Concept of Religion society and politics; Social function of religion - Unit II - B.A Political Science- Paper VIII

 

Religion society and politics

Religion in society

Introduction

Religion is an almost Universal and pervasive institutions in human society full stop and the scientific study of religious institutions believers and politics had its origin in Marxism and the neo Hegelian critique of religion.

 Meaning

 According to Emile Durkheim, Religion is defined as "a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things. That is to say, things set apart and forbidden - belief and practices which unite into one single moral community called as Church, all those who adhere to them.

According to Ronald I. Johnstone, he defines religion as "a system of belief and practices by which a group of people interpret and respond to what they feel is supernatural and sacred."

  

Social function of religion

Religion is an almost Universal institution in human society. It is a part of society interwoven with all other aspects of human life; with kinship system, economics and political institutions.

 These functions can be broadly categorized under three heading:  social solidarity, social control and social life.

1.    Social solidarity; Religions contributions to social solidarity has been explains by the great sociologist Emile Durkheim.

Emile Durkheim, he defines religion as "a unified system of beliefs and practices related to sacred things." A things is sacred not because of a peculiar quality inherent thing itself. He Emphasis selective receive as a means of reinforcing social solidarity in a social group.

2.    Social control; Religion plays an important part in the mechanism of social control. It acts as an agent of social control by providing rewards for good conduct and punishment for bad. It is this control functions of religion that caused Karl Marx to called religion as "the Opium of the people."

3.    Social change; Religion can also contribute to social change in a classical study Max Weber analyse the effect on western societies of calvinism a form of Protestantism.  He linked the calvinist belief in Predestination with the development of the protestant ethnic and the growth of capitalism.

 Marx on the role of religion

 

Marx's basic idea on the role and functions of religion are best summed up in one of the opening paragraphs of his contributions to the critique of Hegel’s philosophy of Right.

 He says religion is an expression of man's imperfect self-awareness. Not man as abstract individual but social man or the human collective. It is a distortion of Man's being because society is distorted. Man is the world of man, state, society. These state this society produce religion a perverted consciousness because they are a perverted world. He says that religion is the Opium of the people. Opium is something that people take voluntarily to forget their pains and suffering for misery and to live in an alien world of illusion happiness. Likewise, in religion people seek refuge from the suffering and privation inflicted on them by the exploiting society.

Marx however did not make the mistake of saying only that religion is "the Opium of the people."  For him religion can be much else; theory as well as myth insight; knowledge and logic.   Religion is not merely abstract belief or simply a superstation which can be dislodge simply by our argument and new rational belief.

The way to Real happiness according to Marx, is for men to free themselves from the kind of life that make them crave this substitute.

 

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