Religious allusions pervade much of life in contemporary America: literature, sporting events, on our money. The foundation of the United States centered on religious freedom and choice. Several of the original 13 colonies were founded by people fleeing religious persecution in Europe. This was especially true of the New England colonies (Massachusetts, Rhode Island for example).
In the past several years a number of cases have come before the Supreme court relating to the separation of church and state. These cases reflect the importance of religion to a great number of people and to the continuing differences of opinion as to the place of religion in our state and community. That people are willing to fight these battles through the lengthy and expensive court process attests to the importance of religion even today in the United States.
Participation with a religious group provides a very strong sense of community for the participants, a place to anchor their lives, find friends and people of similar interests. The religious community may be taking the place of the older village life where we shared a common heritage and religious experience. Today we must turn to the smaller, more homogeneous religious group to find this connection and comfort in the complex, diverse urban community.
The attempt to find community should be kept in mind as you read Stark's discussion of the formation and attraction of cults, and the discussion of sects and community churches that I will develop later.
In may ramblings about the World Wide Web I have found a very good Web site that provides a pretty thorough and interesting commentary on a range of religious topics. The site is not oriented toward any particular view of religion other than that of promoting religious tolerance. I urge you visit their web page: Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance.
Religion is the socially defined patterns of belief concerning the ultimate meaning of life, it assumes the existence of the supernatural. (Stark)
Sociologist do not concern themselves with whether or not god or other supernatural things exist, but rather focus upon how beliefs in and about the supernatural affect human behaviors and relationships, and social structures.
(Those of you who are science fiction aficionados may want to share the significance of that number -- see the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy)
Meaning concerns the place of human beings in the universe, our origins, purpose, what our future is to be. The myths and legends of each society provide us with this kind of meaning and location about us as a people. Joseph Campbell explores this theme in the Power of Myth. This became a very interesting Public Broadcasting series of the same name hosted by Bill Moyers and in which he explored these meanings and interpretations with Joseph Campbell. Campbell argues that all societies have myths and legends that locate them in terms of origin and tell the people why they are on earth.
Notice that virtually every society has some myth, story or legend about our origin (one could even argue that science is such a "myth" or "legend" -- for example, how do we know that the stated sequence of events concerning the "evolution of the universe" are indeed what really happened?).
The supernatural is some entity that is above nature, beyond our experience, unexplained by natural laws. This supernatural has existence because the religious communities believe it to be so. Beliefs can be so strong that the supernatural, the spirit becomes real and tangible for the true believers. For examples, African peoples believe in the power of one person over another, to the degree that they believe that person can cause another to become ill. In this country there are those who belong to 'snake cults,' who believe that they can handle poisonous snakes and not be fatally bitten by the snakes. They believe that if they are pure and true believers, God will protect them from the bite of the snake. (If they do get bitten and die, obviously they did believe strongly enough!!)
Stark argues that there has existed in the United States a religious marketplace in which religious ideas are freely formulated and freely compete with one another for followers. This marketplace or religious economy is predicated on the following:
Few if any restrictions in the operation of choice of religion. Unlike European nations, the United States has experienced a great range of religious freedom. There is no official state religion and there is no general compulsion to make us believe in any one way. In this social context, individuals are free to create and to market whatever kind of religious belief will sell within the community.
Keep in mind that choice is independent of religious tolerance -- there are plenty of instances of intolerance of religious groups that are different. Catholics for a long time were actively discriminated against by the dominant Protestant groups. The Mormons were literally driven out of New York, Illinois and finally Missouri. They migrated to Utah -- barren state that no other group really wanted. Nevertheless there is a great variety of belief within the confines of what is acceptable in the community. As we shall see the acceptability of religious groups that depart from the norm increases with the weakness of religion in general in the community.
Pick up the Yellow Pages of the local phone directory and notice the large number of religious organizations that are listed in those pages. Go to almost any neighborhood in the City and County of Denver and you will find a large number of church buildings located within them. For example in my neighborhood (University Park) there are seven different churches within walking distance of my home -- some are mainline (Catholic, Methodist, Episcopalian, Russian Orthodox) and some are not (Jehovah's Witnesses, Parcival's Shield).
Small communities will have several, very prominent church buildings representing both the mainline churches and some smaller sects. These groups compete with one another for your soul and your membership and money.
The religious market place has given rise to a number of religious bodies with differing levels of connection to the existing community. One of the more wide spread ways of classifying these groups is that of church and sect. The classification scheme was originally proposed by Rheinhold Neibuhr, a prominent theologian, as a way to come to grips with nature of the religious diversity in Europe but most especially the United States.
