Religion and Society - Essay Example

Religion and Society Religion and Society Project 4 _______________ ID: _____________________ Dated: Oct-14-2008 Abstract The religious dimension of any nation is crucial to the development of the country. Particularly in situations where men and women are to be considered to share equal amenities, from Protestants to Evangelism, every religion has left a doubt on women's image, which has misguided the society to some extent. United States where on one hand enjoy a multicultural society with religious pluralism; on the other hand it feels as if a threat has been developed in the name of secularization. However this must not be the case in a country where liberal secularization remains in the eye of the scholarly beholder and where the observer possesses the right to decide if a symbol or form has been transformed or not. Intersections between Religion and Economy In American society where religious institutions play an extensive role in the economic regulation, denominational organizations, churches, and religiously affiliated institutions at the same time they contribute substantially to the growth of the domestic and international economy. On one hand we consider America as a multi-religious society, while on the other we take into account those facts that create a link between religion and economy. In order to understand the connection between the two, one can first consider those developments that occur outside this domain i.e., economy in a 'non-religious' environment. As with all socially significant categories, the reflection of religion upon any economy (stabilizing or destabilizing) depends to some extent on the difference between what counts as religion and what does not. For example, American society at the time of Reformation enjoyed a double compatibility in the name of religion. On the one hand, the visibility, power, and clearly religious identity of the Roman Catholic Church provided a concrete institutional model served the religion positively. On the other hand, however, early America witnessed a time when there was gradual development of other institutional domains that increasingly, over subsequent centuries, established themselves as independent of religious support and eventually even of religious legitimation (Dillon, 2003, p. 43). The development, which America has witnessed throughout centuries, resulted in a capitalist economy in which the sovereign political state emerged inclusive of the administrative and military arms. Such development was the result of multicultural spectrum, which was influenced by religiously, shaped society cultural and racial values, therefore the related domain of positive law, modern science, and later also academic education, medicalized health, art, mass media, and sport all developed. In this scenario the rise of two individual systems 'religious' and 'nonreligious' were critical for developing and treating religion as something distinct and different, therefore there was no option for a growing economy other than to include 'religion' on a broad spectrum in everyday lives of Americans. Not only did religion in this context appeared in contrast to other nonreligious social values, but it modelled itself to some extent in order to cover up all economic threats, therefore religion also helped in institutional reconstruction. Now that the time has come religion in America has moulded itself in many social forms, it would not be wrong to acknowledge that the way religion has modernized American economy, has never happened in the past. An example is when decades ago, early American religious missionaries worked hard to retain their religious consensus and the moral values of the earlier world out of which they came. At the same time they were enthusiastic about new improvements in transportation and communication along with their entrepreneurial business mindedness in manufacturing and industrialization (Porterfield, 2001, p. 48). Relationship between social class and religious denomination If we look deeper into the religious significance on American society, we would analyze that the relationship between both American Catholics and American Jews have, in the last generation, passed into the mainstream of culture, and has begun to experience high rates of intermarriage by consequently generating a good deal of identity anxiety among their leaders. Intermarriage, high class society influenced by a large social circle is by far the best example that elucidates some of the links between social class and liberal religious denomination. In fact it would be better to say that today religion is much modernized and globally liberated that it used to be in the past. On the other end critics raise the question that why religious institutions support distinct ways of life that are both ethnic and religious in American middle class society. However the question does not emphasize upon whether religious institutions should or should not support American liberal society, but the concern that arises is that there has always been a relationship between classes and the way they practice their religion. For example if we talk about middle-lower or middle-middle, it is evident that such classes are less liberal and perceive their religion on a small spectrum, however middle-upper or upper-lower consider religious denomination as part of their social gatherings, and do not mind to unbound their religious thoughts. Various social classes throughout the American society have experienced religious freedom and what we call today as 'liberalization' and it is due to this liberalization that a particular association between society and religion. For example today religious pluralism has developed a relation between social class and religion, where more than religious denomination is important what it takes to be socially civilized in society. Is it true that women are considered as 'subordinate' in religions Traditionally women were considered as 'secondary' or 'subordinate' when compared to men. However, apart from the religion, there were no particular reasons to it, except for the ones that superstition developed around the men's ancient society. Religion no doubt eradicated this perception and worked in order to prove women equal to men in