This chapter discusses religion from a sociological perspective. It provides an overview of the sociological study of religion and perspectives on religion. It also discusses world religions, types of religious organizations, trends in religion in the US, and the future of religion. Key topics covered include the functions of religion, civil religion, secularization, debates around the separation of church and state, and major world religions like Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism.

1. Chapter 17
Religion

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

3. An Overview Of Religion
• Religion is a system of beliefs and practices based on
some sacred or supernatural realm, that guides
human behavior, gives meaning to life, and unites
believers into a single moral community.
• The sociology of religion focuses on religious groups
and organizations, on the behavior of individuals
within those groups, and on ways religion is
intertwined with social institutions.

4. Religion
• Seeks to answer questions such as why we
exist, why people suffer and die and what
happens when we die.
• Comprised of beliefs, symbols and rituals.
• All known groups over the past 100,000 years
have had some form of religion.

5. Religion
• Faith is unquestioning belief that does not
require proof or scientific evidence.
• Sacred refers to those aspects of life that are
extraordinary or supernatural.

6. Religion
• Profane refers to the everyday, secular aspects
of life.
• Rituals are regularly repeated and carefully
prescribed forms of behaviors that symbolize a
cherished value or belief.

7. Sociological Perspectives Of
Religion
Functionalist Sacred beliefs and rituals bind people
together and help maintain social control.
Conflict Religion may be used to justify the status
quo (Marx) or to promote social change.
Symbolic Religion may serve as a reference group for
Interactionist many people, but because of race, class, and
gender people may experience it differently.

8. Durkheim on Religion
• According to Emile Durkheim, all religions
share three elements:
1. Beliefs held by adherents.
2. Practices (rituals) engaged in collectively by
believers.
3. A moral community based on the group’s shared
beliefs and practices pertaining to the sacred.

9. Four Categories of Religion
• 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.

10. Four Categories of Religion
• 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.

11. Secularization
• The process by which religious beliefs,
practices, and institutions lose their
significance in sectors of society and culture.

12. Civil Religion
• 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.
• Civil religion is not tied to any one
denomination or religious group.

13. Church
• Throughout recorded
history, churches and
other religious bodies
have provided people
with a sense of
belonging.
• Members of this
congregation show
their unity as they
visit with one another.

14. Major World Religions
Christianity Islam
Current
1.7 billion 1 billion
Followers
Founder Jesus Muhammad
Date 1st century C.E. ca. 600 C.E

15. Major World Religions
Hinduism Buddhism
Current
719 million 309 million
Followers
No specific Siddhartha
Founder
founder Gautama
500 to 600
Date ca. 1500 B.C.E
B.C.E.

16. Major World Religions
Judaism Confucianism
Current
18 million 5.9 million
Followers
Abraham, Isaac,
Founder K’ung Fu-Tzu
Jacob
Date ca. 2000 B.C.E. 500 B.C.E

17. Separation of Church and State
• Separation of church and
state is often contested by
people who believe religion
should be a part of public
life.
• These workers are
complying with a federal
court order to remove a
monument bearing the Ten
Commandments from the
Alabama State Judicial
Building.

18. Symbolic Nature of Church and State Connection
• Currency: “In God • Nativity Scenes and
We Trust”; Menorah’s erected
on Gov’t
• Pledge of Allegiance Property;
• Gov’t Events
commence with
prayer

19. --Jefferson on Religion Thomas Jefferson on Politics &
Government
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff1370.htm
"The want of instruction in the various creeds of
religious faith existing among our citizens presents... a
chasm in a general institution of the useful sciences.
But it was thought that this want, and the entrustment
to each society of instruction in its own doctrine, were
evils of less danger than a permission to the public
authorities to dictate modes or principles of religious
instruction, or than opportunities furnished them by
giving countenance or ascendancy to any one sect over
another." --Thomas Jefferson: Virginia Board of Visitors
Minutes, 1822. ME 19:414

20. "After stating the constitutional reasons against a public
establishment of any religious instruction, we suggest
the expediency of encouraging the different religious
sects to establish, each for itself, a professorship of their
own tenets on the confines of the university, so near as
that their students may attend the lectures there and
have the free use of our library and every other
accommodation we can give them; preserving, however,
their independence of us and of each other. This fills the
chasm objected to ours, as a defect in an institution
professing to give instruction in all useful sciences... And
by bringing the sects together, and mixing them with the
mass of other students, we shall soften their asperities,
liberalize and neutralize their prejudices, and make the
general religion a religion of peace, reason, and
morality." --Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 1822.
ME 15:405