The church tends to be large, with inclusive membership, in low tension with surrounding society. The Church tends toward greater intellectual examination and interpretation of the tenants of religion (e.g., biblical passages, what is the historical context of the passage the meaning to the people at that time, what interpretation application can be given to the present)
small, exclusive membership, high tension with society. Tends toward the emotional, mystic. stress faith, feeling, conversion experience, to be "born again." Fundamental, literal in teaching -- biblical passages are the literal words of God -- mean literally what they say, people are to do what the passages say.
new, different religious tradition in the society -- often imported from other societies (Hinduism, Confucianism, Buddhism in European and American societies, Christianity in Asian societies.) Innovation: new ideas, new beliefs, combinations of beliefs. If successful, these can become new churches / sects within the mainstream tradition. (For example: Reverend Moon's Unification Church)
Please note that many contemporary students of the sociology of religion are reconsidering the distinction between Sect and Cult. Common use of 'cult' often is in a derogatory sense, that is a group of religious people who are somehow deviant and way outside what is considered normal religious behavior. It has come to be a label that leads us away from an examination of the groups and what they are actually doing. The consequences of such examination can be disastrous -- see the destruction of the Branch Davidians at Waco, Texas in April of 1993.
The Washington Post has done a very nice series on different cults in the United States. You should take a look at them.
is a process of change in religious tradition, transformation from otherworldly concerns and focus to concern with things of this world. The process is assumed to follow these broad stages:
1. a religious group begins as fundamental, small group, often fanatic and emotional, it may even be considered a 'cult.' These small groups often appeal to those who feel left out of, isolated from the dominant community. Early Christianity began in this fashion. Note the secret meetings, the use of the fish symbol to show they were Christians and so on in the years following the death of Christ and in the early Roman Empire.
2. as the group becomes successful, it attracts new and different people, a broader spectrum of the community.
3. in order to maintain the appeal to this wider range, de-emphasize some features of the religion (e.g., tenets relating to wealth and after life, emphasize things of this world), becomes less mystical and emotional, more ritualistic and rational.
4. religion comes to be dominated by the establishment. Either the Roman Catholic Church of the 1400s or the Orthodox Greek and Russian churches are examples of these kinds of changes. The Catholic Church became involved in the political and social intrigues of that day and become more concerned with the wealth of the church and maintaining its political position in the society than with the spiritual well-being of the flock.
Similar changes have occurred in contemporary America -- most notably with the Mormons, with the Unification Church of the Reverend Moon and in more extreme cases with the Branch Davidians, the Children of Jesus and other cults scattered throughout the Western United States.
Note that we have now come full circle in the secularization/revival cycle. Briefly it involves the development of an intense, emotional group of people with strong beliefs. The group is successful, draws new members, becomes larger, more bureaucratic, more rational, more involved with broad worldly, social issues and less concerned with the individual members. Many are dissatisfied and break away in an attempt the renew the basic religious tenets. And the process begins all over again.
Note also that as Stark states, this suggests that religion will not disappear, society will not become more 'secular.' Religion will be constantly renewed and refreshed.
that which is ideal, transcends day-to-day existence, it is extraordinary, powerful, potentially dangerous, awe inspiring.
NOTE: when discussing sacred / profane you must always be aware that the characteristics of "sacredness" and "profaneness" are given to the objects by a community of believers. (E.g., Bible, Torah, Koran, Arc of Covenant, sanctuary are generally set apart there are special rules for behavior when in the presence of these objects by the believers in the particular religious community.)
South African movie -- "The Gods Must Be Crazy" -- sacred object is a Coke bottle that fell from the sky, therefore a gift of the gods. However, at its source, an airplane soaring overhead, the bottle was profane, something discarded because it is empty and no longer useful.
ordinary, mundane, utilitarian. Used every day, is not set apart, treated very casually. The Coke bottle in the above example is a profane object to the pilot. South Platte river water is considered a utilitarian and therefore profane object. However, water from the River Jordan in the Middle East is considered by many to be sacred (although to the Jordanians and Palestinians it is not!).
Since groups will hold markedly different objects to be sacred the potential for conflict between religious groups arises around objects seen as sacred by one group but not by others.
European settlers of the North American continent have come into conflict with Native Americans over such distinctions and differences. Religious groups will often become very protective of places that are considered to be of extreme sacred importance to the religion. The Crusades of the 13th and 14th Centuries were to protect the holy land from the infidel. Mecca is off limits to anyone who is not Moslem. The canyons below the Grand Canyon are sacred to the Havasupi and are protected against non-Indian intrusion. The examples can be multiplied several fold.
In this discussion, I will use anecdotes from Christianity since this is the religious faith community with which I am most familiar. If you know of other examples from other religious faith communities and traditions, I would appreciate your sharing those with us, if that sharing is acceptable to your beliefs.
