Religion has many functions within a society, both social and psychological. According to Ferraro (308) three such social functions are social control, conflict resolution, and intensifying group solidarity. Religion seems to help maintain a social order. It appears to do this by encouraging what a given society deems acceptable behavior and discouraging socially inappropriate behavior. “Every religion, regardless of the form it takes, is an ethical system that prescribes proper way of behaving.” (Ferraro 308) This social order of rewards and punishment is reinforced when backed by supernatural authority. Thus one’s neighbor may be exorcized from his or her community when a behavior is seen as socially unacceptable or inappropriate. Examples of this in the Jewish-Christian community would be the breaking of the Ten Commandments such as stealing, committing adultery, or murdering.
Another social function of religion is to “enable people to express their common identity in an emotionally charged environment” ( Ferraro 308). Group solidarity is intensified for those who practice it. When members of a religious group come together to practice religious beliefs, they often bond by participating in other non-religious activities as well. (Ferraro 308) People find religion an easy way to identify with one another. Religion helps to form community, schools, and even government. People who are ‘more’ religious tend to hold more conservative attitudes on sexuality and personal honesty. They are also likely to hold more conservative attitudes about family life, being more likely, for instance, to support the use of corporal
Vaeth 2 punishment in disciplining children. Strongly religious people also tend to be more accepting and satisfied with their lives and marriages. This is perhaps because they do not question what is unknown. It is perhaps merely accepted upon faith. (Brinkerhoff, White, Ortega 295-305)
Religion also plays the role of reducing stress and frustrations that often lead to social conflict. (Ferra...
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...d in a variety of religions.
Rituals are usually practiced within a group of people, many times forming a community such as a church. Going to service every Sunday is a ritual. Meeting a group of friends every Friday night after work for a drink is a ritual. Rituals are spiritual and nonspiritual, religious and magical.
The core elements of religion, belief, ritual, and myth bring people together just as much as they divide them into groups. Religion helps people find personal identity and fit into a community. Being divided into groups is not necessarily a bad thing. It is human nature. If mankind isn’t divisive over religion, it’s over politics, if not politics, then something else. In my perspective, it is not religion that creates the division; it’s the people. According to Ferraro, (322) “religion has played an important role in global social change through liberation theology (whereby Catholic priests and nuns work for social reform and justice for the poor) and religious nationalism (whereby religious beliefs are merged with government institutions).”
In Western society and culture, religion and morality have often intertwined and they have reflected their values onto each other. Today it is sometimes impossible to make a distinction between the two, since their influence has transcended generations. In modern Western culture, religion and society preach conformity. In order to be a “good” person, one must conform to the values imposed by the church1 and state.
Throughout time, the definition of what is considered to be “religion” has been proven to be quite a challenge. This is primarily due to the fact that religions continuously evolve over time as well as an individual’s perception and understanding about what religion seems to be. Despite this ongoing process of modifications when attempting to characterize and define religion, what is certainly constant is the fact that religion plays a great role in influencing societies and individuals historically (McGuire 5). In order for an individual to well integrate oneself into society and build a daily life, religious practices is essential to this process. By analyzing the effects of religion and religious practices on communities and individuals, it will become apparent that religious practices are quite more important than religion itself and its institutions when it comes to helping one adjust into society and life.
Rituals can be described in multiple different ways such as church services or graduation ceremonies. They can even be illustrated by “the symbolic use of bodily movements and gestures in a social situation to express and articulate meanings”. Rituals can be distinguished from daily routines that has connections to the symbols, beliefs, and values of the social groups. Rituals provide meaning through shared experiences to social assemblies. Ritual provides a mechanism to rejoin the mind and body in an activity of
Religion is intertwined with culture, economics, politics, and modern social relationships on every dimension. Whether you attend a cathedral, a synagogue, or a mosque, habitually, intermittently, or abstain entirely, you simply cannot escape religion.
