SOC103 – Chapter 13 Churches & Religion

Religion: any system of beliefs about the supernatural & the social groups that gather around these beliefs
 Economic growth accompanied the rationalization of society & accumulation of scientific knowledge
 Religion lost much of its relevance in the West , we are now more autonomous
 60% of Canadians consider themselves either moderately or highly religious
 Although attendance at religious services has decreased over the years, many people report worshipping in their own homes
 Increasing number of Canadians turning to new religious movements (NRMs): groups & institutions comprising people who share
similar religious or spiritual views about the world but who are not part of mainstream religious institutions, which they see as better
serving their spiritual needs.
Church: any social location or building where people carry our religious rituals
Canada is a multi-faith society (80% of Canadians identify as Christian) & Christianity still influences public life
Ways of looking at religion
 Durkheim: functionalist, religion is universal, promotes social solidarity by reaffirming values, understood religion would decline with
modernization, focuses on forms
 Marx: critical, religion as form of social control, part of dominant ideology, opiate of the masses making them submissive, uncritical
& easily manipulated, believed religion would decline in the future as workers would revolt & identify with class concerns alone
 Weber: subjective meaning & personal experience of religion, inner need to understand the world as meaningful, focuses on values
Classic Studies: The Elementary forms of religious life
 Durkheim: The Elementary forms of religious life (1968 [1912]): Totemism: use of natural objects & animals to symbolize spirituality,
adopted by small pre-literate societies to symbolize faith in a higher power. They connect people, providing an opportunity to
escape everyday life – called profane life – into a higher, sacred plane of experience.
 Religion expresses a collective consciousness: the sum of people’s individual consciousness & shared way of understanding the
world
 Durkheim: The Division of Labour in Society: recognized that in industrial societies, people would have a harder time subscribing to
the same single set of beliefs & rituals. Organic society: diverse & interdependent, would be torn apart by religious tensions if old,
homogeneous way remained. This urban industrial society would need a form of humanism: a worldview that lets people connect
with one another around their common humanity, & not around specific religious beliefs, as was the case with mechanical solidarity.
 Canadian society, in many of its aspects, remains conventionally religious to this day & will likely remain largely due to immigration
 Wine: historically played a role in many different religious practices. In the Catholic Mass, wine is believed to become the blood of
Jesus Christ through transubstantiation
Definitional Problems
 Religion: difficult to define, encompasses many concepts connected to spirituality & faith & may mean different things to different
people
 McGuire (2005): can usefully distinguish between substantive definitions: what religion is & its core elements & functional
definitions: what religion does for an individual or social group (i.e. how religion provides a sense of connectedness while often
creating strife between religious denominations). However, sociological theories of religion can contain both types of definition
 Durkheim believed that social life could be divided into sacred & the profane (secular) parts & that religion resided in the sacred
part.
 Many religions also use drugs & alcohol to help people shift their consciousness from sober this-worldly concerns – thrift, efficiency,
& profitability – to other-worldly concerns – ecstasy, reflection & a focus on the deeper meaning of life
 I.e. religions that see God or the supernatural as residing in all natural objects cannot easily split the sacred from the profane. For
such people, every tree, rock, bird & animal is imbued with spiritual meaning & purpose. If so, the totemic objects Durkheim
descried are not entirely without substantive meaning. Westerners have tended to rely on the Judeo-Christian tradition to define
what a religion is (substantive definition) & what it does (functional definition).
 Organized religion: set of social institutions: groups, buildings, resources etc (usually public religious belief)
 Spirituality: set of beliefs that, though shared, may not be enacted with other people (usually private religious belief)
 Seekers: people & group who draw on the teachings of several religions & philosophies to fulfill their needs for spirituality
 Role of religion in social altruism: in motivating people to do things for others from which they will themselves not profit
Religion in Canada Today
 The Globe & Mail: Canadian rank highly among people of the world in terms of their charitable giving, & research reveals, people
who give more to charity tend to be happier than people who do not.
 There is something about a commitment to social equality & social altruism that makes people happy when they give to charity
 The correlation between charity & happiness is similar to the correlation between religion & happiness: highly religious people tend
to report being happier than less religious people.
 Most, if not all, religions include charity as an important component of religious adherence among the faithful
 Science has no more interest in charity than it has in social justice
 Science is concerned only with finding the laws of nature
 Religion – spirituality, more generally – by contrast is concerned with promoting ethical & charitable behaviour & with transcendent
goals: in the Christian formulation: religion is about faith, hope & charity
 Clark & Schellenberg (2006): Canadian Social Trends, religion plays a more important role in the lives of Canadians than many have
suggested. Only about 1/3 of adult Canadians go to church at least once a month, but more than half conduct their own private
religious activities every month.