Religious sanctions and beliefs reinforce the legitimacy of many rules and norms in the community. The deep seated conflict over abortion on demand relates to this kind of religious sanction and legitimation. Most religious groups hold life to be sacred, some consider human life to begin at conception. Therefore any abortion is the murder of a human being, violating these commandments about life.
Religion can provide enforcement for lesser norms, such as that of the pursuit (or non-pursuit) of wealth. Early Christianity looked upon interest as usury and the charging of interest was taken to be against the laws of religion. Most states had 'usury' laws, laws that prohibited the charging of interest above a certain level as being immoral as well as illegal. In the high inflation period of the 1980s these laws came into conflict with the actual trend in interest rates and were changed so the rates could go higher. This suggests that the idea of usury is no longer a strong moral position of the church or community. (Any idea as to where this moral stance on money changing and lending may have come from in the Christian tradition? If so, share with us in a discussion topic.)
The fact that some rule and laws carry potential religious, supernatural sanction, they are very difficult to change. They are not just legal statements, they are very clearly moral imperatives, carrying the weight of the religion and supreme being with them.
dominant groups may take control of religion, bend it to their use, to sanctify norms that they consider particularly important. For example, the religious base of cast distinctions in India justifies a system of inequality and access to the goods and services of the society. Protestant teaching in the South was used to justify the keeping of slaves and the institution of slavery.
Thornton Stringfellow, in "Slavery Defended," p. 86 ff., cites chapter and verse from the old testament that justifies the divine origin of slavery and bondage. The text has the title: "A Scriptural View of Slavery."
Worship services are a collection of ritual, following a fixed order each time the service is conducted. services themselves follow a fixed rotation of topic events.
Special dietary laws (no pork or shellfish, no fish on Fridays, no meat, etc.)
Magic, incantations
Performance of "sacraments"
rituals are heavily laden with symbolism, reinforce the beliefs of the community, cements relationships among the community of believers. For Christians the fish symbol, the cross profess their religious belief, the Star of David does the same for the Jews. They identify and show that the bearers are members of the same religious community. Acts are also symbolic, and reinforce connections. Virtually all Christian groups perform some type of communion service, this service symbolically connects the participants and reminds them of the meaning of the church in their life.
Religion establishes a code of behavior for the members, who belongs and who does not. It goes beyond this simple code. The participants are likely to think alike, to act alike and therefore to be more comfortable with one another that with those who do not share their beliefs. In some instances the religious community has been used to further commercial enterprise or to punish those who do not belong.
Max Weber in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism points out how membership in the Masonic orders benefited traveling salesmen. People in communities where the salesmen was a stranger could be assured that this was an honest, upright, god-fearing man who would treat all in a Christian manner.
The members of the community share interests, values and beliefs, often quite homogeneous. In the United States we find that the religious community is often limited not just in terms of religious belief, but also in terms of social class, national origin and race. For example, St. Cajetan's Catholic Church here in Denver tends to have as members people of Chicano descent and who are working class, but are Catholic. St. Thomas Catholic Church on the other hand tends to have as members Europeans who are largely middle class. There are examples of Polish Catholic parishes, Italian, Spanish, Mexican and so on. These distinctions are not limited to Catholics or to Christians generally. Similar distinctions will occur among Asians, Arabs and so on.
Religion and the religious community are important parts of the contemporary American scene. The country was founded by people fleeing religious persecution in Europe. They came here determined to have the freedom to pursue their own brand of religious orthodoxy. The upshot is that we are society that is heavily infused with religion.
Nevertheless, social scientists and others have pointed out the apparent declining importance of religion in contemporary society. Much of what was understood in terms of religion is now explained more rationally by science and the secular. The replacement of religion by humanistic, rational explanations has come to be called secularization. There was a period of time when this process was taken to mean the complete disappearance of religion from the community and its total replacement by science and scientific belief.
Stark has pointed out that his has not occurred, that revivals happen on a regular basis, keeping the religion alive and vigorous in contemporary society. Such revivals happen more easily in a competitive religious marketplace such as found in America and some other parts of the world.
The conclusion is that religion will continue to have a significant place in contemporary society.
| Unit 8: The Family | Unit 9: Religion and Religious Behavior | Unit 10: Politics, Power and the State | Unit 11: Work and Education |
| Topical Outline of Course | |||
Copyright © 1996, 1997,1998, 1999 by Richard H. Anderson, the Department of Sociology and the University of Colorado at Denver.
This page last revised: October 20, 1999. Please contact Richard H. Anderson (randerso@carbon.cudenver.edu) if you experience any problems or have comments about these pages.