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FROM QUESTIONS ABOUT THE UNIVERSALITY OF RELIGION AND FROM FUNCTIONALIST ANSWERS TO EVOLUTIONARY THEORIES AND TO QUESTIO

FROM QUESTIONS ABOUT THE UNIVERSALITY OF RELIGION AND FROM FUNCTIONALIST ANSWERS TO EVOLUTIONARY THEORIES AND TO QUESTIONS ABOUT RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY. WOUT ULTEE SIXTH MEETING OF THE COURSE ON PARADIGMS AND PROBLEM SHIFTS IN SOCIOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF HAIFA DECEMBER 23, 2012.

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FROM QUESTIONS ABOUT THE UNIVERSALITY OF RELIGION AND FROM FUNCTIONALIST ANSWERS TO EVOLUTIONARY THEORIES AND TO QUESTIO

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  1. FROM QUESTIONS ABOUT THE UNIVERSALITY OF RELIGION AND FROM FUNCTIONALIST ANSWERS TO EVOLUTIONARY THEORIES AND TO QUESTIONS ABOUT RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY WOUT ULTEE SIXTH MEETING OF THE COURSE ON PARADIGMS AND PROBLEM SHIFTS IN SOCIOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF HAIFA DECEMBER 23, 2012

  2. A GROWTH INDUSTRY IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGY: THE SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION

  3. ‘SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION’ IS A SOMETHING OF A MISNOMER SINCE THERE ARE MANY RELIGIONS IN THE WORLD THIS SPEAKING IN THE SINGULAR INDICATES THAT QUESTIONS ON CHRISTIANITY WERE OVERSTUDIED I WILL SHOW THAT THIS SPEAKING IN THE SINGULAR ALSO MISFRAMED QUESTIONS

  4. THERE IS A LOT OF MONEY FOR RESEARCH IN THE SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA SEE THE RESULTS OF SURVEYS WITH VERY HIGH N’S ON THE WEBSITE OF THE PEW FORUM FOR RELIGION AND PUBLIC LIFE AMERICAN JOURNALS: SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION REVIEW OF RELIGIOUS RESEARCH JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION

  5. EUROPE HAS ITS EUROPEAN-WIDE VALUES SURVEYS, UNDERTAKEN WITH MONEY FROM QUITE EXTRAORDINARY SOURCES IT WAS RUMOURED THAT THE ULTRA-CONSERVATIVE CATHOLIC GROUP OPUS DEI FUNDED THE FIRST IRISH VERSIONOF THE EUROPEAN VALUES SURVEY IN THE NETHERLANDS THERE IS THE CATHOLIC FAMILY OF BRENNINKMEYER, IT OWNS THE CLOTHES CHAIN STORE C&A, IT GAVE MONEY TO THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF TILBURG TO FUND THE FIRST DUTCH VERSION OF THE VALUES SURVEY

  6. IN THE 1980 THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT CUT SPENDING ON UNIVERSITIES, AT THE SAME TIME AWARDING MONEY FOR SPECIAL RESEARCH SOCIOLOGISTS OF THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF NIJMEGEN GOT MONEY FOR A TIME-SERIES OF SURVEYS ON SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CHANGE – WITH CULTURE AS A CODE WORD COMPRISING RELIGION THESE SOCIOLOGISTS TO SOME EXTENT GOT THE MONEY BECAUSE OF NIJMEGEN’S TIES WITH THE CHRISTIAN POLITICAL PARTY SUPPORTING THE GOVERNMENT CUTTING SPENDING ON UNIVERSITIES

  7. THESE NIJMEGEN SOCIOLOGISTS - FELLING, PETERS, SCHREUDER, SCHEEPERS, EISINGA – HELD THAT ALTHOUGH CHURCH ATTENDANCE HAD DROPPED, PEOPLE STILL ADHERED TO OTHER RITES AND STILL BELIEVED IN MAJOR TENANTS OF CHRISTIANITY THEIR LATER FINDINGS SHOWED A DROP IN PARTICIPATION IN RITES AND A DECLINE IN VARIOUS CHRISTIAN BELIEFS THESE DUTCH SOCIOLOGISTS ADMITTED THIS FALSIFICATION OF THEIR HYPOTHESIS – CONTRARY TO THE BRITISH SOCIOLOGIST GRACE DAVIE

  8. THE PRIME QUESTION BEHIND THE EUROPEAN VALUES SURVEYS: TO WHAT EXTENT DO THE INHABITANTS OF THE VARIOUS EUROPEAN COUNTRIES ADHERE TO THE BELIEFS AND VALUES THE CATHOLIC POPE OF ROME WANTS THEM TO FOLLOW?

