Elementary Forms of Religious Life and Religious Sphere

Durkheim conducted an epistemological investigation into primitive religion and the genesis of thought in sociology of religion, attempting to explain the theoretically universal nature and function of religion in a community. Durkheim used elementary types of religious life theory in his work to demonstrate his religious work's key influence in sociology and academic studies. According to Durkheim's argument, "religion is the symbolic manifestation of society and social experience" (Durkheim 3). Religious belief's key elements are closely related and provide objective information from which people can gain an understanding of all religions.Hence, Durkheim define religion as “A unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart by prohibitions-beliefs and practices that unite adherents to a single moral community called a church” (Durkheim 4). The religious elements have to satisfy the definition of religion.

The Elementary Forms of Religious Life and Religious Sphere

Durkheim did postulate two primary conceptions of religion elementary forms which are naturism and animism. These two religious elements attempt to illustrate the reasons that make a person experience sacred. Under animism, it is claimed that an individual will experience sacred as a result of the misinterpretations formed by their own dreams which end up generating the notion of the souls and reality. On the other hand, naturism argues that person will feel sacred reality due to the extraordinariness of natural phenomena. Durkheim notes that “it is a basic postulate of sociology that a human institution cannot rest on error or falsehood or it could not endure” (Durkheim 4). With this argument, it means that elementary conceptualization of religion has to make a justification of sacred as being a real force. Besides, Durkheim further notes that there has to be a religion that is more primitive that the naturism and animism which will demonstrate where the forces of sacred emanate (Durkheim 77). He explains this in what he terms to be totemism.

In Australia, for instance, the aspect of totemism is well elaborated owing to the primitive form of the tribes manifested by their divisions of clans. Every clan is characterized by a totem which is represented by an animal or a plant and the clan has a special relationship with the object and is at the same time used to identify the clan. The clan symbol is vital in religious ceremonies and customs the religious character (Durkheim 88). The totem, according to Durkheim is pivotal to the clan due to its ability to classify the object as sacred and profane in the relation to the religion. According to him, the presence of prohibitions and taboos guard the totem (Durkheim 96). He ascertained that prohibitions are essential in warranting non-contagiousness of the sacred. The identifying symbol confers to sacrality of the forces that reside in an object called “mana” which forms the heart of the clan’s religious worship.

A primary and leading theory postulated by Durkheim in explaining religion is the empiricism theory which argues that every man will construct categories of knowledge “of time, space, genus, cause and number exclusively from his individual experience” (Durkheim 15). However, sociologists have claimed that this theory is not valid as it fails to make an explanation on the manner in which “people who hail from the same culture have identical notions of space and time” and more experiences. He resolved this dilemma in his second theory, apriorism under which he postulated that a man will inherit categories from the existing divine knowledge prior to the experience he has in life (Durkheim 16). However, no proof has been made on the existence of this divine knowledge and besides, the theory constantly fails to elucidate the reason of variations in cultures. The implication of this from Durkheim's perspective is that a person finds the categories from the society and forms the basic category of religious knowledge. Objects of notion and genus can be modeled subsequently from the experiences one has and hence, the sacred objects are central to religious thoughts and the whole society.

Implication of Durkheim's Religion Argument

Central to Durkheim’s theory is the contrasting made on sacred and profane and the manner in which the practices relate to religious categories influencing the social world. A basic fundamental argument that distinguishes this theory from other religious theoretical approaches is the belief that religion is a real social fact. Regarding the elementary religion, his argument proclaims religion to be an activity which permits people in a given tribe to have an understanding of themselves as being collective. Moreover, the symbols of religion activity represent social order with totem being central to a society fostering sentiments of the tribal members. In this regards, Durkheim portrayed that these aspects will work towards strengthening social connections in a society.

In the attempts to understand Durkheim’s theoretical approach to religion, one is able to note the social nature methodology forms the basis of his view. Religion has both authorities of command, garner compliance and it has to be understood as being a symbol of expression of the society which has an in-depth influence on various academic fields. Religion is a social fact and the chief entity underlining symbols of religion along with rituals are explained from the society’s point of view. His work does shade light on the religious social role towards the organization of a society. In Durkheim’s claim that religion “is true in its own fashion and all answer though in different ways to the given condition of human existence”, he was able to steer a vivid theistic definition of truth which culminates in being ultimately beneficial to anyone who is interested in the religious comparative study (Durkheim 31). Whilst his theoretical approach to religion has been among the major influential in a society of religion, it is subjected to various criticisms. For instances, he devoted himself towards working against the original theories of religion, a fundamental factor that has made his theory has been attacked on the belief that he seemed to suppress religion. His claim that religion is a symbol expressing the society brands him to be neglecting the value of religion.

Durkheim’s Relationship with Mary Douglas and Robert Bellah

The works of Mary Douglas focused on human culture and the significance of symbolism forming the basis of her arguments which is similar to that of Durkheim’s approach to comparative religion and elementary of religious life. In Douglas work, Purity and Danger, she managed to explicitly analyze and develop the concepts of ritual purity and social pollution and having a critical contribution to religion. Just like Durkheim's thought, her argument also stems from the concept of rituals explaining the collectiveness in a society. The concept of totemism is analogous to Douglas thinking of society and symbolism in a social setting. Douglas further developed Durkheim’s work by explaining the concepts of “group” and clearly made an illustration of people in a social position in her work Purity and Danger.

