The Social Function of Religion
Religion is assuredly one of the more tangible markers of both culture and civilization. This fact is particularly true when one considers the role of religion in contemporary American life. Anyone doing so would find it difficult to divest the notion of religion from its sociological functions, especially if they were familiar with Durkheim’s theory of religion and the emphasis the author places on its social origins. Albeit from a slightly less specific viewpoint, Marx’s conception of ideology is also applicable to the role of religion in 21st century American society. A comparison of the points of similarity and differences between each of these tenets advanced by these renowned Occidental thinkers reveals that Durkheim’s theory is more revealing of how religion functions in America today—although Marx’s views are surely manifest in a number of different conceptions of religion here as well.
The most paramount similitude between Durkheim’s theory of religion and Marx’s notion of ideology is the fact that the power of belief that underpins both religion and ideology is not inherently rooted in divinity or a higher power. This point is pivotal to understanding some of the later social repercussions each author imputes to his respective tenet, as well as to understanding the role religion plays in American society today. For his part, Durkheim unequivocally asserts that religion was devised as a means of educating people about, and actually getting them to act in accordance with, normative social values. He buttresses this stance by noting “there are great religions from which the idea of gods and spirits is absent, or… plays only a secondary and minor role” (Durkheim, 1915).
There is nothing Marx wrote about ideology which suggests that it is something engendered by a divinity. In fact, the notion that some believe ideology stemmed from a divine power is solidly refuted by the assertion that, in such an instance, “the creators, have bowed down before their creations” (Marx, 2000). This quotation adequately sums up the view of both Marx and Durkheim regarding divinity in relation to the organized social principles implicit to religion and ideology. Both writers believe that man is the author of religion and ideology, and that no power spawned from these two concepts...
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