Why Does Religion Exist?

Explaining Religion and Religious BeliefsHomeReligion

& SpiritualityAgnosticism / Atheism
Agnosticism / AtheismSearchAgnosticism / AtheismBasicsCritiquing ReligionLife
Without GodsSharePrint Free Agnosticism / Atheism Newsletter!Sign Up
Discuss in the forumWhy Does Religion Exist? Explaining Religion and Religious
Beliefs
By Austin Cline, About.com GuideFiled In:Skeptics, Critical Thinking>
Philosophy, Philosophers> Branches of Philosophy> Philosophy of Religion
Problem of Explaining Religion:
Religion is a pervasive and significant cultural phenomenon, so people who study
culture and human nature have sought to explain the nature of religion, the
nature of religious beliefs, and the reasons why religions exist in the first
place. There have been as many theories as theorists, it seems, and while none
fully captures what religion is, all offer important insights on the nature of
religion and possible reasons why religion has persisted through human history.
Tylor & Frazer - Religion is Systematized Animism & Magic:
E.B. Tylor and James Frazer are two of the earliest researchers to develop
theories of the nature of religion. They defined religion as essentially being
the belief in spiritual beings, making it systematized animism. The reason
religion exists is to help people make sense of events which would otherwise be
incomprehensible by relying on unseen, hidden forces. This inadequately
addresses the social aspect of religion, though, depicting religion and animism
are purely intellectual moves.
Sigmund Freud - Religion is Mass Neurosis:
According to Sigmund Freud, religion is a mass neurosis and exists as a response
to deep emotional conflicts and weaknesses. A by-product of psychological
distress, Freud argued that it should be possible to eliminate the illusions of
religion by alleviating that distress. This approach is laudable for getting us
to recognize that there can be hidden psychological motives behind religion and
religious beliefs, but his arguments from analogy are weak and too often his
position is circular.
Emile Durkheim - Religion is a Means of Social Organization:
Emile Durkheim is responsible for the development of sociology and wrote that
...religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred
things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden. His focus was the
importance of the concept of the sacred and its relevance to the welfare of
the community. Religious beliefs are symbolic expressions of social realities
without which religious beliefs have no meaning. Durkheim reveals how religion
serves in social functions.
Karl Marx - Religion is the Opiate of the Masses:
According to Karl Marx, religion is a social institutions which is dependent
upon material and economic realities in a given society. With no independent
history, it is a creature of productive forces. Marx wrote: The religious world
is but the reflex of the real world. Marx argued that religion is an illusion
whose chief purpose is to provide reasons and excuses to keep society
functioning just as it is. Religion takes our highest ideals and aspirations and
alienates us from them.
Mircea Eliade - Religion is a Focus on the Sacred:
Key to Mircea Eliade s understanding of religion are two concepts: the sacred
and the profane. Eliade says religion is primarily about belief in the
supernatural, which for him lies at the heart of the sacred. He does not try to
explain away religion and rejects all reductionist efforts. Eliade only focuses
on timeless forms of ideas which he says keep recurring in religions all over
the world, but in doing so he ignores their specific historical contexts or
dismisses them as irrelevant.
Stewart Elliot Guthrie - Religion is Anthropomorphization Gone Awry:
Stewart Guthrie argues that religion is systematic anthropomorphism the
attribution of human characteristics to nonhuman things or events. We interpret
ambiguous information as whatever matters most to survival, which means seeing
living beings. If we are in the woods and see a dark shape that might be a bear
or a rock, it is smart to see a bear. If we are mistaken, we lose little; if
we are right, we survive. This conceptual strategy leads to seeing spirits and
gods at work around us.
E.E. Evans-Pritchard - Religion and Emotions:
Rejecting most anthropological, psychological, and sociological explanations of
religion, E.E. Evans-Pritchard sought a comprehensive explanation of religion
that took both its intellectual and social aspects into account. He didn t reach
any final answers, but did argue that religion should be regarded as a vital
aspect of society, as its construct of the heart. Beyond that, it may not be
possible to explain religion in general, just to explain and understand
particular religions.
