This document discusses sociological perspectives on religion. It covers topics like defining religiosity, types of religious organizations, trends in religion in the US, and how religion affects both individuals and society. It also explores theoretical perspectives on the functions and dysfunctions of religion from a sociological standpoint.

2.  Religion in Historical Perspective
 Sociological Perspectives on Religion
 Types of Religious Organization
 Trends in Religion in the United States
 Religion in the Future

3.  How does religion affect society as a
whole (does it divide/unite)? How does
it affect social institutions like:
› Marriages, Political Structures, Economy
 How does religion, as a social institution,
affect the wellbeing of individuals?
 What does it mean to be „religious‟?
How does one define and measure
religiosity?

4.  Religiosity is the extent to which a person
does one or more of the following:
› (1) believes in and “feels” or experiences
certain aspects of religion
› (2) becomes involved in religious activities
such as attending church or reading sacred
texts
› (3) believes in the teachings of the church,
› (4) lives in accordance with those teachings
and beliefs.

5.  Religion seeks to answer important
questions such as why we exist, why
people suffer and die, and what
happens when we die-the „sacred
canopy‟
 Things that people do not set apart as
sacred are referred to as profane—the
everyday, secular or “worldly” aspects of
life.

6. Most religions have four elements:
 Ritual (ex. Prayer, communion)
 A sense of the Sacred
 A system of beliefs-in the supernatural
and a set of ethics OR a set of abstract
ideals
 Organization-each religion has a public
component

7. Ernest Troeltsch (1931) created a typology
of religious organizations:
 Church
 Sect
Sociologists also recognize:
 Cult (now called New Religious
Movements, NRMs)
 Ecclesia

8. Attitude
Organization Membership Worship Salvation Toward Other
Religions
Large, Open to all;
bureaucratic members
Formal, Granted by
Church organization,led usually from
orderly God
Tolerant
by professional upper and
clergy middle classes
Guarded
Small group,high
membership, Informal, Achieved by
Sect degree of lay
usually from spontaneous moral purity
Intolerant
participation
lower classes

9.  Encompasses all
members of a
society
 People are primarily
born into the
ecclesia, do not
convert
 Influential in
government affairs

10.  Stable, institutional
organization
 Well-educated
clergy
 Elaborate rituals
and beliefs
 Tolerant of religious
pluralism and the
secular world

11.  Less organized than
denomination
 Charismatic, less
educated ministers
 Growth by recruiting,
rather than being born
into church
 Higher levels of
devotion
 Reject worldliness and
„impure‟ denominations
 Tend to draw recruits
from the lower classes

12.  Offer completely new
beliefs, rituals, and means of
transcendence
 Live in stark opposition to the
world
 Informally organized, led by
self-styled, charismatic
leadership
 Recruit people who have
economic and
psychological deprivation

13.  Simple supernaturalism - the belief that
supernatural forces affect people's lives
positively or negatively.
 Animism - the belief that plants, animals,
and elements of the natural world are
endowed with spirits that impact events in
society.
 Theism - belief in a God or Gods.
 Transcendent idealism - belief in sacred
principles of thought and conduct, such as
truth, justice, life and tolerance for others.

14. Confucianis
Christianity Islam Hinduism Buddhism Judaism
m
No. of
1.7 billion 1 billion 719 million 309 million 18 million 5.9 million
Adherents
No specific Siddhartha Abraham,
Founder Jesus Muhammad K’ung Fu-Tzu
founder Gautama Isaac, Jacob
Dates 1st century ca. 1500 500 to 600 ca. 2000
ca. 600 C.E 500 B.C.E
Founded C.E. B.C.E B.C.E. B.C.E.

