Sociology Report
— Religion — Date: 3rd December 2014
Contents

1. Introduction…………………………………………………………..3

2. 3 Perspectives………………………...……………………………….4
Functionalist perspective
Conflict perspective
Feminist perspective

3. Muslim in Cham tribe in Vietnam…...…………………………….

4. Mahayana Buddhism...……………………………………………...
Buddhism
Mahayana Buddhism in Korea and Vietnam
Differences in Mahayana Buddhism of Korea and Vietnam
Trend towards Buddhism in Western countries

5. References………….......…………………………………………….

1. Introduction
A religion is an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to an order of existence.
According to some estimates, there are roughly 4,200 religions in the world. The five largest religious groups by world population, estimated to account for 5 billion people, are Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism.
There are some functions of religion. Firstly, it gives explanation for things that we do not understand such as seasons and supernatural things. So 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. Secondly, it provides sense of morality and ethics. It sets the guideline for people to behave in right ways. Lastly, it supports people to have power to overcome. Religion often courage people and give strengths. That is why people seek religion when they are depressed.

2. Sociological perspectives on religion

Functionalist perspective

First, religion gives meaning and purpose to life. Second, religion reinforces social unity and stability. This was one of Durkheim’s most important insights. Religion strengthens social stability in at least two ways: gives people a common set of beliefs and brings people together physically, facilitates their communication and other social interaction, and thus strengthens their social bonds.
A third function of religion is an agent of social control and thus strengthens social order which teaches people moral behavior and thus helps them learn how to be good members of society. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the Ten Commandments are perhaps the most famous set of rules for moral behavior.
A fourth function of religion is greater psychological and physical well-being. Religious faith and practice can enhance psychological well-being by being a source of comfort to people in times of distress and by enhancing their social interaction with others in places of worship. Many studies find that people of all ages, not just the elderly, are happier and more satisfied with their lives if they are religious. Religiosity also apparently promotes better physical health, and some studies even find that religious people tend to live longer than those who are not religious
A final function of religion is that it may motivate people to work for positive social change. Religion played a central role in the development of the Southern civil rights movement a few decades ago. Religious beliefs motivated Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights activists to risk their lives to desegregate the South. Black churches in the South also served as settings in which the civil rights movement held meetings, recruited new members, and raised money.

Conflict perspective
Felt religion drugged the masses into submission by offering a consolation for their harsh lives on earth: the hope of salvation in an ideal afterlife.
Marx argued religion impeded social change by encouraging people to focus on otherworldly concerns rather than their poverty or exploitation.

Feminist perspective
Considering the feminist perspective, women do play a vital role but quietly. In family, women as mothers help create their children's allegiance to the religion. This is important due to the need of developing the religious socialization by later generations of any religions. However, in the religious governance, women only take a subordinate role. They mainly do the jobs as volunteers, staff, and religious educators while religious decision-making and leadership usually fall to the men. Rarely do we have exceptions like the Shakers, Christian Scientists and Hinduism.

3. Islam in Vietnam: The Cham Muslims

As it is the case for Hinduism, adherence to Islam in Vietnam is firstly associated with the Cham ethnic minority. In fact there is a Muslim population of mixed ethnic origins, also known as Cham, or precisely Cham Muslims, in the southwest of Vietnam. The religion as such is been assumed to arrive the country much after the Tang Dynasty (618-907) through first trades with Arab sailors. The first settlement of migrants took place in the mid-19th century when Muslims Chams emigrated from Cambodia and settled in the Mekong Delta region, which was strengthen of the presence of Islam in Vietnam.
The “Vietnamese” Muslims are ever since relatively isolated from the mainstream of the Islamic world. In combination with the lack of religious schools, the Islamic practices experiences to become syncretic. In the same breath the Chams follow a localized adaptation of Islamic theology, they consider themselves as Muslims. Interestingly, they pray only on Fridays and celebrate Ramadan for only three days. The important religious ritual of being circumcised as young boy performed not physically, but symbolically, with a religious leader making the gestures of circumcision with a wooden toy knife.
A census in 2005 denoted over 66,000 Muslims in Vietnam, up from 63,000 in 1999. Over 77% lived in the Southeast Region with 34% in Ninh Thuan Province, 24% in Binh Thuan Province, and 9% in Ho Chi Minh City; another 22% lived in the Mekong Delta region, primarily in An Giang Province (location of Vietnam’s largest mosque). In Ninh Thuận Province, where most of the Cham in Vietnam reside, Cham Bani (Muslim Cham) number close to 22,000.
The Cham in Vietnam are only recognized as a minority, and not as an indigenous people by the Vietnamese government despite being indigenous to the region. Both Hindu and Muslim Chams have experienced religious and ethnic persecution and restrictions on their faith under the current Vietnamese government, with the Vietnamese state confiscating Cham property and forbidding Cham from observing their religious beliefs. In general the situation of Cham compared to ethnic Vietnamese is substandard, lacking water and electricity and living in houses made out of mud.