 Ethnic Diversity Survey (2002): found that 21% of the adult population carry out religious practices in their own home yet rarely or
never attend public religious services. So, church attendance on its own is not an accurate measure of religiosity in Canada. A more
useful indicator is called the religiosity index. This index includes four dimensions of religiosity: affiliation, attendance, personal
 practices, & (stated) importance of religion. Using this measure, 40% of Canadians have a low degree of religiosity, 31% a moderate
degree & 29% a high degree of religiosity.
 Religiosity varies demographically: it is highest among older people, women & people from religious families, especially families in
which both parents had the same or a similar religious background
 41% of the immigrants who arrived in Canada between 1982 & 2001 had a high degree of religiosity, compared to only 26% of the
people born in Canada.
 Those with the highest levels of religiosity come from South Asia (e.g. Pakistan) & those with the lowest levels from East Asia (e.g.
China) & western & northern Europe (ibid; Beyer, 2005).
 Canada ranked second-most charitable in the world: (Adapted from Boesveld (2010), tied with Ireland, just behind first-place
Australia, 2/3 of Canadians having both given money & having helped a stranger & 1/3 having done volunteer work. Last place when
to Burundi & Madagascar
 Helping strangers is the most widely practiced form of charity, performed by 45% of the world population, followed by giving money
to charity at 30% and by volunteering at 20%. The survey correlates life satisfaction with giving, finding that people who report that
they are happy are the ones who tend to give more. Happiness seems to have more of an effect than does wealth(based on the
wealth of the nation as a whole) on people’s willingness to give, leading the authors to state it would be reasonable to conclude that
giving is more an emotional act than a rational one.
Religion vs. Science: The Debate of the Modern Era
 Secular society: people today are less religiously inclined than they were a century ago
 Rational-legal society: Weber, society characterized as technological & scientific, disenchanted or demystified about the natural
world
 Advances rest on empirical research that obeys the norms of science: Merton (1976) called CUDO: communalism, universalism,
disinterest & organized skepticism.
 Peer review: how science advances (combatively): scholars evaluate credibility of findings & research methods
 Science advances by: independent, disinterested (unbiased) research, a public debate of findings, application of universal criteria of
judgment & organized skepticism (all conclusions are considered tentative, awaiting disproof)
 By contrast, religion is not expected to advance since it is based on timeless revealed truths. Religious debates are rarely public
 Religions vary in their flexibility & adaptability under pressure. Like other organizations, they always have a Plan B. Such adaptability
is the use of hadiths in Islam. In theory, Islam is based on a literal interpretation of the Koran. However, Islamic societies differ
widely in their social, political & economic sophistication. Islam has historically made great use of hadiths to allow flexibility in the
interpretation of the Koran.
 Institutional inflexibility: poses a huge problem to the survival of traditional religions. I.e. Catholicism inflexible views about birth
control, abortion & premarital sex. Religions are most likely to loosen their grip under pressure. I.e. Roman Catholic Church did not
officially admit that it was mistaken in prosecuting Galileo on his views of the solar system until 1992, 3 centuries after his famous
trial (Lockwood, 2000) & has been with the greatest reluctance that the Catholic Church has started to come to terms with sexual
abuse of children by ordained priests
 I.e. Phlogiston theory (Becher & Stahl): a theory of combustion that had widespread support until it was disproven by Lavoisier
 Science is forward looking, while religion is backward-looking (rigid & unyielding)
 However, science has no important role in increasing social solidarity
 Institutionally, religions are committed to creating & preserving order. By contrast, sciences are committed to creating & fomenting
skepticism & (in that sense) disorder
 People remain religious is because religions give people a sense of meaning & purpose
 Science Studies: is science really disorderly? Studies scientific & technological human practices through the methods of sociology
 Paradigms: Kuhn’s, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), define what constitutes acceptable theoretical & experimental
behaviour in the sciences (norms & values). Science premised on a set of prevailing beliefs about how nature works & how it should
be studied. Conventional science is, for long periods, orderly (makes science more like religion): by contrast, brief & infrequent
paradigm shifts are profoundly disordering. Weber observes that periods of cultural & social disruption – paradigm shifts – are
typically set off by what he calls charismatic leadership. Afterward, cultural & social order is re-established through rountinization of
charisma: return to conventional, institutionalized social life. Both religious institutions & scientific institutions we find an alternation
between upheaval & convention (or routine). This is a second respect in which the line between these two institutions – science &
religion – is blurred
Classic Studies: Civilization & its discontents
 Sigmund Freud, Civilization & its Discontents (1957 [1930]): Argues religion is a symptom of neurosis & God is an illusion. That we
are driven by buried desires & wishes of which we are unconscious. This repression explains by life in civilization is normally
discontented, even neurotic. Freud sees the monotheistic Judeo-Christian tradition as a means of atonement for collective guilt. As
sexual expression is liberated, people will become less devout – more secular, of which happened in the 20 th century in the Western
world
The idea of Secularization
 The increased popularity of yoga in Western nations may suggest that people are finding ways to meet their spiritual needs outside
of traditional organized religions
 Secularization: a steadily dwindling influence of formal (institutional) religion in public life
 Secularization theory: many formerly powerful religious institutions have lost their influence in society, & this is largely true
 Everett C. Hughes, French Canada in Transition (2009 [1943]): in the 1960s, church attendance began to fall significantly & largely
removed the Church from the education business by providing an alternate secular system funded by provincial money, & virtually
eliminated Church influence in provincial politics
  This seemingly sudden change was a result of many complex gradual changes that had been simmering in the province for decades
(Legg, 2000). By the 1960s, Quebecers had come to regard the church as backward & oppressive. They felt it had prevented French
Canadians from gaining the education they needed to succeed economically & socially in their won province, while English industries
gained influence & gathered their successes (Gauvreau & Cassage, 2001).