every aspect of life, but critics believe that religion left many loopholes behind, and it is due to these loopholes that men are considered superior in the society. Of many examples of such 'inequality' that religion developed the well known before us is the prophecy of men. While looking into the historical American religion, one can see how ancient religious communities perceive females, whether pastors or housewives, religion and society indirectly put burden upon the then women to be compassionate, caring loving mothers for their congregations, as well as biological mothers. The roles given by various religions to women are reflected through many examples. Many researchers contend that the women in the Baptist Convention brought dignity and legitimacy to the black community through the establishment of many black colleges and universities. Ultimately, the institutionalization of black elite had the effect of distributing cultural, educational, and economic capital within the black community. In that sense, even though the women had internalized white-supremacist rhetoric about black working-class moral degeneracy and had accepted sexist Baptist theology and secondary leadership positions, they created a public space within the church that contested hegemony (Rouse, 2004, p. 91). This way as pastor of a church, a woman was expected to show strength in that capacity which lied in her ability to apply all the maternal aspects of her female being to the care and guidance of her symbolic family. Women despite numerous expectations to be loving and tough, remained unable to seek equal footing with men. A feminist theology is by far the best example where contemporary theology is characterized by its concern with human experience in all its variety. This concern with the pluralism of feminist experience is apparent in the focus of political and liberation theologies on the experience of the poor under oppressive social and economic systems, and in the grounding of these theologies in the particular experiences that mark Latin American, black, or Asian situations. Christian feminist theologies examine the meaning of the gospel and Christian tradition in relation to the plural experiences of women who, in different situations, are almost universally understood as a subordinate group in church and society. Various theologies in order to prove women's position in society point to the ancient traditions that never emphasized the maleness of Jesus. Instead such theologies were concerned to highlight Jesus' full humanity, as well as his divinity, in the conviction that what was not assumed was not redeemed (Carr & Leeuwen, 1996, p. 22). Such assumptions of the church fathers implicitly undermined their own negative appraisals of women. Religious revival after World War II There were various social problems responsible for the religious revival in the United States of which mostly were affected by the traditions, rituals, and theology of different denominations, as well as by social class, urban or rural settings, gender, and race. Religious revivals witnessed and shared some common features like reference points for recognizing what had influenced the Baptist woman's behaviour. At the ground root level, all religious revivals were characterized by what was considered an unusual increase in religious concern and in conversion experiences among American people. However the social responsible factors involved elements of active lay participation, such as communal prayer, singing, and testimony, alongside preaching by the clergy. Even it was seen among the then popular churches that the sense of a common, immediate encounter with God was aimed during a revival tended to narrow the gap between ministers and laity. The revival in particularly North America was accompanied with the rise of modern evangelicalism that suggested that different manifestations of spiritual awakening occurred as a common response among certain groups of Protestants to the changing social and political conditions of the Enlightenment era. Another social factor in religious development was 'science' which after World War II engaged religion into the endless boundaries and frontiers of American culture, thus another major force social science entered the fray promising to mediate this spirited dialogue. It would be wiser to say that American social science in particular was a genetic carrier of both science and religion as both realized their significance in the Progressive Era crisis of the 1890s and shared a dual lineage of optimistic Protestantism and secular social theory. While considering its original goals in the context of social reform, social control, and social amelioration, its methods embraced social inquiry, social experiment, and even 'laboratory' schools where religion was tested with other social needs (Gilbert, 1997, p. 253). At a creative level, this was an era where religion alone without the contribution of awareness and science was unable to revive; therefore this solution seemed particularly apt after World War II. After the World War era social science in its various guises rose to enormous prestige and power in American academic circles, in government, and in business organizations where American society acknowledged the social sciences as an ideological and ethical force to be contended with religion. It was no anomaly that the Conference on Science, Philosophy, and Religion hunkered down to discussions of social science and post war social reform after its champions of science and theology duelled to a bitter stalemate on first principles (Gilbert, 1997, p. 54). Religious revival ultimately appeared as settlement of such ideological disputes in American culture and started following a path of practicality where pluralism was better suited to problem solving than to theoretical uniformity-or so it seemed to the intellectuals, scientists, and theologians who gathered yearly at the Jewish Theological Seminars to explore the deepest difficulties of American society. Religious Pluralism Religious pluralism welcomes the significance of all religions being practiced worldwide and when it comes to the pluralism of United States, it refers to the commonalities or similarities of those religions which are followed in the country. Based