  9. STILL ADHERE: WHY SHOULD IN WESTERN EUROPE PEOPLE HAVE ADHERED TO THE BELIEFS AND VALUES OF THE (CATHOLIC) POPE, SINCE A LOT OF THESE COUNTRIES HAVE NOT BEEN CATHOLIC, BUT PROTESTANT, SINCE CENTURIES? AGAIN ADHERE: IS THERE A RETURN TO RELIGION IN THE FORMER COMMUNIST COUNTRIES OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE?

  10. YET, THE BELIEFS AND VALUES OF THE POPE ARE ALSO THOSE OF MOST ORTHODOX FORMS OF PROTESTANTISM: AGAINST EVOLUTIONISM, AND IN FAVOUR OF CREATION BY GOD IN A SHORT PERIOD, NOT LONG AGO AND IN A PARTICULAR SEQUENCE AGAINST PRE-MARITAL SEX, FOR SEXUAL FIDELITY OF MARRIED PERSONS, AGAINST DIVORCE, AGAINST GAY MARRIAGE, AGAINST HOMOSEXUALITY, AGAINST EUTHANASIA, AND ‘PRO-FAMILY’

  11. THE PRACTICAL INTERESTS OF MONEY-GIVERS MAY CORRUPT RESEARCH YET, SURVEYS CONDUCTED TO BOLSTER A PARTICULAR INTEREST MAY YIELD UNPLEASANT FACTS PEW NOW ADMITS THAT A MAJORITY OF AMERICANS, NOT ONLY YOUNG AMERICANS, IS IN FAVOUR OF GAY MARRIAGE PEW ALSO ADMITS THAT A RISING PERCENT OF AMERICANS IS RELIGIOUSLY UNAFFILIATED

  12. SOCIOLOGISTS HOUT & FISCHER SHOWED IN 2002 THAT THE PERCENT OF RELIGIOUSLY UNAFFILIATED IS HIGHER IF THE CATEGORY OF NONE IS ADDED TO A LIST OF AFFILIATIONS SO, EARLY ON SOCIOLOGISTS ASKED THEIR RESPONDENTS LEADING QUESTIONS BY OMITTING THE CATEGORY OF NONE THE SURVEY QUESTION SHOULD BE: ARE YOU AFFILIATED TO ANY CHURCH, AND IF YES, WHICH ONE?

  13. INTERNATIONALLY, HOUT & FISCHER’S DISCOVERY IS A QUITE LATE ONE IN THE NETHERLANDS THE DECENNIAL CENSUS COUNTED AFFILIATION SINCE 1795 SINCE 1920 PEOPLE ARE ALLOWED TO ANSWER THAT THEY DO NOT CONSIDER THEMSELVES AS BELONGING TO A RELIGIOUS GROUP INTERVIEWERS NO LONGER WERE INSTRUCTED TO PRESS FOR AN ANSWER TO A FREE QUESTION ABOUT BAPTISM AND THEN FILL IN THE ANSWER

  14. THREE TYPES OF QUESTIONS WITHIN THE SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION ABOUT THE RELIGIONS PREVALENT IN PARTICULAR SOCIETIES QUESTIONS ABOUT DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES IN THEIR CONTENT QUESTIONS ABOUT THE CAUSES OF THE PREVALENCE OF RELIGION AND QUESTIONS ABOUT THE EFFECTS OF ADHERING TO A RELIGION

