marx-durkheim material

SOCIOLOGY OF RELOGION LESSON 3 KARL MARX (1818-1883) He was born in Treviri, in a Catholic area of Germany. Even though both his parents came from a Jewish Rabbinical tradition, his father was heavily influenced by Rousseau, Voltaire and other illuminists. His father had to convert to Protestantism in order to continue to work as a lawyer. Marx was atheist for all his life; he was a socialist and heavily against Christian Socialism. Marx believed that Religion had been clearly and once for all explained by Ludwig Feuerbach in “Essence of Christianism”(1841). Feuerbach stated that God is no more than a human projection and Christianity a form of fulfilment. An ideal of perfection is projected outside of this world in a virtual being, God, who has several attributes such as omniscience, omnipotence and benevolence. Religion is a fraud for human intelligence. Feuerbach claims that if we create a God we give all ourselves to His empire. This type of religious faith leads to dogmatism, intollerance, arrogance, despotism and it legitimates persecutions against those who profess a different religion or against those who don’t believe. According to him atheism is a liberation from all this mess that deprives humans of humanity. Humanism is strictly linked to atheism and it will return dignity to men. During the XX century Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was one of the greatest theorists of the theory of religion as a projection. According to him religion is obsessive neurosis, a projection of paternal figure and it makes societies regress to a childish level. Freeing oneself from God is essential to become mature. Marx considered Feuerbach’s critic as final. He was against any type of inclusive approach that considered religion as an essential part of culture and human nature. Marx talks about capitalism, claiming that it carries inside itself the seeds of its own destruction and underlines the contraddiction with religion: on one side capitalism depends on religion in order to maintain its power but at the same time it’s a strong vehicle of secularization. Religion distracts attention from being active in this world with the false hope of a life in the hereafter. Marx calls religion “the opium of people” because it tends to soothe people’s pain. EMILE DURKHEIM (1858-1917) Like Marx he came from a Rabbinical family and he also remained atheist for all his life. Religion is a collective cognitive system that is used to maintain order in society, this means that it has a very important role in society. Even though religious belief is not true it’s still an expression of human sociability. The reality of Religion is not God but society itself. With modernization science will replace it. Durkheim did see a social function in Religion as it integrates individuals in a single moral unity. The relogious faith of the individual derives from the community. The power of Religion is generated by society itself thrugh simbols and rituals. We can find three forms in Durkheim’s religious theory: Casual form: religious commitment is generated when there are strong social circumstances, when passions are strong (celebrations, reunions) Interpretative form: it gives an explenation to the meanings of practices. Through religious practices we understand social life. This means that Religion expresses, symolizes and represents social relations. Is a society does not have a religion it has no awareness of itself and it would become pathological. Functional form: Religion motivates social integration creating strong binds between individual and society, so it does have a positive function. It brings peace, joy, serenity and enthusiasm (as you can see this is an opposite view to Marx). IMPORTANT: Durkheim was very different from his contemporary theorists for one main element, he was looking for a way between anti-religious banal rationalism and the explanations and justifications of the religious theorists which were not convincing. According to Durkheim there is something eternal in Religion, it’s not plain illusion but it’s not God either. Society will always need Religion and with this term he means the need to worship, the need for faith, which comes from society itself, not from God. Durkheim was deeply concerned with the future of Religion in the modern world: “The Religion of the future will be an individualism based on human dignity and moral responsability”. ERNEST GELLNER (1925-1995) Gellner shares Durkheim’s concern for the future of Religion and he examines two main branches of modern world: religious extremism and post-modernism and criticizes both. Religious extremism is irrational and dogmatic; post-modernism is frivolous and irrational. He proposes a compromise between science and religion, which means that Religion must maintain its symbolic function through legitimation and representation of social order leaving the comprehension and the study of nature to science. http://durkheim.itgo.com/religion.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Gellner http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durkheim http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marx