22. GOD’S
IN
NAMEHTTP://WWW.NYTIMES.COM/2006/10/08/BUSINESS/08RELIGIOUS.H
TML?_R=1&PAGEWANTED=ALL
As Exemptions Grow, Religion Outweighs Regulation
By DIANA B. HENRIQUES
Published: October 8, 2006

25. NAMEHTTP://WWW.NYTIMES.COM/2006/10/08/
BUSINESS/08RELIGIOUS.HTML?
As Exemptions Grow, Religion Outweighs Regulation
By DIANA B. HENRIQUES
Published: October 8, 2006
EXEMPTIONS AVAILABLE Federal law gives religious
organizations unique ways to challenge government restrictions
on how they use their land or buildings. In Boulder County, Colo.,
the Rocky Mountain Christian Church is using a new federal law
to fight a county decision preventing it from expanding on land
designated for open space.

26. Some of the exceptions have existed for
much of the nation’s history, originally
devised for Christian churches but
expanded to other faiths as the nation
has become more religiously diverse.
But many have been granted in just the
last 15 years — sometimes added to
legislation, anonymously and with little
attention, much as are the widely
criticized “earmarks” benefiting other
special interests.

27. An analysis by The New York Times of laws
passed since 1989 shows that more than
200 special arrangements, protections or
exemptions for religious groups or their
adherents were tucked into Congressional
legislation, covering topics ranging from
pensions to immigration to land use.
New breaks have also been provided by a
host of pivotal court decisions at the state
and federal level, and by numerous rule
changes in almost every department and
agency of the executive branch.

28. The special breaks amount to “a sort of
religious affirmative action program,”
said John Witte Jr., director of the
Center for the Study of Law and
Religion at the Emory University law
school.
Professor Witte added: “Separation of
church and state was certainly part of
American law when many of today’s
public opinion makers were in school.
But separation of church and state is no
longer the law of the land.”

29. changes reflect, in part, the growing political
The
influence of religious groups and the growing
presence of conservatives in the courts and
regulatory agencies. But these tax and regulatory
breaks have been endorsed by politicians of both
major political parties, by judges around the
country, and at all levels of government.
“The religious community has a lot of pull, and
senators are very deferential to this kind of
legislation,” said Richard R. Hammar, the editor
of Church Law & Tax Report and an accountant
with law and divinity degrees from Harvard.

30. As a result of these special breaks, religious organizations of
all faiths stand in a position that American businesses — and
the thousands of nonprofit groups without that “religious”
label — can only envy.
And the new breaks come at a time when many religious
organizations are expanding into activities — from day care
centers to funeral homes, from ice cream parlors to fitness
clubs, from bookstores to broadcasters — that compete with
these same businesses and nonprofit organizations.
Religious organizations are exempt from many federal, state
and local laws and regulations covering social services,
including addiction treatment centers and child care, like
those in Alabama.

31. Religion and Schools
• Shown here is Dr.
Kenneth Miller, a
biology professor,
during a discussion of
the pros and cons of
incorporating the
teaching of intelligent
design into the Ohio
state science
curriculum.

32. HTTP://WWW.NYTIMES.COM/2006/10/11/BUSI
NESS/11RELIGIOUS.HTML?EX=1318219200&E
IN GOD’S NAME By DIANA B.
HENRIQUES
Religion-Based Tax Breaks: Housing to Published: October 11,
Paychecks to Books 2006
Monica Almeida/The New York Times
The Rev. Rick Warren, who fought for tax breaks for clergy members, conducts an
afternoon service at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif.

33. For tens of millions of Americans, the Rev. Rick Warren is best
known for his blockbuster spiritual guide, “The Purpose Driven
Life,” which has sold more than 25 million copies; his success as
the founder of the 22,000-member Saddleback Church in Lake
Forest, Calif.; and his efforts on behalf of some of the world’s
neediest people.
But for tens of thousands of ministers — and their financial
advisers — Pastor Warren will also be remembered as their
champion in a fight over the most valuable tax break available to
ordained clergy members of all faiths: an exemption from federal
taxes for most of the money they spend on housing, which typically
represents roughly a third of their compensation. Pastor Warren
argued that the tax break is essential to poorly paid clergy
members who serve society.

