Question

Discuss the concept of religious belief social scientific perspectives addressing issues of ​​​​societal change.

Answer 1

Almost all the societies have been guided by religions from the beginning and there were unorganized naturalistic religions even before them. Whatever human beings feared, they treated them as sacred and divine. When formal religions were formed, they united people under a single faith and god to fulfil their spiritual needs. Religions played a major role in shaping the values, beliefs, moral behaviours and ethical norms in the society. All the social norms were contributed and guided by religions for thousands of years. The concept of sin, heaven and hell all kept people together under single belief. They also helped human beings become more humanistic acts of charity, helping, sharing and celebrations. Conflict perspective suggests that the society is in a perpetual conflict for the limited resources available where social order is maintained not through consensus but through domination. This would mean almost all the religions engage in multiple concepts and motivated their believers to treat people of other religion with contempt and hatred. Durkheim viewed religion as a unified system of beliefs and sacred things under single entity. People learn through symbolic interaction through symbols, signs and language. Structural functionalism suggests that the society is a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. This would mean religion works as one of the systems that controls, monitors, and promote humanness in people.

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