The Sociological Challenges to Religious Belief Essay

The Sociological Challenges to Religious Belief The sociological approach to religious belief looks at how society behaves on a whole, to answer the question, Why are people religious? Durkheim tried to show that religion, despite its importance to the religious individual, was a separate social experience. He defined religion as a unified system of beliefs and practices related to sacred things. Therefore we must understand sacred symbols and what they represent. As a Functionalist, religion maintains social stability by removing tension that can disrupt social order. Religion is seen in a positive light, promoting harmony in society. He studied the Australian Aborigines, where each clan†¦show more content†¦Marx had a utopian vision of the future in which all people would be equal because the class system would no longer exist and no one would be exploited. He thought society fell into two groups, the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. The ruling class owned the means of production whilst the working class could sell their labour to the ruling class. The ruling class exploited the proletariat by paying them very little. This resulted in the proletariat feeling alienated from society. He believed that the only way out of this situation was for the proletariat to rise up against the ruling class and seize the means of production. Once the people owned the means of production, social classes would disappear and there would be no need for religion, since it existed only under the old social conditions. Religion was seen as an illusion, it dulls the pain of oppression for the proletariat but at the same time it blinds them form their true reality, stopping them seeing what needs to be done to end their exploitation, as Marx infamously puts it, It is the opium of the people. A slightly different perspective came from Weber, who was more concerned with trying to discover links between types of religion and social life, with a particular emphasis on economics. He believed that religion grew from the belief of magic and they were an attempt to make sense of the world. OverShow MoreRelatedMarxist Perspective On Religion And Liberation Theology1199 Words   |  5 Pagesand power structures such as religious institutions, the power relations of the economy were reinforced by â€Å"traditional religious icons or the modern icons of mass consumerism† (Callaghan 199). His belief that religious icons and icons of mass consumerism are reinforcing oppressive structures could be viewed as a type of â€Å"methodological atheism†, for Marx fails to acknowledge the significance of transcendence for those practicing religion. 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