‘Religion today helps societies to remain stable and avoid conflict.’
The role of religion in today’s society has been the subject of many arguments between sociologists from different theoretical perspectives.
Functionalists believe that religion helps today’s societies to remain stable as they define religion in terms of the social and psychological functions it performs for individuals in societies. They see religion as mainly a conservative force, promoting social harmony, social integration and social solidarity through reinforcement of the value consensus. Emile Durkheim defines religion in terms of the contribution it makes to social integration, instead of a specific believe in God or the supernatural. He believes that religion provides answers to ultimate questions about life and after life, avoiding conflict by believing in what they have. Similar to Durkheim, Malinowski saw religion as reinforcing social norms and values and promoting social solidarity. However he also saw religion as an explanation for events that were hard to provide answers for. Religion fulfils a need for emotional security and relieves situations of emotional stress which threaten social stability and solidarity.
Although Functionalists believe that religion today helps societies to remains stable and avoid conflict, historically religion seems to have played a far greater role in dividing people than uniting them. It is seen as the stronger the religious belief, the stronger the sense that other religious beliefs are wrong or evil and need to be defeated, for example among Christians and Islamic fundamentalists.
Religion is also seen as a conservative force by the Marxist perspective as they see religion as part of the dominant ideology. The ideas/belief system of the ruling class which shape peoples view of the world and reproduce and reinforce the lack of knowledge by the