Asses the Contribution of Religion to Social Change

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Asses the contribution of religion to social change The Item states that religion can play an important part in bringing about social change. Neo-Marxists agree with this statement the religion can help to cause social change due to Liberation Theology proposed by Maduro (1982). Gramsci, another Neo-Marxist argued that religion is powerful at shaping ideas. However, Marxists, Feminists and Functionalists disagree, they challenge the view that religion causes social change, and Fundamentalists challenges both these two opposing groups on the contribution of religion to social change. In Weber’s study, he illustrated how Calvinism could be a force for social change and how their beliefs in; predestination and Acsethism all contribute towards their desire to fulfil their Calling, this is an Idea that God has called upon people to take up their certain their certain roles in life and they believe that if God gives them a particular role in life then they must work hard at fulfilling that role, this lead to Capitalism in Western Europe due to both the appropriate values, the Calvinist values, and the economic conditions. Another Sociologist who agreed that religion can lead to social change is McGuire, she considered four factors which she thought determined whether a religion promotes or prevents social change, and a couple of them are; Charismatic leaders, for example, Desmond Tutu used his faith in God to help himself and others who were facing dark times, he did not use violence, he used prayers and speeches saying the God needed everyone, and it didn’t depend on our race, our sex, our sexuality or our religion, that God loved us all and he works through us. In addition to charismatic leaders, beliefs and practices also help to determine if a religion promotes or prevents social change, an example of this is the Taliban, they use extreme measures to make
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