4. Buddhism
Buddhism is a major global religion with a complex history and system of beliefs. The generally agreed number of Buddhists is estimated at around 350 million (6% of the world's population). This makes Buddhism the world's fourth largest (in terms of number of adherents) religion.
It is a nontheistic religion that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, who is commonly known as the Buddha, meaning "the awakened or enlightened one".
There are many different types of Buddhism because the emphasis changes from country to country due to customs and culture. However, the essence of the teaching does not vary. Over a period of time, Buddhism schools gradually merged into two main schools: Theravada and Mahayana. The differences between these schools were basically due to various interpretations of the teachings of the Buddha. Today, a majority of the followers of Buddhism are divided into these two schools.
In this report and presentation, we are going to cover only Mahayana Buddhism, which is the important religion in Korea and also in Vietnam.

Mahayana Buddhism
Mahayana Buddhism is one of the two major traditions of Buddhism and it emphasizes a common search for universal salvation especially through faith alone. It is the dominant religion of Korea, China, Tibet and Japan. Basically Mahayana Buddhism grew out of the Buddha's teaching that each individual carries the potential for Buddhahood.

Mahayana Buddhism in Korea
Buddhism entered Korea from China during the Three Kingdoms period (4th to 7th century). Prior to the arrival of Buddhism, Shamanism had been the primary religion of the Korean people and has remained part of Korea's religious culture. Shamanism was the indigenous religion. It is the ancient religion of animism and nature-spirit worship. The origin of shamanism in Korea is unknown. It is based on the belief that human beings as well as natural forces and inanimate objects all possess spirits. Since Buddhism was not seen to be in conflict with the rites of nature worship, it was able to naturally blend in with Shamanism. And so many of the special mountains believed to be the residence of spirits in pre-Buddhist time soon became the sites of Buddhist temples. Even the highly educated and devout Buddhist Koreans have a strong belief in spirits and regularly visit the Shaman for a protective ritual. Later on, Korean Shamanism also blended with Chinese Buddhism and it produced a unique form: Korean Buddhism. As in other Buddhist countries, the fundamental teachings of the Buddha remained the same, even though the form was uniquely Korean.
Only about 20% of the Korea population are Buddhists even though Korea was a leading country of Buddhism. However, most Koreans, they may not call themselves Buddhists, maintain a Buddhist view of life and the afterworld.
Mahayana Buddhism in Vietnam
Vietnam was and still is a profoundly Buddhist country. Buddhism may have first arrived to Vietnam as early as the third or second century BC from South Asia or from China in the 1st or 2nd century AD. Vietnamese Buddhism has had a symbiotic relationship with certain elements of Taoism, Chinese spirituality, and the Vietnamese indigenous religion. The predominant form of Buddhism in Vietnam is a combination of Pure Land and Zen. The ethnic Vietnamese mainly practices Mahayana tradition.

Differences in Mahayana Buddhism of Korea and Vietnam and reasons
There are some differences in Mahayana Buddhism between those two countries such as Buddha’s appearance, temples and rituals.
One noticeable difference is location of temples. Unlike Vietnam, the majority of temples in Korea are located in mountains. It is hard to find temples in city center or people’s living area. This is because Korean Buddhism was affected by Shamanism and many of the special mountains believed to be the residence of spirits in pre-Buddhist time so it became the sites of Buddhist temples. Another difference is society roles of Buddhists. Buddhists in Vietnam are very involved in the community and temples often run schools, orphanages, medical clinics, and homes for the disabled while those things are mainly made up of Christians in Korea. Also, most Vietnamese monks and nuns go to university, and now some hold jobs as teachers, doctors, lawyers and journalists. Many are also proficient in foreign languages, especially Chinese and English. However, there are only few of Buddhists in Korea who are like Vietnamese Buddhists.
One of the reasons that there are some differences in Mahayana Buddhism (not only location of temples and society roles) in Korea and Vietnam is because of Buddhism’s characteristics. Buddhism is a system based on practice and individual experience rather than on theology or dogma, the different forms that have emerged differ less in what they believe the Buddha's teachings to be than in how they believe Buddhism should be practiced in daily life.

Another reason is because of cultures. Their practices are in accordance with the customs and traditions of the countries where they live.

Trend towards Buddhism in Western countries
Because Buddhism spread throughout Asia, it remained unknown in the west until modern times. Knowledge of Buddhism has come through three main channels: Western scholars; the work of philosophers, writers and artists; and the arrival of Asian immigrants who have brought various forms of Buddhism with them to Europe, North America and Australia.
Nowadays, Buddhism is becoming popular in western countries for a number of reasons. The first reason is Buddhism has answers to many of the problems in modern materialistic societies. It also includes a deep understanding of the human mind which prominent psychologists around the world are now discovering to be both very advanced and effective. The second reason is its’ characteristic which is the ‘come and see for yourself’ and it attracts many Westerners. They are not asked to believe in anything, but to follow the Buddha's advice first to testing ideas. They can focus on practicing and individual experience because its’ foundation is emphasizes practicing Buddhism in daily life. Also, Buddhist attitudes of peace, mindfulness and care for all living creatures have attracted many groups in the West.

