Totemism

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Reply 1

communicationiskey.

Hiya = ]

I don't know how much help it will be, But the stuff I've posted below is from an essay I did in the AQA Religion module, basically it makes the links between Durkheim's Theory of Totemism and Civil Religion = ]

"Emile Durkheim however, believed that in worshipping religion, it is actually society that is being worshipped. When talking about Aboriginal religion, Durkheim concluded that “primitive man comes to view society as something sacred because he is utterly dependent upon it.” This is a particularly interesting stance of religion and relates to the way in which Aboriginal societies would each make their own totem pole, used to worship their Aboriginal God. Durkheim believed that the Totems were also regarded as something entirely sacred, and were in fact a means of worshiping their society also.

Durkheim’s idea of religion being a means of worshipping society is also strongly linked to Bellah’s concept of civil religion. Bellah drew upon Parson and Durkheim’s work forming this concept. From Durkheim’s work into the idea that ‘sacred; beliefs and practices, Bellah determined that in America, despite the social divides of the North and the South, it’s unity overall was due to civil religion or a belief in Americanism. It may be said that this kind of faith does not require any belief in a supernatural existence, but Bellah argues that it does, through the way in which both God and Americanism walk hand in hand. Bellah’s uses the example of the American presidents who have always pledged allegiance to God, and have always ended each public speech with the works ‘God Bless you and God bless America.’ Bellah suggests that this ‘God’ they speak of is not actually the God of Catholicism for example, but that it is in fact ‘America’s God’. There is a strong link between the states that are overly patriotic, and the states that are particularly religious, and Bellah believes that this link is by no means a coincidence. Looking at the present day American political election candidates, both Sarah Palin, the social conservative, and John McCain the vice presidential candidate, have very strong evangelical beliefs with specific regard to abortion and gay rights. This is a crucial topic in American politics and it will be a very evident factor in the outcome of the elections, thus proving just how religious the country is when connecting religion and politics.

When looking at Civil Religion in the UK, Gerald Parsons (2002) claimed that the ‘most widespread and visible expression of Britain’s Civil Religion’ is probably the events and ceremonies surrounding Remembrance Sunday. Parsons explains that as the televised scene at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, London in which the Royal Family lead the nation is remembering the lives of those lost as a result of war and conflict, the nation does appear to be united. The monarchy does seem to be leading this small show of Civil Religion. James Beckford says he recognises that the nation does come together for religious rituals such as Princess Diana’s Funeral, but he also comments that these occasions cannot compensate for the deep social divisions in the UK, and that if the UK does have civil religion, it is both sparse, and even then it is very weak."

Hope it's helpful x

Reply 2

J9127

Possibly. Durkheim believed that the worship of a totem pole was basically the worship of the self/society, as clans themselves made the totem. In society today, people are no longer religion in the conventional sense, but people worship other things, such as celebrities, football teams... Also in a post modern society, people wish to be autonomous, and much emphasis is placed on the self, which is shown through the rise of the New Age movement, so you could argue that the analysis totemism still is relevant in todays society as people have taken a step back from worshiping a god, to worshiping themselves.

You could also tie this in to 'pick and mix' religion - the name of the sociologist escapes me.

I hope this helps :-)