types of religion

• totemism

  • groups spread over several villages and are associated with animals, especially fish
  • Durkheim saw Totemism as one of the earliest and simplest form of religious practice
  • Durkheim used the totemic religion of Australian aborigines to develop his theory of religion. To clan members, the totem was as sacred object, and by worshipping the totem, clan members are actually worshipping society.
• sects

  • organisations that broke away from a church because they were dissatisfied
  • they do not have a complex hierarchy, led by a charismatic leader
  • made up of marginalised, deprived groups
  • grow quickly and decline quickly
  • demands total commitment from members
• denominations

  • share several features of a church
  • relatively large membership
  • a hierarchy of full time or part time paid officials
  • people choose to join or are born into it
  • involve no membership tests
  • members accept norms and values of society, may be marginally different
• cults

  • often short-lived
  • not always based on religious beliefs
  • beliefs are often vague and lack a clearly defined, exclusive belief system
  • gain and maintain control over their members
  • voluntary, tight-knit, informal
  • wider world views are deviant, sometimes not
  • Stark and Bainbridge- religions and spiritual movements are like business organisations where the participant is a passive consumer (audience cult- the participant buys books, DVDs... to consume a set of ideas)
• new age movements e.g crystal healing

  • physical and mental ailments can be cured with gemstones
  • truth and spirituality can be found within an individual
  • self healing
  • world-rejecting- to experience the best of the inner world, opposes capitalism
  • world-affirming, help in experiencing the best of the outer world, some celebrate capitalism
• new age movements (2)

  • started to become prominent in the 1980s
  • New age ideas were spread through aspects of the culture (music, tv, public lectures)
  • Paul Heelas (1996)- central feature of the New Age is self-spirituality
  • Salvation does not come from an external God, but yourself
  • Steve Bruce- the New Age appeals to affluent members of society (uni-educated, actors, writers)
  • western societies are turning against institutions and belief systems
  • Drane- (postmodernist) new age movements have grown as a result of an apparent failure in science as a belief system- it does not provide answers
• church

  • claim a monopoly over the truth
  • closely connected to the state (many countries have a state religion)
  • Developed, hierarchal bureaucratic structures
  • Tend to make few demands on their members, active membership can fit around a normal life
  • resists social change, wants to preserve tradition
  • 79% of British people think the Church is an important part of UK heritage