 Some generalizations about secularization are possible. Scholars who have studied secularization within Western industrial societies
have found three common features that lead toward, or are associated with, secularization: social differentiation, societalization &
rationalization
 Social differentiation: process by which a society becomes increasingly complex & diverse. The church is no longer central to daily
living, but merely one institution among many
 Soicetalization: the way people increasingly connect to an abstract society, & not to a concrete community in which every person
knows everyone else. In NA & Europe today, most people look to society -a large, shapeless unit made up of organizations run to
bureaucratic principles – to provide for their needs. Interaction with society leaves little room for religion, which people increasingly
view as personal (not societal) & marginal to their lives
 Rationalization: an effort to explain the world through the logical interpretation of empirical evidence.
Civil religion
 Civil religion: an organized secular practice that serves many of the same social functions as traditional religion, by giving people
direction, explaining how the world works & providing solidarity. The most important & widespread version of civil religion is
nationalism
 On the even more secular side, consider major sporting events in the US, such as the Super Bowl, as examples of civil religion
 Robert Bellah et al. (1985): this kind of event provides an ethical framework for cohesiveness apart from any specific religion.
People of all religions can share in the rites & rituals of Super Bowl Sunday. This may help to explain the public outrage at singer
Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction at one Super Bowl halftime show, when her naked breasts were briefly displayed. Though
breasts, naked or otherwise, are no strangers to American public entertainment, they are usually not exposed at American religious
events.
New Religious Movements
 New religious movements (NRMs): exist all over world & have recently been gaining popularity (i.e. Wiccans), suffer ridicule from
media
 Susan Palmer (2004): studied Raelians, a Quebec-based UFO cult who believe in divine extraterrestrial beings & claim that they have
successfully cloned a human being. The Raelians have challenged many of the stereotypes commonly associated with NRMs. I.e.
fears of brainwashing are unwarranted, group members make no effort to force their children into the faith. Durkheim would say:
the Raelians have merely substituted UFOs for other totemic or holy objects in their practice of religion. Freud would say the
Raelians have channelled or sublimated their repressed unconscious energy into fantastic imaginings about extra-terrestrials
Religion in the schools?
 Few sociologists have done more to help us understand the survival & evolution of modern religion than Robert Bellah, who
embraces both Durkheimian & Weberian traditions in his understanding of the topic
Robert Bellah
 Following the death of Michael Jackson in June 2009, devoted fans began erecting shrines to honour the pop start. This type of social
phenomenon is an example of what Robert Bellah refers to as civil religion
 Jef Van Gerwen (1998): Bellah’s work shows his concern to see social science as a moral inquiry. Sociology, in his understanding, is a
moral science, providing a critical reflection on the conditions of the societal projects we engage in as citizens.
 Bellah: Habits of the Heart (1985), asserts that of the three founding cultural traditions of America (republicanism, biblical religion &
individualism), individualism prevents Americans from giving proper attention to the first two. By paying too much attention to their
private lives, individuals pay too little attention to the public domain: to justice, equality, social responsibility, or spiritual matters.
The positive side of our individualism, our sense of the dignity, worth & moral autonomy of the individual, is dependent in a
thousand ways on a social, cultural institutional context that keeps us afloat even when we cannot every well describe it. We are not
simply ends in ourselves, either as individuals or as a society. We are parts of a larger whole that we can neither forget nor imagine
on our own images without paying a high price.
 Roof (2009): Americans use myths to form their national identity & how these myths have influenced the discourse of American
presidents between 1980 & 2008. The public faiths of the US, which combine religious & political ideology, approximate the civil
religion to varying degrees & in different ways, with a clear trend toward religious nationalism. In short, they present us with a
picture of religion that is both nationalistic & transcendent, sacred & profane.
