Emile Durkheim And Religion

In the light of reading materials for this unit I will try to discuss the views of Emile Durkheim about the Religion perspective and the educational systems.

Durkheim and Religion

In “The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, Durkheim defined religion as a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, i.e., things set apart and forbidden--beliefs and practices which unite in one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them” (Wikipedia.org). For Durkheim, “the sacred meant extraordinary—something that inspired wonder and which seemed connected to the concept of “the divine” (opentextbc.ca). ‘Durkheim argued that “religion happens” in society when there is a separation between the profane (ordinary life) and the sacred (1915). A rock, for example, isn’t sacred or profane as it exists. But if someone makes it into a headstone, or another person uses it for landscaping, it takes on different meanings—one sacred, one profane’ (opentextbc.ca).

Sacred is the supernatural, divine, awe inspiring, and spiritually significant aspects of our existence. Profane is that which part of the regular everyday life experience is. “Durkheim saw religion as the most fundamental social institution of humankind, and one that gave rise to other social forms” (Wikipedia.org). For Durkheim, “there is something eternal in religion that is destined to outlive the succession of particular symbols in which religious thought has clothed itself”