Clifford Geertz - Religion as Culture and Meaning:
An anthropologist who describes culture as a system of symbols and actions which
convey meaning, Clifford Geertz treats religion as a vital component of cultural
meanings. He argues that religion carries symbols which establish especially
powerful moods or feelings, help explain human existence by giving it an
ultimate meaning, and purport to connect us to a reality that is more real
than what we see every day. The religious sphere thus has a special status above
and beyond regular life.
Explaining, Defining, and Understanding Religion:
Here, then, are some of the principle means of explaining why religion exists:
as an explanation for what we don t understand; as a psychological reaction to
our lives and surroundings; as an expression of social needs; as a tool of the
status quo to keep some people in power and others out; as a focus upon
supernatural and sacred aspects of our lives; and as an evolutionary strategy
for survival.
Which of these is the right explanation? Maybe we shouldn t try to argue that
any one of them is right and instead recognize that religion is a complex
human institution. Why assume that religion is any less complex and even
contradictory than culture in general? Because religion has such complex origins
and motivations, all of the above could serve as a valid response to the
question Why does religion exist? None, however, can serve as an exhaustive
and complete answer to that question.
We should eschew simplistic explanations of religion, religious beliefs, and
religious impulses. They are unlikely to be adequate even in very individual and
specific circumstances and they are certainly inadequate when addressing
religion generally. Simplistic as these purported explanations may be, though,
they all offer helpful insights which can bring us a little closer to
understanding what religion is all about.
Does it matter whether we can explain and understand religion, even if only a
little bit? Given the importance of religion to people s lives and culture, the
answer to this should be obvious. If religion is inexplicable, then significant
aspects of human behavior, belief, and motivation are also inexplicable. We need
to at least try to address religion and religious belief in order to get a
better handle on who we are as human beings.
Related Articles
Explaining Religion
Book Review - The Psychological Roots Of Religious Belief: Searching For An...
Mocking Religion - Is it Wrong to Mock Religious Beliefs, Institutions, Lea...
Book Review - Theological Incorrectness: Why Religious People Believe What ...
Defining Religion: Religious References on the Definition of Religion
Austin Cline
Agnosticism / Atheism Guide since 1998
Sign up for My Newsletter
HeadlinesForumAdvertisement
Related Searches emile durkheim culture and human nature james frazer durkheim
religion development of sociology emotional conflicts
Explore Agnosticism / Atheism
Must Reads
Atheism 101: Common Questions Answered
Common Myths About Atheism & Atheists
Why Not Believe? Reasons for Atheism
How to Be an Atheist
Top 10 Conversation Killers for Atheists
Most Popular
Atheism vs. Agnosticism
Church of England
Anglican, Anglicanism
Arguments Deductive, Inductive
Pope Benedict XVI: A Nazi?
Free Agnosticism / Atheism Newsletter!Sign Up
By Category
Does God Exist?
What is Atheism?
What is Agnosticism?
Myths About Atheism
Questions About Atheism
Advice for Atheists
Atheist Activism & Politics
Skeptics, Critical Thinking
Ethics and Morality
Secular, Religious Humanism
Evolution & Creationism
Church/State Separation
Religious Right, Extremism
Religion & Theism
Bible Analysis, Commentary
Agnosticism / AtheismHomeReligion & SpiritualityAgnosticism / AtheismSkeptics,
Critical ThinkingPhilosophy, PhilosophersBranches of PhilosophyPhilosophy of
ReligionWhy Does Religion Exist? Explaining Religion and Religious Beliefs>
Most PopularLatest ArticlesRSSAdvertise on About.comOur StoryNews & EventsWork
at AboutSiteMapAll TopicsReprintsHelpWrite for AboutUser AgreementEthics
PolicyPatent Info.Privacy PolicyYour Ad Choices©2011 About.com. All rights
reserved.
A part of The New York Times Company.