Rituals are activities that we can either inherit or acquire through repetition that have some sort of meaning and significance to us. A ritual can be something as simple as eating dinner as a family on Sunday nights to a complex religious ritual. These rituals a usually symbolic and we make connections to larger things that we assign value to through them. Rituals can be meaningful by commemorating important events, places, and people or just be simpler, everyday routines. Because rituals can be such a variety of different things with different meanings and purposes for those who practice them, we distinguish between religious and secular rituals. Secular rituals would refer to the more “everyday” rituals such as bedtime stories, brushing teeth, Sunday dinner, watching a certain television show every week, and other activities similar to these. Religious rituals are often crucial components of certain religion traditions. These could include baptisms, burial rituals, sacrifices, daily prayer, and other religious activities. Both of these kinds of rituals have similar characteristics, including that they are socially
Religion is a symbolic representation of society. The sociological approach to religious belief looks at how society behaves on a whole, to answer the question, “Why are people religious?” We express our participation in religious events through plays, acts of confession, religious dances, etc. To begin to understand why we have such term, let’s understand the common elements of religion. There are different types in which people believe in or follow and that is: animatism, animism, ancestral spirits, god and goddesses, and minor supernatural beings. Beyond these different elements, such one is to have religious leaders to follow.
Religion has a great influence on people, providing faith and direction to each individual while controlling a co...
There are many social institutions that have major impacts on society. One of the trickiest social institutions would have to be, religion. Religion seems to have a huge impact on a society even if it’s directly or indirectly. Why is that? Do we need it? Does it let us live a more fulfilled life? What effects does it have on society? Is it necessary for a functioning society? According to Dalton Conley (2013:611) sociology defines religion as being a unified system of beliefs traditions, and practices around sacred things; a set of shared “stories” that guide belief and action. Religion is a way for people to make sense of the world, it keeps society in line with expected behaviors. Without religion people would subside to create their own rules and would deem to follow a path that could harm a society and come to an end. Religion is necessary for a society to function, prosper, and for someone to learn how to be a well moral contributor to society.
In discussions of whether the world would be a more peaceful place without religions, one controversial issue has been placing blame on one’s own religion when wars or conflict ending in violence has occurred. The question is asked,. Does religion play a role in the violence going on around the world? On the one hand, many people may agree with this belief and argue that religion in a way has always played a role in the amount of violence in our society. On the other hand, the public contends that as humans we know what we are doing and our religion has nothing to do with the violence that we create.
some, such as Karl max saw that religion is a way strong of a tool that impairs social evaluation. Which resulted in ethnic and religious cleansing and furthermore proved to be the wrong approach to defining the role that religion plays in societies behaviors. I for one, think that religion is an indispensable and integral part of human sociology; furthermore, I believe understanding this relationship would lead to social development.
Some religions even go to the extent of persecuting people who have different beliefs. Scientist have argued that religion was created to give humanity rules and to help turn these early human savages into proper, domesticated people. If someone were to break these rules, they would be meat with an “unimaginable punishment.” “Religion is like a drug to some. And they need a 2000 year old hero to save them – from themselves that is!”
Discussions and controversies over religious oppression have been around for centuries. There have always been dominant religious groups and groups that are oppressed due to their religious beliefs (Levy, 2015). Religion is often deeply embedded within individuals and is typically instilled at a very young age. It can be one’s moral foundation, and can set guidelines for a person’s way of living. Religion helps us make sense of our world and keeps people united (Neely, 2015). It gives meaning to ideas such as heaven, hell, rebirth, and more (Levy, 2015). Religion provides strength and support to people during hardships, and can be a means of comfort during times of need. Having a strong faith can relieve stress and anxiety, and offers a peace of mind during uncertain circumstances. As discussed with our guest speakers from Speaking Down
A ritual is an arrangement of exercises including signals, words, and questions, performed in a sequestered place, and performed by succession. Rituals might be recommended by the customs of a community, including a religious community. The execution of rituals is an indispensable piece of all religions. Rituals are adapted and typically tedious acts that occur at a set time and area. They quite often include the utilization of symbolic protests, words, and activities.
Religions have always played a vital role between humans and its society especially in terms of what is good and proper in the society. In modern world, people have become increasingly dissociated from religion and spirituality.
In schools, the teachers use various ways to educate the children on spiritual matters in consideration of the children's diverse cultures (Geyer and Roy 9). This way they get to learn about morality and religion. Also at the national level, some spiritual virtues are normally used to stop misleading behaviors among youth. For example, abuse of drugs can be regarded to be wrong in community with a religious background, and this can be constitutionalized to improve morality in society. In line with that, bad behaviors among the young ones can be stopped by reinforcement of moral virtues in an institution; this helps to curb regretful results such as murder (Geyer and Roy 9). Logically, everyone loves being treated well and with respect because this brings out internal peace and a sense of fulfillment. This being the pillars of religion, it as well applies in morality was disrespecting and hating another person is regarded as improper. When religion is ignored, morality cannot be upheld, leading to high rate of law breaking behaviors such as robbery, shop lifting, and rape cases (Jagodzinski