Sociological Approach to religion (lectured by Mr. Samanta Ilaṅgakon) 2011

                Classical theorists were interested in the relationship between types of religious belief and types of society. These four persons are among the greatest of the classical theorists of religion:

         (1) August Comte believed that religion and science represent two different stages of social evolution. Comte contends that animism characterizes priest-led theological society.

         (2) Emile Durkheim showed how religion forged common values and ethics in society. Durkheim said that animals and plants totemism was a sacred custom in early tribal societies.

         (3) Karl Marx claimed that religion was an other-worldly substitute for misery on earth. Marx claimed that a belief in the hereafter compensates for exploitative relationship in capitalist society.

         (4) Max Weber discovered a link between religious belief and capitalistic behavior. Weber highlights an affinity between Protestantism and an economic outlook that embodied the spirit of capitalism.

               
August Comte (lectured by Mr. Samanta Ilaṅgakon) 2011                 Comte believed that social facts could be studied objectively as things. The human mind evolved through three stages. Each stage was a type of society and each stage represents a progress.

·         Primitive-theological stage - This stage is preoccupied with religious thought, especially animism - religious society cherishes feeling and places great emphasis on blood rites.

·         Metaphysical stage - The metaphysical stage involves justification of universal rights of beings on a higher plane. The belief in many gods transits to belief in one God. Natural forces were identified as super-human power.

·         Positive (scientific) stage - This stage started with the revolution of Copernicus. The purpose of this period was for the people to find solution for social problems and bring them into force. This stage is a secular and scientific one. People are questioned about life and nature instead of religion. Comte’s third stage reveals the replacement of religion by sociability. Sociology removed God from the science. Comte has given the positive stage the last position in his list because it was in accordance with the evolution of human thinking.

                He believed this law of three stages to be applicable to society across the world and throughout time. He regarded the transition from one stage to another to be more of a crisis than a progress.

                Émile Durkheim, in his famous book “The Elementary Forms of Religious Life” (1912)focused on totemism, the religion of the aboriginal Australians. He believed in the simplicity of the aboriginal religion. The book is discussing the essential elements of religion. In this work, he looked at the social origin and function of religion. He said:

                “At the foundation of all systems of belief and all cults, there ought necessarily to be a certain number of fundamental representations or conceptions and of ritual attitudes which, in spite of the diversity of forms which they have taken, have the same objective significance and fulfill the same functions everywhere. These are the permanent elements which constitute that which is permanent and human in religion; they form all the objective contents of the idea which is expressed when one speaks of religion in general.”[1]

Max Weber on Religion (lectured by Mr. Samanta Ilaṅgakon) 2011                 Max Weber is different from other theorists. He focused his work on the effects of religious action and inaction instead of discussing religion as a kind of misapprehension or as a social cohesion. Weber did not attempt to reduce religion to its essence. Instead, he examined how were religious ideas and rules related to other aspects of social life, especially economy. In doing so, he attempted to get at religious subjective meaning, to the individual.

                Max Weber believed, that religion, specifically Protestant Calvinism, actually helped to give rise to modern capitalism as he asserted in his most famous work “the Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism”. In Protestant Ethics Weber argues that capitalism arose in the West because of how the belief in predestination was interpreted by everyday English Puritans. Puritan theology was based on the Calvinist notion that not everyone would be saved.[2] They believed, that there is only a specific number of the elected (people who will be permitted to live eternal life in heaven). This was based on predetermined will (of the God) and not on any action that one could perform in this life.

                For Weber, religion is best understood as a response to human needs. Human beings are troubled with the question of theodicy, the question of how the extraordinary power of a divine God may be reconciled with the imperfection of the world that He has created and rules over. People need to know why there is undeserved good fortune and suffering in the world. Religion offers people soteriological answer or answer that provides opportunities for salvation. The pursuit of salvation like the pursuit of wealth became a part of human motivation.

                Max Weber was a non-believer. However, his discussion on the sociology of religion proceeds from the assumption that a belief in the supernatural is universal. He distinguishes between the social function of a magicians, priests and mediators and people and the supernatural. The priests pray to God for divine intervention and supernatural beliefs have both magical and religious aspects.              He identified two kinds of prophets:

(1) Exemplary prophets – they are ideals that followers can take as example for their life because these prophets are supposed to embody the highest level of virtue.
(2) Ethical prophets - they impose moral duties and demands on followers. The followers should follow the prophet’s precepts.

                Christianity is the religion to which Weber devoted most of his attention. Calvinists believe, that success in business demonstrates righteous living - thus it has the divine approval. In his book Weber outlined the above mentioned theory. Calvinism regarded material success as a sign of divine favor like other salvation-based religions. The Calvinists asked for a better hereafter. God predetermines everything including whether one goes to hell or heaven. For this, adherents should be righteous by

(1) Carrying out religious duties, for example, worshiping and pray.
(2) Being morally pure, for example, avoiding self-indulgence.
(3) Developing one's heart, for example, giving valuable possessions.
(4) Striving to make money, for example, reinvesting earnings.

                The surest sign that one was leading a righteous life was to be successful in business. Weber’s theory was, that religious belief had an impact on economy. His theory on the relationship between the Protestant ethics and the development of modern capitalism remained to be some of the greatest sociological works. He provided evidences to show that in spite of capitalism, religious things tend to go in the other direction. Protestantism, especially in the era of capitalism, produced exactly the kind of mind-frame, which encouraged capitalistic habits.

 
Karl Marx on Religion (lectured by  Mr. Samanta Ilaṅgakon) 2011                 Among all the thinkers of 19th century, it is Karl Marx, who has most influenced the events of the 20th century. He was a materialist. He did not believe in supernatural power. When he wrote in his early years on religion, he asserted that “man makes religion, religion does not make man”. He argued, that religion produces an ideological mystification of reality. In this way, religion sanctifies established order. It proclaims that the political authority of the ruling class is an ordained supernatural authority. It is best to begin with our consideration of what Marx understood to be religion. A classical statement, in this regard, occurs in the introduction to his book “Contribution to the Critique of Hegelian Philosophy of Law”.


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[1]     From http://durkheim.uchicago.edu/Summaries/forms.html .
[2]     It must be noted, that here two Christian sects  are dealt with – Protestant Calvinism and Puritanism. According to Christianity, only by belief in Jesus people can attain salvation and live eternal life in heaven. According to Puritans, not all Christians can attain salvation and not all Christians will be permitted to live eternal life in heaven, that means not all Christians will be saved from suffering.