Religious definitions
- Created by: Becky Shoon
- Created on: 14-01-14 14:31
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- What is religion?
- Functional
- Define religion in terms of its uses and purposes for individuals and societies.
- As religion is a product of society, it needs to be defined in terms of its contributions to society.
- Yinger (1970) " Religion is a system of beliefs and practices by means of which a group of people struggles with the ultimate problems of human life".
- Criticisms: Too broad + assume that religion plays a useful role in society.
- Polythetic
- Define religion by creating a list of possible features that make up a religion. - Accept that no one example will share them all.
- identifies overlapping factors that most religions share.
- Southwold (1978) suggests: a concern with the sacred, rituals and practices, beliefs based on faith.
- Criticisms: not clear how many factors need to be shared to be considered a religion. As well as the decision of what should be included in the list.
- Substantive
- Attempt to explain what religion actually is.
- Tylor (1903) "Religion is the belief in spiritual beings".
- Durkheim (1915) "Religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things".
- Group activity.
- Certain symbols are imbued with sacred powers.
- Criticisms: The problem of which beliefs should be viewed as religious and which shouldn't.
- Functional
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