UPSC Sociology Mains Syllabus
Paper 1 – Chapter 8
Religion and Society:
(a) Sociological theories of religion.
(b) Types of religious practices: animism, monism, pluralism, sects, cults.
(c) Religion in modern society: religion and science, secularization, religious revivalism, fundamentalism.
- The word ‘science’ comes from the Latin word ‘scientia’ which means knowledge or expertise.
- The word ‘religion’ was derived from the Latin word ‘religionem’ which refers to respect for what is holy, reverence for the Gods and sense of right.
- Science deals with the known or the empirical world but religion is concerned with the unknown or supernatural world.
- Religious beliefs refer to the world beyond the senses. If they cannot be proved by the methods of science, they cannot be disproved also.
- There are two major opinions regarding the relationship between science and religion- Religion and science are mutually conflicting and Science and religion are not mutually opposing.
SIMILARITIES BETWEEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION
- Durkheim views both religion and science as providing society with its collective representations.
So he doesn’t see any conflict in the two.
I. Both aim to provide answer to certain questions.
II. Both have manifest as well as latent functions as well as dysfunctions.
III. Both are a result of intellectual as well as emotional needs of the human beings. - Weber’s comparative studies showed that how religions across world advocate values that differ and are invariably in opposition to rationality. Science on the other hand is empirical. So, he sees an opposition between the two.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION
- #The empirical versus the supernatural.
#Open versus closed belief systems.
#Evolving versus absolute knowledge.
#Objectivity versus subjectivity. - Science is objective. It is derived from facts and logic. But religion is subjective since it is derived from beliefs that are not backed by any proof.
- Science studies about the world as we know. But religion is a lot associated with the supernatural world that we aren’t aware of.
- Science is tested and is challenged. It is subject to incorrectness. This facilitates for science to evolve over time. But religion is blindly believed and those that attempt to challenge it are convicted of heresy.
According to HE Barnes, religion and science are not always conflicting. He says that conflict exists between fundamentalist religion and modern science but not between modern science and humanism (which is considered as the modern trend of religion). He believes that the two can coexist if they respect and recognize each other.