34. The tax break is not available to the staff at secular nonprofit
organizations whose scale and charitable aims compare to
those of religious ministries like Pastor Warren’s church, or
to poorly paid inner-city teachers and day care workers who
also serve their communities.
The housing deduction is one of several tax breaks that leave
extra money in the pockets of clergy members and their
religious employers. Ministers of every faith are also exempt
from income tax withholding and can opt out of Social
Security. And every state but one exempts religious
employers from paying state unemployment taxes —
reducing the employers’ payroll expenses but also leaving
their workers without unemployment benefits if they are laid
off.

35. How Much Do You Know About the Impact
of Religion on U.S. Education?
True or False?
• Virtually all sociologists have advocated
the separation of moral teaching from
academic subject matter.

36. False
• While contemporary sociologists hold strong
opinions on many subjects; most do not think
that it is their role to advocate specific stances.
• Early sociologists were less inclined to believe
that they had to be ―value free.‖
– Durkheim advocated that education should
have a moral component and that schools
had a responsibility to teach a commitment to
the common morality.

37. How Much Do You Know About the Impact
of Religion on U.S. Education?
True or False?
• The number of children from religious
backgrounds other than Christianity and
Judaism has grown steadily in public
schools over the past three decades.

38. True
• Although about 86% of those age eighteen and
over in the forty-eight contiguous states of the
United States describe their religion as some
Christian denomination, there has still been a
significant increase in those who adhere either
to no religion (7.5%) or who are Jewish,
Muslim/Islamic, Unitarian–Universalist, Buddhist,
or Hindu.

39. How Much Do You Know About the Impact
of Religion on U.S. Education?
True or False?
• Debates over the content of textbooks
focus only on elementary education
because of the vulnerability of young
children.

40. False
• Attempts to remove textbooks occur at all
levels of schooling.
• A recent case involved the removal of
Chaucer’s ―The Miller’s Tale‖ and
Aristophanes’s Lysistrata from a high
school curriculum.

41. Prayer in the Classroom
• Should prayer be
permitted in the
classroom?
• On the school grounds?
• At school athletic
events?
• Given the diversity of
beliefs that U.S. people
hold, arguments and
court cases over prayer
and schools will continue
in the future.

42. www.cc.org -
•Barack Obama promised Planned Parenthood that he would sign the pro-
abortion “Freedom of Choice Act” (FOCA) – a bill that would end virtually
ALL restrictions on abortion and provide an unlimited right to tax-payer
funded, abortion-on-demand. Click here and join our campaign to “Stop
FOCA” by signing our petition today.
The time for pro-life Americans to act is NOW!
Roberta Combs, President

43. College Students and Religion
• College students may
turn to religion for
answers to important
questions for which there
are no easy answers.
• Rituals help individuals
outwardly express their
beliefs and provide a
sense of cohesion and
belonging.

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45. Obama administration to greatly damage charitable
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choice position on education
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48. In Theatres Now - The Cross: The Arthur
Blessitt Story
Christian Coalition condemns Iowa judges
for making law on homosexual "marriage“
Coalition Guest Commentary - Pro-Life
Senators' Open Letter to Obama
Coalition Guest Commentary - Where is the
fiscal restraint?

49. Pastor Warren Cancels ABC Interview
and Will Not Talk About Prop 8

50. Gingrich Says the Obama Adminstration
is "Anti-Religious"

51. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other organizations with similar names, see
Christian Coalition.
The Christian Coalition of America, originally
called the Christian Coalition, Inc., is a US
Christian advocacy group, which includes
Christian fundamentalists, evangelicals, neo-
evangelicals and charismatics. It once wielded
great power within the Republican Party but
membership has declined drastically in recent
years. It claims to have 1,200,000 members.

52. Brief history
[edit] Beginnings with Pat Robertson and Ralph Reed
Following a well-funded but failed bid for the U.S. presidency in
1988, religious broadcaster and political commentator Pat
Robertson used the remains of his campaign machinery to jump-
start the creation of a voter mobilization effort dubbed the
Christian Coalition. Americans for Robertson accumulated a
mailing list of several million conservative Christians interested
in politics. This mailing list formed the foundation for the new
organization.
However, despite public announcements that excitement among
evangelical and Christian right voters prompted the creation of
the Christian Coalition, the incorporation records of the State of
Virginia reveal that the Christian Coalition, Inc. was actually
incorporated on April 30, 1987, with the paperwork filed earlier,
and with planning having begun before that. Thus the Christian
Coalition was actually planned long before Pat Robertson's run
for President began. Robertson's candidacy appears to have been
planned from the start for launching the Christian Coalition.

