Religion

• Friedrich Nietzsche: '"God is dead!"'
• Religion


  Involves a set of symbols invoking feelings of reverence or awe, and are linked to rituals or ceremonials practiced by a community of believers
• Secularization


  The process whereby religion loses its influence over the various spheres of social life
• Religions


  • Animism
  • Totemism
  • Christianity - 31%
  • Judaism - 0.2%
  • Islam - 24%
  • Roman Catholicism
  • Protestantism
  • Eastern Orthodoxy
  • Sunni
  • Shia
  • Buddhism - 7%
  • Hinduism - 15%
  • Confucianism - 6%
  • Taoism
• Religious thinkers


  • Karl Marx
  • Ludwig Feuerbach
  • Emile Durkheim
  • Max Weber
• Elementary Forms of Religious Life

  Emile Durkheim's work on the sacred and profane
• Alienation


  Concept developed by Karl Marx
• Types of religious organisations


  • Church
  • Sect
  • Denomination
  • Cult