RELIGION

Durkheim on religion:

• The sacred and the profane: for Durkheim, the key feature of religion is the fundamental distinction between the sacred and the profane found in all religions. The sacred are the things that are set apart and forbidden- they inspire feelings of awe, fear and wonder, and are surreounded by taboo and prohibitions. Profane are things that have no special meaning or significance- they are mundane. According to Durkheim, these symbolise soemthing of great power. 
• Totemism: Durkheim studied the Austrailian Aboriginal Tribe to study the simplest forms of religion. He found that they worshipped totems that represented themselves (the clan's emblem) and said that the shared Totemic rituals venerating it served to reinforce the group's solidarity and sense of belonging. 

Bronislaw Malinowski agreed with Durkheim that religion promotes social solidarity- however in his view, it does so by performing psychological functions for individuals, helping them cope with emotional stress that would undermine social solidarity. He identified two types of situations in which religion performs this role 

1) Where the outcome is important but is uncontrollable and thus uncertain: In his study of the Trobriand Islanders, Malinowski contrasts fishing in the lagoon Vs fishing in the Ocean.

• Lagoon fishing is safe and uses the predictable and successful method of poisoning- when the islanders fish in the lagoon, there is no ritual
• Ocean fishing is dangerous and uncertain, and is always accompanied by 'canoe magic'- rituals to ensure a safe and successful expedition. This gives people a sense of control, which eases tension, gives them confidence to undertake hazardous tasks and reinforces social solidarity.

2) At times of life crises: Events such as birth, puberty, marriage and especially death mark major and disruptive changes in social groups. Religion helps to minimise disruption. E.g. James Bulger mass funeral

Talcott Parsons see religion helping individuals cope with unforeseen and uncontrollable outcomes. He identifies two other essential functions that religion performs in modern society:

• It creates and legitimates society's central values 
• It is the primary source of meaning

Religion creates and legitimates society's basic norms by sacralising them - serves to promote value consensus and social stability. Religion also provides a source of meaning. In particular, it answers 'ultimate' questions about the human condition, such as why the good suffer and why some die young. Such events defy our sense of justice and life begins to feel meaningless; this undermines our committment to societys values. Religion provides answers to such qustions e.g. by explaining suffering as a test of faith that will be rewarded in heaven. By doing so, religion helps us to adjust to adverse events or circumstances and helps maintain stability.  

• Bellah da **** is interested in how religion unifies society, especially a multi-faith society like America. He found that Civil Religion (a belief system that attaches scared qualities to society itself) is what unifies American society. 
• Bellah argues that Civil Religion integrates society in a way that America's many different churches and denominations cannot. 
• American Civil Religion involves loyalty to the nation-state and a belief in God, both of which are equated with being a good American. It is expressed in many rituals, symbols and beliefs; such as the pledge of allegiance to the flag, singing the national anthem, the Lincoln memorial, and phrases such as 'one nation under God'- an American God. this sacralises the American way of life and binds together Americans from many different ethnic and religious backgrounds.
• Although in American civil religion involves a belief in God, Bellah argues that this doesn't have to be the case- some other belief system could perform the same functions. 
• E..g. Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union had secular political beliefs and rituals around which they sought to unite society. 

Religion as ideology:

Marx argues that the class that controls the economic production also controls the production and distribution of ideas in society, through institutions such as the church, the education system and the media.

In Marx's view, religion operates as an ideological weapon used by the ruling class to legitimate the suffering of the poor as something inevitable and god-given. Religion misleads the poor into thinking that their suffering is virtuous and that they will be favoured in the afterlife. Such ideas create a false class consciousness - a distorted view of reality that prevents he poor from acting to change their situation. 

Similarly. Lennin describes religion as 'spiritual gin' - an intoxicant doled out to the masses by the ruling class to confuse them and keep them in their place. In Lennin's view, the ruling class use religion cynically to manipulate the masses and keep them from attempting to overthrow the ruling class by creating a 'mystical fog' that obscures reality--> religion also legitimates the power and privelege of the dominant class by making their position appear to be divinely ordained. For example, the Divine Right of Kings

Marx also see religion as the product of Alienation. This involves becoming separated from or losing control over something that one has produced or created. Under capitalism, workers are alienated because they do not own what they process, and thus have no freedom to express their true nature as creative beings. 

• In these dehumanising conditions, the exploited turn to religion as a form of consolation. As Marx puts it, religion: 'is the opium of the people. It is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, the soul of soulless conditions, the spirit of a spiritless situation.'
• Religion acts as opium to dull the pain of oppression, but just as it masks the pain rather than treating the cause, it masks the underlying problem of exploitation that creates the need for it. 
• Religion cannot provide a solution to misery because of its distorted view of the world- instead, it promises an illusion that creates a happiness that serves as a distraction from the true source of suffering- capitalism

Evidence of patriarchy: there is considerable evidence of patricarchy in religious teachings, for example:

• Religious organisations are mainly male-dominated despite the fact that women often participate more than men in these organisations. For example, Orthodox Judaisim and Catholicism forbid women to become preists. Armstrong sees exclusion from the priesthood as evidence of women's marginalisation. 
• Places of worship often segregate the sexes and marginalise women, for example, seating them behind screens while men occupy the more central and more sacred spaces. Women's participation may be restricted- for example not being allowed to read or preach from sacred texts. Taboos that regard menstruation, pregnancy and childbirth as polluting may also prevent participation. E.g. In Islam menstruating women are not allowed to touch the Qur'an. Holm describes this as a devaluation of women in religion.
• Sacred texts largely features the doings of male gods, prophets etc, and are usually written and interpreted by men. Stories often reflect anti-female stereotypes, such as that of Eve, who, in the Judaeo-Christian story of Genesis, caused humanity's fall from the Garden of Eden. 
• Religious laws and customs may give women fewer rights than men e.g. access to divorce/ how many spouses they may marry

However, Feminists argue that women have not always been subordinate to men within religion. Armstrong argues that early reilgions often placed women at the centre. For example, earth mother goddesses, fertility cults and female preisthoods were found throughout the Middle East until about 6.000 years ago. However, from about 4,000 years ago, the rise of monothestic religions saw the establishment of a single, all powerful male God, such as the Hebrew's Jehovah, and the male prophets such as Abraham/ Ibrahim, the first prophet of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. 

While religion may be used to oppress women, El Saadawi argues that this is not the direct cause of  their subordination. Rather, this is the result of patricarchal forms of society coming into existence in the last few thousand years. However, once in existence, patriarchy began to influence and re-shape religion- e.g. men reinterpreted religious beliefs in ways that favoured patriarchy. Thus, religion now contributes to women's oppression. El Saadawi concludes this by saying that the rise of monotheism legitimates the power of men over women. 

Woodhead: criticises feminist explanations that equate religion with patriarchy and the oppression of women. While accepting that much traditional religion is patricarchal, she emphasises that this is not true for all of them. She argues there are 'religious forms of feminism'- ways in which women use religion to gain greater freedom and respect. 

She uses the example of the hijab worn by Muslim women. While Western feminists tend to see it as a symbol of oppression, to the wearer it may be a means of liberation.

• Gillet-Ray says that some British Muslim choose to wear the hijab in order to gain parental approval to get into further education and especially employment, where Muslim women's presence has traditionally been problematic. For them, the hijab is a symbol of liberation that allows them to enter the public sphere without being condemmed as immodest. 
• Women also use religion to gain status and respect for their roles in the private sphere / family. Brusco found in Columbia, belonging to a pentacostal group can be empowering for women- men in pentacostals strongly believe that they should respect women.