 Price (1992): Super Bowl as a religious festival
 Butterworth (2008): Super Bowl XLII in 2008, featured displays of national & military symbolism – significant in the era of the war on
terror
 Riley (2008): cultural narratives, symbolism & commemoration at the site in Pennsylvania where a hijacked plane crashed on 9/11
 Meizel (2006): American popular music to understanding the relationship between politics & religion
 Wender (2007): analysis of religious imagery around the America war on terror, US as the divine deliverer of the world from
terrorism
 Swatos (2006): US could have reacted differently to 9/11, but they reacted harshly because they felt the US civil religion under
attack
 Bertin (2009): rise of the evangelical right, themes of loyalty & Americanism are involved to argue for or against certain types of
political action
 Hecht (2007): passive pluralism (historic norm of US) vs. active pluralism (now due to new patterns to immigration), eruv (ritual
public space)
  Copen & Silverstein (2007): how religious values & beliefs are communicated from parents to their children. Happens in 3 ways:
explicitly (teaching beliefs/values), socialization (living their religion as role models) & status inheritance (social training & placing
their children in social & economic situations that reinforce their world view)
 Tonnies: focus on traditional religions vs. competing claims of individualism, secularism & consumerism, clarified this modern
conflict in the original, Gemeinschaft & Gesellschaft. The debate around social cohesion still involves clarifying the connection
between ne (individual) & us (community). Religion should be able to strengthening community sentiments, but (as we know from
Weber’s Protestant Ethic & the Spirit of Capitalism, religion can promote individualistic acquisitiveness)
 Turner (2005): Kant distinguished between religion & cults in which people seek favours from God through prayer & offerings to
bring healing & wealth, religion as moral action that commands human beings to change their lives. The Kantian approach was
fundamental to Weber’s later view of the relationship between asceticism & capitalism.
 Parson: in developing his concept of the expressive revolution, Parsons followed Durkheim in studying individualism as a major
transformation of society. Parson’s sociology of religion did not subscribe to the secularization thesis, but instead saw American
liberalism as fulfilling Protestant individualism. Bellah was a student & protégé of Talcott Parsons
New Insights
 Vido (2008): continued importance of religion, the relationship of modernity to religion is more complex & ambiguous than
previously thought. We can expect that religion in the modern & postmodern eras will be very different from its older forms
 Smith (2008): sociological study of religion is going through a transition in which major issues & future goals are ambiguous.
Including the new roles of beliefs, genetics, religious bodies, religious emotions, Islam, & cross-national religions. The notion of
multiple modernities: the notion that societies can modernize n a variety of different ways, with a variety of outcomes – needs
further development in the study of religion.
 Goldstein (2009): secularization is linear, while in the new paradigm it is revival & routinization. Dispute reflects the disagreement
between followers of Durkheim & Marx (a linear theorist) & followers of Weber (a cyclical or non-linear theorist). Still, he points out
that even the Durkheimian model allows for secularization to follow patterns other than a straight line: cyclical/spiral, dialectical &
paradoxical. If we can accept a dialectical (Marxist) understanding of secularization, in which one change may challenge & overturn
another, we may be able to make sense of how secularization & sacralisation can occur at the same time.
 Hornbacher & Gottowik (2008): dispute inevitable secularization behind the forces of modernity & globalization
 Mulders (2008): the revival in the Russian Orthodox Church
 Lunn (2009): religion, spirituality & faith need to be re-examined in connection with the theory, policy & practice of socio-economic
development
 Savagnone (2009): role of Catholic Church in southern Italy, requires new religious & civil consciousness, advocated for people of the
region
 Horstmann (2009): revival of traditional art & ancestor-worship spirituality of southern Thailand, through hybridization,
fragmentation & post modernization. Helps them adjust to a changing society, its traditional healing practices have been adapted to
treat modern illnesses
 Amineh & Eisenstadt (2007): Iranian Islamic Revolution of 1979 produced the only modern regime founded on religious
fundamentalism. However, the new regime incorporated modern political structures & ideas not found in traditional Islamic
thought.
 Huss (2007): in Israel & the West, Jewish mystic tradition Kabbalah has renewed interest, along with Hasidism & the New Age
movement
Extra
 Moses as the father of education
 Training: you are dragging people along (make someone like you), creates dependency, not like education (formal, given principles
not facts or routines). Training will train you to think a particular way
 Ivar Berg: A great training robbery? People are being over trained
 Nerds breaking productivity norms
 Forest Hill (where Crestwood Heights was), upper-middle class
 Seeley: not considered about the anti-nerd concept, looked into pressure to conformity to adult norms
 Theodicy: an attempt to explain & justify why supernatural forces allow suffering
 Humans have an inner need to understand the world as meaningful & unified
 Modernity is the extension of the enlightenment
 Napoleon went through Europe trying to get the church out of politics
 Religion will likely never go away