In Robert Bellah’s work presented in the civil religion, he devoted himself into comparing and contrasting the various differences between public and private religion. In his writing, Bellah demonstrated that the American civil religion in churches has been shaped by God and analyzed the theological notions that influence the way individuals define and discuss rituals. In a nutshell, Bellah’s work comprises of sets of metaphors which are necessary to comprehend the definition of religion. He primarily draws the religious definition from Durkheim’s theory and highlights that social system to be religion. He developed on Durkheim's work by postulating their religious elements which people possess in fostering collectiveness in the society and every person has to adhere to the beliefs of sacred and profane elements. Besides, he elaborated that people have to practice rituals which are sacred and profane and stick to elements that are sacred in a society. Bellah, therefore, asserts that one has to be aware of the stories that originate from Christianity such as the exodus story of Moses and they have to be recognized as a powerful definition of religion.

Secularization Theory and Modernization by Peter Berger

Secularization theory is postulated to hold the notion that religion will slowly fade its significance due to advent of modernity. Perspectives of secularization are typically related to three major theoretical concepts. The first level relates to a macro aspect which is a social differentiation while the second relates to “meso” which describes significant declines in the importance of religion in an institution. The third level of secularization relates to the individual’s decrease in the amounts of beliefs, practices, and affiliations at a personal level. According to Berger, the processes of secularization has for a long period been the dominant religious perspective that presents vital changes in religion due to modernity. Berger outlines secularization as “The process by which sectors of society and culture are removed from the domination of religious institutions and symbols” (Berger 107). Secularization theory of Sacred Canopy relates to the society’s transformation from religious institutions, identity and values towards non-religious secular aspects of institution and values. Secularization process as presented by peter Berger refer to the belief that as progress occur in a society, especially through rationalization and modernization, religion losses its form of authority. In other words, secularization makes religion to lose its cultural and social importance and consequently, the major roles of religion presented in the modern society become restricted. Societies that have undergone secularization lack cultural authority with the religious institutions having little social power.

. Berger offered a macro-level analysis of secularization theory which does focus on plausibility concepts of religion. In his argument, he presents that the changes in the religious consciousness come as a result of not only from enlightenment and science but also due to the expansion of cultural and social pluralism. These aspects form the pivotal feature of the liberalized societies. The confrontation with pluralism causes damages on the credibility of religious dogma (Berger 30). He notes that “When religious adherents encounter credible others with rival and fully incompatible claims to ultimate truth, their own certitudes begin to suffer” (Berger 31). In a society which has undergone liberalization, several secular and religious groups push for an influence that happens on philosophical grounds along with ethical claims. This aspect undercuts the claims to predominance and ends up causing the effects of privatization of a religion in a civil society. Berger cites that the move towards modernity particularly in the societies that are developing has brought detrimental impacts on religion.

Notably, hot debates have been raised on the notion that secularization becomes an inevitable process in the practice of modernization. Besides, the other foundation that forms a ball of contention is whether the secularization levels are in a way linked together or whether the processes that occur at each level are independent to one another. Secularization thesis makes an assumption that religion will wither as societies become more modernized and religion will become irrelevant. However, some sociologists have pointed out that human history has failed to follow the path postulated by the secularization thesis. The 20th century has realized massive falsification of the notion and on the contrary, it has witnessed a vast upsurge in religion globally (Noll and Steve 21). This is what sociologists term to be “desecularization” which is the resurgence of religion. The aspect of a resurgence in religion is vital and the world has immensely witnessed the emergence of new religions and religion expressions. New sociologists has abandoned the secular thesis citing that the 21st-century religious believers have gone contrary to the secular culture. Desecularazation theory alludes that “One can say with some confidence that modern Pentecostalism must be the fastest growing religion in human history” (Noll and Steve 35). An empirical theory of Evolution of Atheism, Osling Richard asserts that the politics of modern movement have seen great contradictions in the secularization thesis a that new religious faith suggest that current atheism promotes more religion in the world. This is an empirical example presenting that the notion of religion gradual fading ceases to be significant with the advent of modern society. Primary sociological figures have postulated that religion will outgrow in the modern era and this has indeed been regarded as the “master model of sociological inquiry” (Noll and Steve 45). This critic points out that religion is very healthy in the current society and continues to be popular. Emergence of religious parties and movements that proclaim the importance of religion along with evangelical revivals have swept through the 20th and the 21st centuries and made major developments in religion. Advocates of desecularization hold that the body of literature in fading of religion is seriously misguiding.

Conclusion

Even though modernity is seen to have carried opportunities and prosperity, it has initiated cultural shifts to post traditional lifestyle and values. It is explained that modernization is making the world to change in a manner that erodes the traditional values and beliefs. Arguably, economic developments culminate into decline in religion, cultural differences and parochialism. Remarkable studies focusing on cross-national evidences offer suggestions that indeed present negative correlations between development and religion. However, modification has occurred to Berger's theory of secularization and the advent of neo-modernization theory rejects the linear inferences made in the past constructions. In this regard, the neo-modernization theorists seek to relate the macro and micro levels in their explanations relating to religious changes. The essential micro-level aspect is currently held on the grounds of existential insecurity. This hypothesis states that the more the insecurity level, the more probable individuals will be religious. However, in instances where political, economic and social conditions show improvements like changes in personal security, the impact of religion is lost. Indeed, the underlining idea in secularization thesis does not hold to the current society and modernization does contribute to fading of religion and stated by some sociologists.











Works Cited

Berger, Peter L. The Sacred Canopy. 1st ed., Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, 1967,.

Durkheim, Emile. Elementary Forms Of The Religious Life - The Original Classic Edition. 1st ed., Emereo Publishing, 2013,

Noll, Mark A. and Steve Bruce. "Religion And Modernization: Sociologists And Historians Debate The Secularization Thesis.". Contemporary Sociology, vol 23, no. 1, 1994, p. 86. SAGE Publications, doi:10.2307/2074892.