Profane
ordinary elements of everyday life
Sacred
extraordinary element of everyday life
Religion is a social institution that is best defined as involving
beliefs and practices
People understand profane things in terms of
their everyday usefulness
Ritual is a matter of
formal, ceremonial behavior
Faith is a knowing based on
conviction, rather than scientific evidence
Sociological analysis is concerned with
patterns of religious activities and their effect on society
Totem
an object in the natural world collectively defined as sacred
Not one of the three societal functions of religion
fostering social conflict
Correct criticism of the structural-functional approach to religion
ignoring religion's ability to generate social conflict
Guided by the symbolic-interaction paradigm, sociologists examine
~how people construct the boundary between sacred and profane
~how it's related to rituals
~how it gives security and meaning
Sociologist who contributed to a symbolic-interaction analysis of religion
Peter Berger
Karl Marx believed that religion:
serves ruling elites by legitimizing the status quo and diverting people's attention from social inequalities
Criticism about Karl Marx'a social-conflict approach to religion
doesn't promote equality
What do the sacred texts of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam have in common?
patriarchy
In his analysis of Protestantism and the rise of Capitalism, Max Weber asserted that Protestantism:
emphasizes duty and hard work and fostered the rise of capitalism
As Max Weber saw it, capitalism amounted to:
disenchanted religion
The fusion of Christian principles with political activism, often Marxist in character
liberation theology
Not consistent with liberation theology
human suffering is part of God's natural order of things
religious organization well integrated into the larger society
church
Over the course of its history, the Catholic Church has existed in various forms, including as a:
state church, church, and denomination
As the official church of England, the Anglican Church is correctly described as a
state church
In the United States, the Amish would be an example of a
sect
A sect is a type of religious organization that
stands apart from the larger society
Breakaway group from some established religious organization
sect
Animism is the belief that
everything has a spirit
Animism is closely associated with
Native American Societies
The priesthood first developed in
agrarian societies
the Muslim population of the US is about
7 million people
The largest concentration of Jews is in
North America
The oldest of the world religions is
Hinduism
The term karma refers to
the belief that the spiritual progress of the human soul
The teachings of Buddha are called
dhamma
Buddhists believe that much of life involves
suffering
In general, compared to Eastern religions, Western religions are:
deity based
On national surveys ___ of people in the US identify with a religion
85%
In the US, a majority of people (52.8%) claim some identity as
Protestants
In the US, roughly __ of the population is very religious
1/3
In the US, members of a ___ are more religious than members of a ___
sect; church
The largest number of Protestants are of which denomination?
Baptist
Secularization refers to the historical:
decline in the importance of the sacred
Example of civil religion
patriotism
The claim that the US is a post denomination society is based on a movement:
towards spiritualism and away from established denominations
NOT a trait of religious fundamentalism
accepting religious pluralism
Most sociologists agree that
religion will remain an important part of US society
Cult
religious organization that is substantially outside a society's cultural traditions