Sacred–Profane
The sacred–profane dichotomy is an idea posited by French sociologist Émile Durkheim, who considered it to be the central characteristic of religion: “a religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and surrounded by prohibitions-beliefs and practices that unite its adherents in a single moral community called a church” (2008, p. 46). In Durkheim’s theory, the sacred represented the interests of the group, especially unity, which were embodied in sacred group symbols, or totems. The profane, on the other hand, involved mundane individual concerns. Durkheim explicitly stated that the sacred or profane dichotomy was not equivalent to good or evil. The sacred could be good or evil and the profane could be either as well. This division between sacred and profane is common to all the religions and according to Durkheim, this division is the most distinctive element of religious life since it forms the basis of religious life in several respects. “In all the history of human thought” (2008, p. 38), Durkheim emphasized, “there exists no other example of two categories of things so profoundly differentiated or so radically opposed to one another” (2008, p.38).
According to Durkheim, Religion is a division of the world into two kinds of phenomena.
a. The Sacred
b. The Profane
While trying to find out the common observable features of religious life, Durkheim perceived that the belief in supernatural realm is not common to all the religions (like in Buddhism there is no common deity), but separation of different aspects of life, physical things and certain behaviours into two categories of sacred and profane is common. Objects and behaviours deemed sacred were considered part of the spiritual or religious realm. They were part of rites, objects of reverence, or simply behaviours deemed special by religious belief. Those things deemed profane were everything else in the world that did not have a religious function or hold religious meaning. in general, those aspects of social life given moral superiority or reverence are considered sacred, and all other aspects are part of the profane. For example, the Catholic Church respects the crucifix and the behaviours and actions performed during 'mass' as sacred, while other behaviours and objects are not.
Thus, sacred may embody transcended gods and deities or natural things and objects or beliefs, rites and practices or words, expressions or combination of words or anything socially defined as requiring special religious treatment. The sacred things are symbols that they represent something. “The Sacred thing”, wrote Durkheim, “is par excellence that which the profane should not touch and cannot touch with impunity” (2008, p. 39). The special character of the sacred is the manifestation of ritual prescriptions and proscriptions, which separate it radically form profane. The profane, according to Durkheim, is something subordinated in dignity to the sacred and therefore is seen as radically opposite to sacred. All that is not sacred is profane. Although these two categories are rigidly defined and set apart, they interact with one another and depend on each other for survival. Profane is the principle, which has the capacity to contaminate sacred and, in that sense, sacred is defined and distinguished in relation to profane. This division of things into two separates but interacting spheres is common among all religions.
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