Sociological Theories Of Religion

In sociology, we comprehend religion as superficial or powerful. It is something that is beyond human explanation. Thus, social scientists have worked to observe the interconnection between religion and society. There are various sociological theories of religion, but the ones with a strong influence are that of sociology’s three classical theorists. They are Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Karl Marx. What’s interesting is that none of them was particularly fond of religion but what interested them was the power of religion over people and society. The common takeaway from their theories is that religion is mainly just an illusion, and they thought that its appeal and influence would decrease over time. Let’s discuss these sociological theories of religion in detail here.

Durkheim’s Theory of Religion

Emile Durkheim used to spend a lot of his time in his academic career studying religion. He mainly focused on small societies. Durkheim viewed religion within the society’s context and recognized its role in influencing the thoughts and behaviour of the society’s members.He observed that people usually separate the sacred religious symbols, rituals, and objects from the daily ones that were said to be profane. What separates sacred objects from profane ones is that the former was believed to possess divine properties.When looking at advanced cultures, we see that people might not believe that the objects possess some special power, but they still treat the sacred objects with respect and admiration.

Durkheim was of the view that religion is not just about belief but also about regular rituals and ceremonies. Rituals bring the religious group’s members together and help them escape the boring aspects of everyday life into elevated realms of experience.We cannot discuss sociological theories of religion without that of Durkheim, as he believed that religion contributes to society’s health and continuation. He also predicted that the influence of religion would decrease as our society keeps modernising and incorporating scientific thinking. Thus, he thought that instead of traditional religion, civic religion would be promoted that includes civic celebrations, parades, etc.

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Weber’s Theory of Religion

Although Durkheim’s study and conclusion concerned a limited set of examples, he claimed that the theory was applicable to religion in general. On the contrary, Max Weber’s study was done on a large scale, based on religions all over the world.Thus, he focused on millions of believers all over the world following different religions like Christianity, Taoism, Buddhism, and Hinduism. He evaluated Christianity’s impact on the Western culture and thought process.

He aimed to discover the impact of religion on social change. Consequently, he noticed the roots of Capitalism in Protestantism, and it was the opposite in Eastern religions. For instance, Hinduism leaned towards achieving spirituality and escaping the hustle of the mundane physical world.On the other hand, he thought Christianity was a religion that claimed to ‘save’ people by converting to a particular set of beliefs and moral codes. Thus, he believed that the Eastern religions had a passive approach, but salvation religions had a more active approach.

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Marx’s Theory of Religion

Karl Max was not a religious man, and he never even did a detailed study on the subject. Still, he has quite an influence whenever the topic of sociological theories of religion is discussed. He derived his views on the topic from the theological and philosophical authors of the 19th century, like Ludwig Feuerbach.Feuerbach was of the view that people cannot understand society. As a result, they project their own customs and values that are based on culture onto separate entities like gods, angels, demons and spirits. So, after realising that their values are projected onto religion, they can attain them in this world instead of the afterlife.

Thus, Marx called religion the ‘opium of people. He stated that religion teaches people to accept their life as it is, no matter how bad and postpone the rewards or happiness for an afterlife.As a result, religion forbids social change as it teaches non-resistance to oppression and diverts the attention of people from the injustices happening in the world. Similarly, it also justifies the inequality of power and wealth that the privileged lot possess.While it was a common belief that Marx did not hold any regard for religion, it is not completely true. He was of the view that religion serves as a refuge from the roughness of our daily lives and the oppression by the authorities. However, he also predicted that traditional religion would soon fade away one day.

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Conclusion

To sum it up, religion can be said to be a rigid system that consists of moral beliefs and norms. It is present in different forms in different types of society. When we look at it through the sociological lens, we learn that we can comprehend the theories of religion in sociology via different perspectives. Being a functionalist, Durkheim said that religion is like a binding force that governs the moral demeanour of individuals. Meanwhile, Weber believed that it massively influences every society and is capable of bringing social change. In contrast, Marx observed that religion is a system of stratification that is responsible for strengthening the society’s existing inequality. One thought was common amongst all three sociological theories of religion that it will eventually fade away as the world becomes more modern, advanced and capitalist.