Religion
Religion is an Ideological Institution setup and organized by the Accumulating Classes to satisfy one or more of our Seven Essential Needs by providing System friendly satisfactions.
Related Terms
Religion > Boundary Fetish, Boundary Problem, Narrative, Sacrilization
Other Definitions
We can break sociological definitions of religion into two categories substantive and functional.
Substantive definitions revolve around the content (or substance) of a religion. Like, religion is the belief in spiritual beings[1] What religion is.
Sociologists and others who have provided substantive definitions -> Emile Durkheim, Georg Simmel, Joachim Wach, Melford Spiro, Romain Rolland, Sigmund Freud
Functional definitions "describe the utility of the effect of that religion" on individuals and society.[2] What religion does.
Sociologists and others who have provided functional definitions -> Clifford Geertz, Emile Durkheim, Georg Simmel, Joachim Wach, Melford Spiro, Romain Rolland, Sigmund Freud
Notes
Religions satisfy our Cognitive Needs to know and understand by providing System friendly answers.
This definition excludes grass roots Connection Framework, spiritual systems rooted in Connection Experience. As soon as a Connection Framework is infiltrated and co-opted by members of the Accumulating Class, the spiritual system transforms into a Religion.
Definitions
William James "Were one asked to characterize the life of religion in the broadest and most general terms possible, one might say that it consists of the belief that there is an unseen order, and that our supreme good lies in harmoniously adjusting ourselves thereto."[3]
Clifford Geertz "...a religion is:
(l) a system of symbols which acts to (2) establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by (3) formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and (4) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that (5) the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.[4]
Geertz also notes religion helps deal with the existential despair caused by "Bafflement, suffering, and a sense of intractable ethical paradox..." [5]
According to Geertz, religion arises partly in response to the Problem of Meaning. "The Problem of Meaning...is one of the things that drive men [sic] toward belief in gods, devils, spirits, totemic principles, or the spiritual effiacy of cannibalism..."[6]
Origins
Sigmund Freud suggest religious ideas arise from
- an expression of the son-father relationship (see totem and taboo, related to religions where "totem animals" become sacred)[7]
- the need to defend oneself against the "crushingly superior force of nature."[8]
- The "urge to rectify the shortcoming of civilization..."[9]
Footnotes
- ↑ Tylor, Edward. Primitive Culture. London: John Murray, 1903. Note, Tylor's theory later criticized as evolutionary and ethnocentric (not all religions believe in or emphasize "spiritual beings" (Confucianism). Distinguished between "primitive" and "modern" spirituality, lower versus higher forms.
- ↑ Furseth, Inger, and Pål Repstad. An Introduction to the Sociology of Religion: Classical and Contemporary Perspectives. Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2006. p. 16.
- ↑ James, William. Varieties of Religious Experience, a Study in Human Nature (p. 53). Kindle Edition.
- ↑ Geertz, Clifford. “Religion as a Cultural System.” In Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Religion, edited by Michael Banton, 1–44. Oxon: Routledge, 2004. p. 4.
- ↑ Geertz, Clifford. “Religion as a Cultural System.” In Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Religion, edited by Michael Banton, 1–44. Oxon: Routledge, 2004. p. 14.
- ↑ Geertz, Clifford. “Religion as a Cultural System.” In Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Religion, edited by Michael Banton, 1–44. Oxon: Routledge, 2004. p. 25
- ↑ Freud, Sigmund. The Future of an Illusion. New York: Anchor Books, 1961. p. 21
- ↑ Freud, Sigmund. The Future of an Illusion. New York: Anchor Books, 1961. p. 21
- ↑ Freud, Sigmund. The Future of an Illusion. New York: Anchor Books, 1961. p. 21
