Durkheim argues that religion functions to reinforce the collective unity or social solidarity of a group. He says all societies divide the world into the sacred and the profane. His view on sacred symbols represents society's collective consciousness which is the shared norms, values beliefs and knowledge that make social life possible without such consciousness it would crumble. While participating in shared rituals binds individuals together reminding them that they are a part of a community. The individual sees religion performing a significant function allowing them to feel apart of society and seeing that religion strengthens us to face life's trials and motivates us to overcome obstacles that would otherwise overpower us.
In a world growing ever more diverse and globalized it is more important than ever to understand and tolerate the views of others, including their spiritual believes. For that we should learn about the basics of world religions. Religion is any specific, organized system of belief about deity, often involving rituals, a code of ethics, and a philosophy of life. Many religions have narratives, symbols, and sacred histories that are intended to explain the meaning of life and/or to explain the origin of life or the Universe. Many religions may have organized behaviors, clergy, a definition of what constitutes adherence or membership, holy places, and scriptures.
Overall the Puritans were a religious group with a core of specific beliefs that are at the essence of the Puritan Faith. Those two beliefs are the belief that man is predestined or divided into two groups, the damned and the elect. The second core belief is that of free grace versus a doctrine of works. This means that man cannot save himself by changing his ways and doing good deeds. Instead it means than humanity is only saved by the free grace and mere good will of God and that whosoever believes in Christ and has faith may escape Hell.
Writing Topic: Compare and contrast the way that relationship is perceived in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” J. D. McClatchy’s “Jihad,” and Salman Rushdie’s “Imagine There’s No Heaven.” It can be said that religion is a part of every person’s life. If one does not profess a certain religion, then one no doubt has a tendency for a religion. If one does not have a tendency for a religion, then one is probably against certain religions, or perhaps all religions. In all these ways, religion touches the lives of people, be it for the positive or negative. Relationships between people and religion develop quickly and powerfully, and we can view these relationships under the microscope of literature.
Elements of Religious Traditions Paper Howard Swiggett REL/133 September 11, 2012 Elements of Religious Traditions Paper Religion is the human enterprise by which a sacred cosmos is established. (Peter Berger’s 1967). Another meaning is “A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things that is to say, things set apart and forbidden (Durkheim1960). Religion is a way of life founded upon the apprehension of sacredness in existence. (Julian Huxley biologist).
It is also because the words express the deeply held views of a wide swath of conservative Christianity. Buchanan’s speech epitomizes the Religious Right’s general view of the “culture war”—as a “religious war”3 that manifests itself on many “cultural” fronts, most urgently abortion, homosexuality (especially, now, marriage equality), education privatization, and curriculum content of the public schools. So the culture war is not simply conflict over abortion or gay marriage. It is a one sided war of aggression against the civil rights advances of women and minorities and the rights of individual conscience that we generally discuss under the rubric of religious pluralism and of separation of church and state. For these political aggressors, war is not merely a metaphor or the equivalent of a sports analogy.
During the Renaissance time period, religious beliefs and views were considered a major role in society. The conscience of those living in the time, was often being judged by God. Evil could be interpreted in ways dealing with your belief in God and what powers and laws he had for the people. Thomas More is faced with a cross roads of whether to take the route of joining the King and risk betraying God’s rules of marriage, or to take sides with the church and believe in God and respect his authority of ruler of the nations. Thomas More takes the side of the church and follows the idea that God judges the consciences of all, and if one is against God, then that person could be considered evil.
On those premise it is asserted that religion play an important part in nurturing the virtue needed for a free society. Matthew Spaulding’s Meaning of religion and Liberty, asserts this about religion and morality: “They aid good government by teaching men their moral obligations and creating the condition for decent politics” (p313.2008). While not everyone morality depends on religion, I do believe and support argument that religion is necessary to morality. The religious principles speak to morality and morality aid virtue. Outside of the realm of government if we look at our society today many of our moral have changed.
During the American Revolution, our founding fathers were of different religions like Quakers, Methodists, Baptists and other religions. This could have been a problem but their desire for democracy outweighed the religious differences. Each religion could see that in our new democracy that their religious leaders’ voices were being heard. I think that this was an important part of country being united in our desire to be free. Many of the new colonies were settled people who faced religious persecution for their beliefs in England.
With some many types of religions in our world it is so hard to list them all and tell people about each and everyone. The all have their own beliefs and traditions that they follow and celebrate certain events in their own unique way. Even the way that they pass down information from generation to generation is somewhat similar. It normally begins with storytelling, word of mouth or even reading about the religion and traditions in books. The many different types of religions have many different views on certain things like the afterlife, celebrations, prayers, and place of worship.