upon the fundamental principle of toleration, religious pluralism enjoys the reign of freedom in America where there is no limitation to the multiplication of denominations and sects. Pluralism has allowed all the creeds and sects of Europe to be meet on a basis of liberty and equality before the law, and are multiplied by native ingenuity and enterprise. Despite being a protestant dominating nation, the concept of religious pluralism is not only surviving but is equally implemented in the United States for the reason that among the Protestant Churches, most of the churches are concerned with the practical development of the Christian life and even some are most successful among the higher (Seager, 1993, p. 100), others among the middle, and still others among the lower classes. None of them believe that they could be spared without great detriment to the cause of religion and morality, and without leaving its territory and constituency spiritually destitute for they practice the notion that "Even an imperfect Church is better than no Church" (Seager, 1993, p. 100). In other words, we can say that today Protestants have realize the significance of 'inclusiveness' in their everyday lives. Protestants today expect the greatest variety in the Church of the future and perceive life in a different angle where they believe that there are good Christians who believe in the ultimate triumph of not only their own creed, or form of government and worship, but welcome the universal view of religious liberty. Protestants now have come to know that this world is and will never unite into a single religion, because it is not the entire property of Protestants, but it will become wholly Christian, and will include every type and every aspect, every virtue and every grace of Christianity an endless variety in harmonious unity, Christ being all in all. Gone are those times when doctrinal differences were the most difficult to adjust or when two dogmas flatly contradict each other, the one denying what the other' asserts, one or the other, or both, must be wrong. Despite their protestant ancestors dominating believes, modern protestant believes that the dogmas of the Church are earthly vessels for heavenly treasures, or imperfect human definitions of divine truths, and may be improved by better statements with the advance of knowledge. Neither our feeble theologies nor doctrines or dogmas matter, what matters is the road towards secularization. Religious Secularization Secularization promotes religious society towards separate religious castes and creeds and believes that separate identities should demote religious dependence. It refers towards modernizing the growing society to the extent where religious faith ends up in separating governmental and religious institutions. Today the way of being a secular state is not a brand new phenomena, since its roots are as old as early nineteenth century, that is occurring now as a result of being 'individual religion' in United States in this century. On one hand there are excessive religious activities and extremism as a guide to secularize devotional theologies while on the other there are such saintliness religious motives which paves way towards modern mentalities (Rubin, 1994, p. 167). One reason for such severity leads us in the history where Protestant conservationism and enhanced emphasis upon religious revival promoted religious individualism. Many religious scholars monolithically delimited the boundaries of particular institutions within discrete mutually exclusive 'logics'. For example, while looking at religious secularisation they recognized ways in which the primary institutional logics of government can weaken religion and believed that any particular religion alone cannot handle easily the organization of social life made possible by the accumulation of power through bureaucratic mechanisms, including its own, nor can it easily manage the revival of values through democratic mechanisms. Despite promoting religious pluralism, it seems today United States is more inclined towards secularization, for many reasons. Being a protestant background the society is divided into two sects; those who believe in religious freedom and those who show respect to their forefathers' perception, i.e., religious secularism. In United States religious institutions in relation to each surrounding secular institution of state and social life has its own primary institutional logic that renders it culturally distinct, but it also has secondary logics borrowed from surrounding primary logics in the overlapping organization field (Hall et al, 1998, p. 73). Therefore it is obvious that transcendent meaning and truth, religion is perceived as an institution today in the United States and possesses capitalist logics for accumulating capital resources while discouraging the quest for state religions in order to satisfy the institutional perpetuation as the 'family of God'. References Carr Anne & Leeuwen Mary Stewart Van, (1996) Religion, Feminism and the Family: Westminster John Knox Press: Louisville, KY. Cascio Toni & Tirrito Terry, (2003) Religious Organizations in Community Services: A Social Work Perspective: Springer: New York. Dillon Michele, (2003) A Handbook of the Sociology of Religion: Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, England. Gilbert James, (1997) Redeeming Culture: American Religion in an Age of Science: University of Chicago Press: Chicago. Hall Peter Dobkin, N. J. Demarath III, Schmitt Terry & Williams H. Rhys, (1998) Sacred Companies: Organizational Aspects of Religion and Religious Aspects of Organizations: Oxford University Press: New York. Johnstone R. Ronald, Religion in Society: A Sociology of Religion. 8th edition. Porterfield Amanda, (2001) The Transformation of American Religion: The Story of a Late- Twentieth-Century Awakening: Oxford University Press: New York. Rouse Carolyn Moxley, (2004) Engaged Surrender: African American Women and Islam: University of California Press: Berkeley, CA. Rubin H. Julius, (1994) Religious Melancholy and Protestant experience in America: Oxford University Press, New York. Seager Richard Hughes, (1993) The Dawn of Religious Pluralism: Voices from the World's Parliament of Religions, 1893: Open Court: La Salle, IL. Read More