Revision:Religion and Ideology

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Religion can take many forms, there can be a worship of a range of deities (Gods) or one, or none. God can be constantly intervening, or rarely intervene. Gods can be punitive or benevolent. They can inspire awe and reverence or fear. People can either bargain with or outwit their God, and religions can offer moral guidance or none.

Why did religion come into being?

It came into being as an explanation for the unexplainable; source of the "big" questions: how did we get here?

What happens after death?

Religion's position is controlling forces in the universe that sustain the moral and social order of the people. It validates people's lives.

Ideology - moral code, socially determined (government, religion, family).

Ideology is a framework of codes and ideas, and religion is part of the ideology.

Polytheism - a religious belief system based on beliefs in many gods or deities.

Purposes of religion

• Moral Code
• Sense of community and security
• Acceptance rituals; marriage, deaths, baptisms
• Helps people through crises- gives them hope and faith
• Pressures of demography (the study and measurement of populations). It can help relieve stress and strain on a particular society, e.g. if the population grows too big for its food supply- it can help by bringing people together to save resources.
• Explains and soothes mysteries such as death by saying it's part of life's cycle etc, and praying to the God of plenty in times of little crops etc.

Neo - Marxists talk about religion as part of ideology; they are against it because religion and ideology justifies the status quo and the division of classes.

Substantive anthropologists look at the "substance" of religion.

Functionalist anthropologists look at the function of religion.

E B Tylor in the 1960s said that religion was simply a "belief in spiritual beings."

Emile Durkheim said that religion was "a unified system of beliefs and practices related to sacred things, things set apart and forbidden". Durkheim believed that some things were scared, and others profane (non-sacred) in religion.

C. Geertz defined religion in terms of what religion did: "A religion is a system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive and long-lasting moods and motivations by formulating conceptions of a general order or existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.

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