Religion is a social category that encompasses the most diverse human systems of behavior and belief. It has been defined in many ways, and it has also been the subject of a great deal of debate. In the end, however, the meaning of religion remains elusive. Most attempts to define it have been “monothetic”, that is, they have operated on the classical view that every instance that accurately fits a given concept will share defining properties that place it in that category.
A recent trend, on the other hand, has been toward what might be called polythetic approaches. These are based on the idea that, instead of seeking to find one property that is common to all instances, it is better to treat the category as a prototype structure (see Laurence and Margolis). Using this approach, it becomes possible to discover patterns in the phenomena that are classified as religious that would be missed if they were analyzed using a monothetic definition.
This approach focuses on the ways that people interpret their experiences and beliefs and on how they use them in their lives. It emphasizes that something is not a religion unless it is a central part of someone’s life and that it has significance for them. It is a perspective that was developed by Emile Durkheim and continues to influence sociological thinking today.
In the early 20th century, anthropologists began to study the world’s religions in an attempt to understand them. They found that religions are early and, for millennia, successful protective systems that help us to cope with the fear and uncertainty of an unknowable future. Religions offer security and help us to understand our own bodies, society, and the universe.
For a long time, scholars have focused on the way that religions organize their communities and the beliefs that they foster. They have also looked at the different functions that religion serves in societies. In particular, they have explored historically varying attitudes to birth and death, corporeality and sexuality, nature and the environment, god and the church, and heaven and hell.
While much of the debate about religion in the West focuses on its role in conflict and hostility, a growing number of studies have begun to look at the ways that religious systems are actually sources of cooperation and support for poorer countries. Gallup surveys, for example, have shown that the world’s poorest countries are most religious. The reasons for this are complex, but one reason is that the religious system in these nations provides a sense of community and purpose that can offset the stresses of poverty. This, in turn, can help reduce the likelihood of social instability and violence.