5. Q&A
1. Does religion really reinforces social unity and stability even though there are wars and conflicts?
Our answer about this question is yes. We said religion reinforces social unity and stability in terms of its’ positive functions which belong to functionalist view. Religion has 2 main positive functions that support it to reinforce social unity and stability. As we mentioned in functionalist view, it gives people a common set of beliefs and sets regulations about behavior and provide ethics or a sense of morality. It also makes people to be emotionally stable and enhance psychological well-being.
In fact, there are still wars between different religions, especially between Islam and Christianity. Religion wars or conflicts endanger many people and sometimes involves terrorism and violent actions. However, not all religion has such conflicts. It oriented from some ethno religious people and not only religion creates conflicts but a complex series of psychological, political and historical factions combine to trigger such things.
Also, even though there are religion wars and conflicts, these are often ignored in the functionalist perspective because it mainly focus on the positive signs of religion to the social bond. So this point will be discussed in the conflict view.

2. Compare Thailand Buddhism and Vietnam Buddhism - Why Thailand monks suffer poverty while Vietnamese monks are comparatively rich?
Buddhism in Thailand is largely of the Theravada school. Almost 95% of the Thailand’s population practices Theravada Buddhism. On the other hand, most Vietnamese Buddhists are following the Mahayana school. Such difference in schools have made a great difference in the society of the two countries and this difference also affect the life of the monks.
The concept of Theravada Buddhism emphasizes self-liberation. There is total reliance on one-self and self-sufficiency in life. Meanwhile, for Mahayana school, it is important for Mahayana followers to help other mankind and/or living things.
Because of the thought, Thailand’s Buddhists have to practice the life of self-liberation. They have to find the solutions for their own problems and do not ask for the help whether if it is about food or place to live. Therefore, there is a low chance for them to receive any kind of help from others when they are suffering from poverty.
On the other hand, in Vietnam, where Mahayana school is practiced, Buddhism followers are told to always help the others. Due to this discipline, people who have full prosperity or have better life quality than others are willing to donate and help monks who have difficulties. For example, sometimes we can see a Vietnamese monk standing on the street with an empty bowl or visit a house for asking to give some food like rice. Mahayana followers will often give them a small amount of money or rice because helping is emphasized with compassion in Mahayana teaching.
This is why most of monks in Vietnam do not suffer from the poverty like the monks in Thailand.

3. Why Buddhism is becoming popular in Western countries? And why Christianity is getting popular in Eastern countries?
Nowadays, Buddhism is welcome in western countries due to a number of reasons. Firstly, it has answers to the problems in modern societies occurred by Individualism and materialism. A lot of people feel tired of individualism and materialism. But they can be free from those stresses by following Buddhism because it emphasizes beliefs and teaches free-mind and meditation. They are not asked to believe in anything, but to follow the Buddha's advice. Yoga is an example of Buddhism’s popularity. It became very popular not only in western countries but also in many other countries even though it is a high form of religious practice actually. Secondly, it attracts people who are involved philosophical, social and art activities by its unique characteristics. It creates inspiration to people.
While Buddhism is becoming popular in Western countries, Christianity is getting popular in Eastern countries. Christianity was used as a tool of civilization from western countries. They set domination in selected Asia countries which were mainly overseas colonies of western countries. So it was steeped in Asia already.
Other factors which help Christianity to become more popular are its’ welfare institution and characteristic. For example, after the Korea civil war out broke, Korea got damaged severely and could not manage things it-self to revival. At that time, many of the Christianity welfare institutions and missionaries came to Korea and did a lot of things to recover and help people such as building schools, orphanages and hospitals for injured people. It led people to have a good and positive perception towards Christianity.
Another factor that contributed Christianity to be spread widely is the core belief. Christianity claims that all human is equal regardless of gender, age, race and so on. Because of this egalitarianism, it was mostly welcomed by the lower class and women especially in Korea. Korea is a male-oriented society and women was discriminated a lot when Christianity introduced to them. This thought gave comforts women and it spread quickly through them. Also, when Korea colonized harshly by Japan, it gave a sense of relief and hope to people and soon people prefer Christianity.

6. References
Taylor, Philip (2007), Cham Muslims of the Mekong Delta: Place and Mobility in the Cosmopolitan Periphery, NUS Press, Singapore.

Levinson, David; Christensen, Karen (2002), Encyclopedia of Modern Asia, Thomson Gale.

Farah, Caeser E. (2003), Islam:Beliefs and Observances, Barron's.

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