion is an opiate for the people?

16. Symbolic Interactionist Perspectives
Religion serves as a reference group.
Religion provides a social meaning.
Rational Choice Perspectives
Religion is essentially a rational response to human needs.
Religion is a competitive marketplace in which religious organizations (suppliers) offer a variety of religions and religious products to potential followers (consumers), who shop around for the religious theologies, practices, and communities that best suit them.

17. Types of Religious Organization
An ecclesia is a religious organization that is so integrated into the dominant culture that it claims as its membership all members of a society.
A church is a large, bureaucratically organized religious organization that tends to seek accommodation with the larger society in order to maintain some degree of control over it.
A sect is a relatively small religious group that has broken away from another religious organization to renew what it views as the original version of the faith.

18. The denomination is a large organized religion characterized by accommodation to society but frequently lacking in ability or intention to dominate society.
A cult (or NRM) is a loosely organized religious group with practices and teachings outside the dominant cultural and religious traditions of a society.

19. Trends in Religion in the United States
Secularization is the process by which religious beliefs, practices, and institutions lose their significance in society and nonreligious values, principles, and institutions take their place.
a decline in religious values and institutions in everyday life
a corresponding increase in nonreligious values or principles and greater significance given to secular institutions
The secularization thesis is a belief that as nations progress through various stages, such as modernization and rationalization, religion increasingly loses its authority in all aspects of social life and governance.

20. Discussion
Why do you think secularization is occurring?

21. U.S. Religious Traditions’ Membership
Figure 17.2

22. Fundamentalism is a traditional religious doctrine that is conservative, is typically opposed to modernity, and rejects “worldly pleasures” in favor of otherworldly spirituality.
Trends in Race, Class, Gender, and Religion

23. Religion in the Future Secularization Global politics Fundamentalism
Violence

24. Quick Quiz

25. From a conflict perspective, religion tends to:
end strife and bring people together
promote strife between groups and societies
save souls, but marginalize groups
separate contributing members of society from nonfunctional members
Answer: b
From a conflict perspective, religion tends to promote strife between groups and societies.

26. A relatively small religious group that has broken away from another religious organization to renew what it views as the original version of the faith is referred to as:
an ecclesia
Catholicism
a sect
a denomination
Answer: c
A relatively small religious group that has broken away from another religious organization to renew what it views as the original version of the faith is referred to as a sect.

27. _____ is the belief that supernatural forces affect people’s lives either positively or negatively.
Monotheism
Polytheism
Simple supernaturalism
Nontheistic religion
Answer: c
Simple supernaturalism is the belief that supernatural forces affect people’s lives either positively or negatively.

28. _____ is a belief in a single supreme being who is responsible for significant events.
Monotheism
Polytheism
Simple supernaturalism
Nontheistic religion
Answer: a
Monotheism is a belief in a single supreme being who is responsible for significant events.

29. In regard to religion, Max Weber asserted that:
church and state should be separated
religion could be a catalyst to produce social change
religion retards social change
the religious teachings of the Catholic Church were directly related to the rise of capitalism
Answers: b
In regard to religion, Max Weber asserted that religion could be a catalyst to produce social change.