UNIT 5

RELIGION IN MODERN SOCIETY

Key concepts, terms and names

The following concepts, terms and names are all important. Using your dictionary, the Glossary from you text or the context in which these terms are used in your textbook, look up and write down the definitions and descriptions of these terms. Similarly, look up these names.

I. This time you have to read and translate the following English text into the Russian language

Religion in some form is found in all known human societies and has been a central part of human experience. Under some conditions religions serve to unite communities; at other times they are a source of division.

In establishing a definition of religion, certain ethnocentric mistakes should be avoided. Monotheism (belief in one god) is not found in all religions. Religion is also not defined by moral prescriptions or by creation myths, nor is it always identified with the supernatural, although any or all of these elements might appear in a particular religion.

26

What religions do have in common, however, is that they all involve symbols, invoke feelings of awe, and are linked to rituals practiced by believers. The boundary line with magic, which refers to the use of chanting, potions, or rituals to influence natural events, is not always clear. Usually, the dividing line between religion and magic is the absence of a collective ceremonial (ritual) in magic. Although we don't usually associate magical practices with modern societies, many people practice magiclike superstitions.

Varieties of Religion

In traditional societies, religion played a comprehensive role in social life. In gathering and hunting societies there are no professionalized priesthoods, but one common type of religious specialist is the shaman, someone believed to be able to direct spiritual forces through rituals.

Two forms of religion are common in smaller cultures: totemism, in which animals or plants are perceived to possess supernatural powers, and animism, a belief in spirits or ghosts.

Both these forms tend to be polytheistic, believing in more than one god. Like magic, some aspects of totemism and animism continue to be common in modern life. School sports mascots, for example, are a form of totem.

The three most influential monotheistic religions all originated in the Near East, and each has influenced the others:

•Judaism originated well over three thousand years ago, and is anchored by a portion of the Tenakh, or Holy Scriptures, known as the Torah (familiar to Christians as the first five books of the Old Testament.)

•Christianity began as a sect of Judaism and developed into a

political power when it was adopted as the official religion of the Roman Empire after three hundred years of persecution.

•Islam began with the prophet Mohammed, and emphasizes unconditional submission to the will of Allah (God); the Islamic scriptures are known as the Koran.

Religions of the Far East

•Hinduism is the oldest of the major religions still in existence and

is polytheistic and very diverse in its specific forms. Most Hindus accept the doctrine of reincarnation, and this belief is tied to (and legitimates) the caste system.

• Buddhism was begun by Siddhartha Gautama (a Hindu prince), who taught that the cycle of reincarnation can be escaped by renouncing the selfish desires which bind us to the world.

27

•Confucianism is a Chinese system of teachings (not so much a religion), which emphasizes conformity to strict ethical norms, and devotion to ancestors.

•Taoism is similar in many ways to Confucianism, but stresses

nonviolence and meditation as means to higher life.

All three major monotheistic religions are male-dominated and currently act as a conservative force against expanded rights for women. Among major world religions, Buddhism receives women in the most favorable light.

I. Translate the following words and word combinations

Profane – Магия – Self-alienation - Религиозные деятели - Sacred – Вера в призраков или духов - Faith – Политеизм - Ritual – Иудаизм - Animism - Holy scriptures – Polytheistic religion – Ветхий завет - Totemism – Denomination – Сверхъестественная сила - Church - Feelings of awe - Prophet Mohammed – Кастовая система - Ethical norms

– Даосизм - Nonviolence – Reincarnation - Монотеистическая религия - Male-dominated – Cult - Unconditional submission to the will of Allah

II. Now you have to provide the brief summary of the text using the expressions from Unit 2

III. This time you have to read and translate the following English text

Theories of Religion

Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber offer the three major theories of religion. Marx followed Ludwig Feuerbach's idea of alienation, which is the attribution of culturally created values on alien beings, such as a god. Marx argued that religion represents human self-alienation; the values that we attributed to our god(s) could be realized by ourselves. Furthermore, religion often serves as an ideology to justify the status quo. For example, Hinduism justifies the caste system, and Christianity has at times preached acceptance of poverty and oppression. Durkheim defined religion in terms of the sacred and the profane. For him, religion is a cohesive force and represents a culture worshipping itself. What is significant about religion is not a body of doctrines, but the rituals that bind the members of the group together. Weber, unlike Marx, stressed religion's

28

contribution to social change.

For example, he characterized Christianity as a salvation religion, which created an emotional dynamism absent from other religions and had revolutionary repercussions in social change.

All three argue that religion ultimately does not stand apart from the society whence it arises. Religion, in short, is essentially a social phenomenon.

Types of Religious Organization

Churches are large and established religious bodies, while sects are smaller, less organized, and often set up in opposition to churches. A sect may become institutionalized as a denomination (such as Calvinism within Christianity). Cults resemble sects, but they tend to be loosely organized and to reject the values of the larger society. Religious movements are a subtype of social movements that seek to promote a new religion or a new interpretation of an established religion. These categories should be applied carefully, however, since they were devised to describe mostly Christian traditions. Hinduism, for instance, has no bureaucratic hierarchy (as churches do), nor does it have denominations, yet it is certainly an established religion.

Religion and the State. The process of secularization occurs when society becomes more concerned with worldly matters than spiritual, and religious organizations lose influence over social life. This process can sometimes lead to a religious revival or innovation, both of which are evident in the recent rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Iran.

Recently, there have been many new religions and cults. Another trend has been the rise of religious fundamentalism, which refers to a variety of efforts to champion literal interpretations of scriptural texts. Some fundamentalist Christian groups have been at the forefront in the use of the "electronic church," pioneering the use of mass media to spread religious messages.

V. You have to answer the following questions

1.Is it possible to have a religious faith and yet accept the existence of different beliefs?

2.The text mentions the continuing influence of totemism and magic in our daily lives. Are they important in yours?

3.Does religion promote change or does it attempt to maintain status quo?

4.How do religions think about the past/ about the future?

29