The Functions of Religion

Religion is a social institution in which its beliefs and practices are considered sacred. It plays a very vital role in every society. It is the first sense of society. Most people tend to depend on it when making decisions. Much of the work of Émile Durkheim stressed the functions that religion serves for society regardless of how it is practiced or of what specific religious beliefs a society favours. Durkheim’s insights continue to influence sociological thinking today on the functions of religion.

  1. Religion gives meaning and purpose to life:

Many things in life are difficult to understand. That was certainly true, as we have seen, in prehistoric times, but even in today’s highly scientific age, much of life and death remains a mystery, and religious faith and belief help many people make sense of the things science cannot tell us.

  1. Religion reinforces social unity and stability:

This was one of Durkheim’s most important insights. Religion strengthens social stability in at least two ways. First, it gives people a common set of beliefs and thus is an important agent of socialization. Second, the communal practice of religion, as in houses of worship, brings people together physically, facilitates their communication and other social interaction, and thus strengthens their social bonds.

The communal practice of religion in a house of worship brings people together and allows them to interact and communicate. In this way religion helps reinforce social unity and stability. This function of religion was one of Émile Durkheim’s most important insights.

  1. Religion is an agent of social control and thus strengthens social order:

Religion teaches people moral behaviour 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 behaviour.

  1. Religion is greater psychological and physical well-being:

Religious faith and practice can enhance psychological well-being by providing comfort to people in times of distress and 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 (Moberg, 2008). We return to this function later.

  1. Religion 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 (Morris, 1984).

Religion is, therefore, a mental attitude which finds the essential values of human personality and society in the universe as a whole, or, as in the lower religions in material objects.

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