53. After its founding, it was granted a grace period to
operate as a 501(c)(4) tax-exempt organization
before the IRS made its final determination. Forty-
nine state chapters were also created as independent
corporations within their states, including the
Christian Coalition of Texas.
A handful, including the Christian Coalition of
Texas successfully obtained non-profit status as a
501(c)(4) tax-exempt organization, while the
national group's application remained pending and
unresolved.

54. In 1990, the national Christian Coalition, Inc., headquartered in
Chesapeake, Virginia, began producing "non-partisan" voter guides
which it distributed to conservative Christian churches, with 40
million being distributed in the 1992 and 1996 presidential election
years. Under the leadership of Reed and Robertson, the Coalition
quickly became the most prominent voice in the conservative
Christian movement, landing Reed on the cover of Time in May,
1994, its influence culminating with an effort to support the election
of a conservative Christian to the presidency in 1996 or 2000.
Complaints that the voter guides were actually partisan led to the
denial of the Christian Coalition, Inc.'s tax-exempt status in 1999. The
Christian Coalition, Inc. filed a lawsuit against the IRS after which
the IRS backed down for most of the years in question, holding out
only on 1992. However, instead of pursuing legal action, Pat
Robertson renamed the Christian Coalition of Texas, Inc. as the
Christian Coalition of America, Inc., since the Texas chapter already
enjoyed tax exempt status, and transferred the trademark and all
operations to the Texas-based corporation

55. In 1998, an advocacy group for religious freedom Americans
United urged the IRS to review the Coalition’s partisan political
activities over the decade in which its tax-exempt status was
pending. The following year, the IRS revoked the Coalition’s
provisional tax-exemption, in view of the Coalition's distribution
of "voter guides" which had a partisan bias. The revocation cost
the Coalition up to $300,000 in back taxes and penalties.
Following this, the Coalition reorganized as the Christian
Coalition of America, as an effort to regain its tax-exempt
status.[3][6] Churches that once embraced the Christian Coalition
have disassociated themselves for fear of losing their own tax-
exempt status.[6] After its tax-exempt status was denied, CCA was
able to turn all of its attention to politics. In 2000 the coalition
moved from its long-standing base of operations in the
Chesapeake Bay area to an office on Capitol Hill in Washington,
D.C.

56. In 2005, the Coalition concluded a settlement
agreement with the Internal Revenue Service,
ending its long-running battle with that agency
regarding its tax exempt status.[4]
As a result, the IRS has now recognized the
Coalition as a 501(c)(4) tax-exempt organization,
the first time in the Agency's history that it has
granted a letter of exemption to a group that stated
in its application that it would distribute voter
guides directly in churches. The consent decree
enforces limitations on the terminology that may be
used in the Coalition's "voter guides".[4]

57. Conflict Perspective
• According to Karl Marx, religion is the "opiate
of the people."
• Max Weber argued that religion could be a
catalyst to produce social change.

58. Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
• Religion serves as a reference group to help
people define themselves.
• Women’s versions of a certain religion usually
differ from men’s versions.

59. Question
• According to the functionalist perspective, religion
offers meaning for the human experience by:
A. providing an explanation for events that
create a profound sense of loss on both an
individual and a group basis.
B. offering people a reference group to help
them define themselves.
C. reinforcing existing social arrangements.
D. encouraging secularization.

60. Answer: A
• According to the functionalist perspective,
religion offers meaning for the human
experience by providing an explanation for
events that create a profound sense of loss
on both an individual and a group basis.

61. Question
• In regard to religion, Max Weber asserted that:
A. church and state should be separated.
B. religion could be a catalyst to produce social
change.
C. religion retards social change.
D. the religious teachings of the Catholic Church
were directly related to the rise of capitalism.

62. Answer: B
• In regard to religion, Max Weber asserted that
religion could be a catalyst to produce social
change.

63. Question
• The Anglican Church in England and the
Lutheran church in Sweden are examples of
a(n):
A. church
B. sect.
C. denomination.
D. ecclesia.

