The Role Of Religion In Society

Durkheim stressed the contribution of religion in defining not just individual identity but in affirming the collective identity (Roberts, 1990). Religion helps groups identify who they are: it offers an explanation of the significance of a group amidst the peoples of the world (Roberts, 1990). Durkheim emphasized that religion served as a sort of glue to bond together people who otherwise had diverse self-interests; it helped them to define themselves as a moral community with common values and with common mission in life. This unifying and self-defining function is especially true of religion in non-industrialized, homogeneous societies. In the pluralistic society of the US, no single traditional religion can claim that role (Roberts, 1990).

Persons may hesitate to engage in deviant acts if they believe that someone may retaliate with witchcraft. Because a voodoo spell could cause death (Cannon, 1942), individuals avoid any activity that may cause someone to want to bewitch them. Furthermore, if certain behaviour is taboo (so heinous and so dangerous that it is unthinkable), people may conform for fear of the consequences of breaking the taboo. Many Eskimos believe that sedan, the goddess of the sea, determines one’s success or failure in hunting seals. Such believers are not likely to risk offending her by violating one of her rules. Hence, no Eskimos kills more than is needed; a waste is unthinkable (Roberts, 1990).

Emile Durkheim explained the function of religion as a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden, beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a church, all who adhere to them (Durkheim, 1912). It is a densely worded definition, but unpacked; it contains a number of important elements of religion: belief, ritual, sacred elements, and community, It is also a strong statement that the main function of religion in society is to strengthen human communities

First, there is a causal aspect. Durkheim argued that religious commitment is generated in social situations characterized by collective effervescence when emotions are bubbling over (Durkheim, 1995). Symbolically charged acts of collective worship are the settings in which religious beliefs and imagery are produced, reinforced and made vibrant for the believer (Durkheim, 1995). Durkheim’s thinking here may have been influenced by contemporary theories of crowd psychology, though without the implication that crowd behavior is inherently pathological or disruptive (Durkheim, 1995). Durkheim’s causal approach extended to examine the ways in which social structure shapes the content of religious beliefs and practices (Durkheim, 1995). He sought to show that even the fundamental categories of thought, such as our ideas of time, space and causation- are socially determined (Durkheim, 1995).

Second, Durkheim’s theory of religion has an interpretive aspect, offering an explanation of the meaning of religious beliefs and practices; Religion is a kind of mythologized sociology, providing us with categories of thought through which we understand and interpret social life; Religion expresses, symbolizes and dramatizes social relationships (Durkheim, 1995). Here then is the heart of religion: through it, society is represented to itself (Durkheim, 1995). If a society lacked religion, it would, Durkheim held,