Durkheim's Conception Of Religion

Durkheim states that religion can be define through supernatural and its divine deity. Supernatural, when broken down, means everything that is nature, not made by man, is above us. What Durkheim’s implying is that nature has a soul that includes God within them. It’s possible because nature has a system that is followed by a mechanical law and is governed by itself. God and spirits are above this system is the religious idea. This view has people act a certain way towards things when they see things with spirits and God in objects, which they call them sacred. Also behaviors that go towards God are considered sacred as well, such as religious rituals and practices. The other things that have no meaning to them and does not serve a religious …show more content…
However religion does need society to exist. Durkheim states that religion is essential to people because society is essential to us, therefore religion is essential to society, however I don’t believe that religion is essential to people due to atheism and science. I also like how Geertz explain that religion changes to adapt to people because people change all the time. It’s weird that religion changes because supposedly the sacred scriptures are from God, written down by a prophet. And since that’s the case, it should be counted as a sacred text that should not be changed. I feel like religion adapts to the environment they encounter and the people who lives in that particular environment, they take what they like and leave they things they don’t like out. That’s another reason why I don’t think that religion is essential to society. Durkheim believes that religion is defined using the conception of supernatural and its divine deity when religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism and many other religions do not have a deity to begin with. Also Geertz describes how culture has a big impact on religion and the term he uses is syncretism, which means the act of combining, such as religion and culture. However we can see how culture overpowers religion were religious holidays such as Christmas and Easter is not religious but more of a chain of merchandise of colorful lights and bunnies. Geertz also believe there is a problem in religion and I also agree with his idea because when I ask someone who considers themselves religious why they believe what they believe, they can never give me a straight answer but instead facts about their