64. Answer: D
• The Anglican Church in England and the
Lutheran church in Sweden are examples of
a(n) ecclesia.

65. Religion and Tradition
• These Jews at the
Western Wall in
Jerusalem—a wall
that holds special
significance for all
Jews—express their
faith in God and in
the traditions of their
ancestors.

66. Fundamentalism
• A traditional religious doctrine that is
conservative, is typically opposed to
modernity, and rejects “worldly pleasures” in
favor of otherworldly spirituality.

67. Hindusim
• According to Marx and Weber,
religion serves to reinforce
social stratification in a
society.
• According to Hindu belief, a
person’s social position in his
or her current life is a result of
behavior in a former life.

68. Buddhism
• Worshippers at this
Buddhist temple in
Los Angeles
celebrate the Thai
New Year.

69. Confucianism
• Confucianism is
based on the ethical
teachings formulated
by Confucius, shown
here in a portrait
created by a Manchu
prince in 1735.

70. Islam
• The Muslim women
shown here pray at a
mosque courtyard in
Bangladesh during the
fasting month of
Ramadan.
• According to Muslim
teaching, Ramadan
marks God’s revelation of
the Qur’ and to the
Prophet Muhammad.

71. Christianity
• Christians around the
world have been
drawn to cathedrals
such as the Basilica
of Sacré Coeur in
Paris (built between
1875 and 1914) to
worship God and
celebrate their
religious beliefs.

72. Original Locations of the World’s
Major Religions

73. Characteristics of Churches and
Sects
Organization Membership
Open to all;
Large, bureaucratic
members usually
Church organization,led by
from upper and
professional clergy
middle classes
Small group,high Guarded
Sect degree of lay membership, usually
participation from lower classes

74. Characteristics of Churches and
Sects
Worship Salvation
Church Formal, orderly Granted by God
Informal, Achieved by moral
Sect
spontaneous purity

75. Characteristics of Churches and
Sects
Attitude Toward Other Religions
Church Tolerant
Sect Intolerant

76. Cult
• This mass wedding
ceremony brought
widespread media
attention to the
Reverend Sun Myung
Moon and the
Unification Church,
which many view as
a cult.

77. Major U.S. Denominations That Self-
identify As Christian
Religious Body Members Churches
Roman Catholic 67,260,000 19,431
Southern Baptist 16,440,000 42,972
Convention
United Methodist 8,251,000 35,102
Church of God in Christ 5,500,000 15,300
Church of Jesus Christ 5,503,000 12,112
of Latter Day Saints

78. Major U.S. Denominations That Self-
identify As Christian
Religious Body Members Churches
Evangelical Lutheran 4,985,500 10,657
Church in America
National Baptist 5,000,000 9,000
Convention,USA
National Baptist 3,500,000 N.A.
Convention of America
Presbyterian Church 3,241,000 11,064
(U.S.A.)
Assemblies of God 2,730,000 12,222

79. U.S. Religious Bodies
Membership
Religious Body Members
Protestants 91,500,000
Roman Catholics 63,683,000
Muslims 6,000,000
Jews 5,602,000
Orthodox Christians 5,631,000
Buddhists 1,864,000
Hindus 795,000

80. Churches in Low Income Areas
• Churches in
converted buildings
such as this seek to
win new religious
followers and to offer
solace and hope to
people in low-income
areas.

81. Quick Quiz

82. 1. According to Sociologists, religion attempts
to:
A. bridge the gap between the known and the
unknown.
B. have a personal relationship with God.
C. all of the choices.
D. save every soul.

83. Answer: A
• According to Sociologists, religion attempts
to bridge the gap between the known and
the unknown.

84. 2. Who said "religion is the opiate of the
masses?”
A. Emile Durkheim
B. Karl Marx
C. Max Weber
D. Talcott Parsons

85. Answer: B
• Karl Marx said "religion is the opiate of the
masses?”

86. 3. 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. an ecclesia
B. Catholicism
C. a sect
D. a denomination

87. 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.

88. 4. Unquestioning belief that does not require
proof or scientific evidence is:
A. sacred
B. profane
C. taboo
D. faith

89. Answer: D
4. Unquestioning belief that does not require
proof or scientific evidence is faith.