15.  Diverse-85 denominations with atleast
50,000 members *
 Positive slant of religion-heaven, personal
blessings, etc. due to „religious
marketplace‟
 Freedom from Anticlericalism-Americans do
not have bitter feelings towards priests as
protectors of the status quo
 Civil religion-God is frequently invoked in
American rituals, symbols, etc, with little
reference to which God/beliefs

19. ‘Proof’ that the U.S. is more secular ‘Proof’ that the U.S. is NOT more secular
1 out of 4 people between 18-28 yrs. of Slighlty more people (38% of
age were unaffiliated with any religion population) claims to have had a born
again experience in 2008 than 20 yrs
earlier
28% of US adults raised in faith have Percentage of people believing the
abandoned faith or chosen another Bible is the „inspired Word of God‟ is
one roughly the same in 2008 as 1984
Major denominations, like the Disciples In 2007, 38% of 18-29 yrs old „strongly
of Christ, PC-USA, Episcopalians, AME agreed‟ that God was „angered by
Zion have lost at least 20% of their human sin‟, the highest of any age
membership in the last 20 yrs. (link) group
The no. of Americans having never 33% of the same age group reported
attended church doubled between witnessing to friends at least once in
1973 and 2008 (link) the past month, the highest of any age
group (Link)
No. of Americans who believe that the Church membership was nearly 62% in
Bible is the actual Word of God 2000, only 17% in 1776 (Starke & Finke)
decreased from 37% in 1984 to 31% in
2008 (link)

25.  Religion is the „opiate of the masses‟
according to Karl Marx-a way for the
elites to reinforce the oppression of the
lower classes
 Later conflict theorists point to the use of
religion to justify racism, sexism, and
oppression of homosexuals
 Focus on the „hereafter‟ blinds people to
current oppression

27.  Religion serves as a reference group to
help people define themselves.
 People are socialized into certain roles
(ex. Being reverent during communion)
through group expectations
 People attach sacred meaning to
symbols

28. What does the
head covering
for women
represent in the
Christian faith?
(Hint: 1 Cor. 11)
How do head
coverings in
various faiths
function as a
sociological
symbol?

29.  Max Weber studied the attitudes of
Protestants and Catholics in Western Europe
towards work and this life in late 19th
century
 He discovered that Protestants, particularly
Calvnists, developed a rational worldview
of hard work and thrift that propelled their
economic activities
 Protestant Ethic spread to America, to non-
Calvinists
› Example: Ben Franklin is famous for his quote “A
penny saved is a penny earned”

31.  Modern evangelical leaders often
express their belief that economic
freedom and Bible are compatible
 Jerry Falwell once stated:
› “God is in favor of freedom, property, ownership,
competition, diligence, work and acquisition. All of this is
taught in the Word of God, in both the Old and New
Testaments”
 Pat Robertson
› ”…Communism and capitalism in their most extreme, secular
manifestations are equally doomed to failure,….free
enterprise is the economic system most nearly meeting
humanity‟s God-given need for freedom”.

32.  Religion is a „social glue‟ that binds
people with sacred rituals
 Religion upholds basic social norms
 Legitimates governmental authority
 Religion is a balm for the oppressed and
marginalized
But also dysfunctional….
 Prevents social change
 Enhances political conflict

33. Events like the “Meet You at
the Pole” (pictured below)
bind people by sacred rituals
Most monarchies, like Great
Britain, invoke a „divine
right‟ of the monarchy to
rule the people. Vestiges of
this system can be seen in
the coronation ceremony
of Queen Elizabeth II (1952).

34.  People engage in a
rational cost-benefit
analysis when
„shopping‟ for
churches
 Churches vary in their
promise of rewards in
this life and the
hereafter
 Successful churches
Rational Choice theory
explains why prosperity gospel
are those that
churches, like Joel Osteen’s promise the most
Lakewood Church, gather rewards
40,000+ each week.

35.  Secularization theory, which believed
that modernization, democratization,
and globalization would decreased the
need for faith, has been debunked
 Worldwide surge of fundamentalism(s)
across religious traditions
 Religious devotion will increasingly be
coupled with religious tolerance
 Polarization of beliefs within traditions