Defining Religion, Spirituality, and Worldview

Religion and Culture ANTH 2301 Defining Religion, Spirituality, and Worldview Because religion includes intangible concepts like values, ideas, beliefs, and customs, it is easy for an anthropological investigation of religion to become confused and unclear. Setting up some common markers might be beneficial. Two scholars with expertise in religion provide definitions that indicate opposing points of view on the matter. Anthropologists frequently use these well-known definitions to bookend their discussions on religion. Émile Durkheim (1858–1917), a French sociologist, studied totemism among Indigenous Australian peoples in the early 20th century using an anthropological approach to religion. He makes the case in The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1915) that social scientists should start studying what he refers to as "simple religions" in order to better comprehend the composition and operation of belief systems in general. Using an empirical method, he defines religion and establishes the following essential components: "A religion is an integrated system of beliefs and practices concerning sacred things, that is, things set apart and prohibited—beliefs and practices which unite all those who adhere to them into one single moral community called a Church" (47). According to this definition, religion is comprised of three main elements: beliefs, practices, and social organisation, or what members of a common group of people believe and do. American anthropologist Clifford Geertz (1926–2006) created the second signpost used in anthropology to understand religion in his 1973 book The Interpretation of Cultures. In Geertz's definition, the methodology is entirely different: "A religion is: (1) a system of symbols that acts to (2) formulate conceptions of a general order of existence and (3) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that (4) the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic" (90). This process creates strong, persistent, and powerful moods and motivations in men. Geertz's definition of religion depicts religion as a new paradigm, or overarching model, for how we understand systems of belief. It is comprehensive and multifaceted, including intangibles like emotions and sentiments. According to Geertz, religion serves as a catalyst for particular perspectives and actions about the world. Geertz emphasises the function of religion as a powerful cultural symbol while yet recognising that religion is a communal endeavour. According to Geertz, religion is elusive, ill-defined, and essentially a sentiment that inspires and binds communities of people who have similar views. To help you better comprehend Geertz's concept, we will look at symbols' meanings and functions within cultures in the next section. Geertz views religion as highly symbolic. Both of these categories can be useful when anthropologists research religion since religion encompasses a wide range of human constructs and experiences, including social structures, belief systems, awe, and an atmosphere of mystery. We may roughly describe religion as a common system of ideas and activities addressing the interplay of natural and supernatural occurrences, even though distinct religious organisations and rituals occasionally go beyond what can be encompassed by a basic description. However, the moment we give religion a definition, we have to set it apart from other connected ideas like spirituality and worldview. In recent years, an increasing proportion of Americans have choose to identify as spiritual as opposed to religious. According to a 2017 Pew Research Centre research, 27 percent of Americans consider themselves to be "spiritual but not religious," an increase of 8 percentage points from 2012 (Lipka and Gecewicz 2017). Religion and spirituality can be distinguished by a variety of factors, and people will define and use these terms differently. However, generally speaking, spirituality refers to less rigidly structured beliefs and feelings about the relationships between the natural and supernatural worlds, whereas religion typically refers to shared affiliation with a specific structure or organisation. Spirituality is frequently based on an individual's sense of their immediate surroundings and may be highly flexible to changing circumstances. Many religiously affiliated Americans also use the term "spirituality," making a distinction between it and their faith. In 2017, a Pew study revealed that 48% of participants identified as both spiritual and religious. Additionally, Pew discovered that 27% of respondents said they placed a high value on religion (Lipka and Gecewicz 2017). The rise of persons who identify as nones, or individuals who have no allegiance with any religion, is another trend in American religion. Approximately 25% of Americans identified with this group in a 2014 Pew Research Centre study that included 35,000 respondents from all 50 states (Pew Research Centre 2015). From 16 percent in 2007 to 23 percent in 2014, the proportion of adults who classified themselves as "none" has increased significantly; among millennials, the number was much higher, at 35 percent (Lipka 2015). Participants were asked to identify their primary reasons for choosing to remain unaffiliated in a follow-up survey. The most frequently mentioned reasons were the increasing politicisation of American churches and a more sceptic and critical attitude towards the institutional framework of all religions (Pew Research Centre 2018). But it's crucial to remember that nones are not the same as atheists or agnostics. Outside of belonging to a religious organisation, nones are prohibited from having conventional or atypical religious views. Atheism is the position that rejects the existence of any deity or gods, whereas agnosticism is the conviction that deity or the divine is unknowable and that, consequently, scepticism of religion is warranted. Atheists, agnostics, and nones can nevertheless have spiritual beliefs. It is crucial that anthropologists specify terminology they use while studying religion since these terms might have diverse meanings when employed in contexts other than academic research. Furthermore, words might have several meanings. All social institutions, including religion, are impacted by changes in a society's social and political environment. Secular, or nonreligious, ideas shape the way people see themselves and the world they live in, even for individuals who do not consider themselves spiritual or religious. A person's viewpoint or orientation is referred to as their worldview; it is a taught perspective on the essence of existence itself that consists of both individual and collective elements. As people go through life changes, they often confuse and mix their worldviews with their religious and spiritual beliefs. It is important for anthropologists to keep these different aspects of belief in mind when researching religion. There are situations when a person's belief systems cannot be adequately described by the term religion. Religion, like other social structures, changes with time, between civilizations, and even between early human species! Religions and religious/spiritual activities adapt to shifts in the population and the realities of people's everyday lives. Interestingly, though, religion has a tendency to be more viscous—that is, it tends to change at a much slower rate and blend together different beliefs and practices—than other institutions, like economics, which tend to shift drastically from one century to the next, frequently due to technical advancements. While religion has the potential to accelerate societal change, it often modifies gradually, preserving certain aspects of society while introducing new ones. Religion may be rather complicated since it encompasses many of its prior incarnations.