  15. THE CONTENT QUESTION IS THE MAIN ONE FOR THEOLOGY AND THE FIELD OF ‘COMPARATIVE RELIGION’ IN THE 19TH CENTURY THERE WERE SCHOLARS WHO, UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF DARWINIAN EVOLUTIONISM, DISTINGUISHED STAGES IN RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT LIKE NO GOD AT ALL, SEVERAL GODS, ONE SUPREME GOD LATER SOCIOLOGISTS OF RELIGION OFTEN MADE OTHER DISTINCTIONS

  16. ONE OF THE HYPOTHESES OF FEUERBACH, THE PHILOSOPHER BEHIND MARX’ CRITIQUE OF RELIGION: GODS ARE REVERED IN A PERMANENT WOODEN OR STONE BUILDING, WHERE THEY RESIDE, IF THE PERSONS REVERING THEM HAVE BECOME SEDENTARY

  17. THE QUESTION ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES OF RELIGION WEBER IN HIS COLLECTED PAPERS ON THE SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION FROM 1921 HELD THAT EVERY MAJOR RELIGION OF THE PAST FEW CENTURIES STIPULATES THE ESSENCE OF THE RELATION BETWEEN MAN AND THE WORLD WEBER’S THESIS WAS THAT THE MORE ACTIVIST THIS WORLDVIEW IS, THE MORE IT WILL FOSTER CAPITALISM

  18. WEBER’S RANKING OF RELIGIONS FROM THE MOST TO THE LEAST ACTIVIST WORLD VIEW: PROTESTANTISM: MAN AS STEWARD OF THE WORLD CATHOLICISM: MAN FITS INTO THE WORLD LIKE AN ORGAN INTO A BODY CONFUCIANISM: JUST LIKE TONES MAY BE HARMONIOUS AND FORM A MELODY, SO HUMAN BEINGS CAN ADAPT TO THE WORLD HINDUISM: THE WORLD AS A WHEEL THAT TURNS AROUND ITSELF AND MAN AS PART OF THIS WHEEL

  19. BECAUSE OF HIS PREMATURE DEATH, WEBER’S SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION REMAINED UNFINISHED THEREFORE WEBER DID NOT STATE CLEARLY HIS THESIS ABOUT EFFECTS OF ACTIVISM THE WORD ARCTIVISM, IN THE CONTEXT OF RELIGION, WAS COINED BY THE THELOGIST TROELTSCH WEBER LIVED WITH TROELTSCH IN THE SAME HOUSE IN HEIDELBERG THEY TRAVELLED TOGETHER, WITH THEIR WIVES, THROUGH THE UNITED STATES

  20. RONALD INGLEHART’S BOOK FROM 1977 ON THE SILENT REVOLUTION IN VALUES IN WESTERN SOCIETIES IS BEST UNDERSTOOD AS THE ADDITION OF TWO NEW WORLD VIEWS TO WEBER’S LIST MATERIALISM: MAN AS MASTER OF THE WORLD POST-MATERIALISM: MAN’S MASTERY OF THE WORLD LEADS TO DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD

  21. THE ORIGIN QUESTION THEOLOGY MAINTAINED AND PERHAPS STILL MAINTAINS THAT EVERY HUMAN BEING MAKES SENSE OF THE WORLD BY BELIEVING IN ‘THAT THERE IS SOMETHING IN BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH’ AND BY RITES ADDRESSED AT THESE ENTITIES FOR THAT REASON, EVERY SOCIETY HAS A RELIGION THIS FINDING WAS ACCEPTED BY MANY A SOCIOLOGIST AND EVEN MORE ANTHROPOLOGISTS

  22. SO, WHY DOES EVERY SOCIETY HAVE A RELIGION? THE FUNCTIONALIST ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION: RELIGION IS THE PRIME CAUSE OF SOCIETAL COHESION, AND DISCOHESIVE SOCIETIES DO NOT PERSIST

  23. THE ANTHROPOLOGIST MALINOWSKI MORE OR LESS GAVE THIS ANSWER THE SOCIOLOGIST MERTON POINTED OUT THAT THIS ANSWER REQUIRES THAT THERE ARE NO OTHER POSSIBLE SOURCES OF SOCIETAL COHESION (NO FUNCTIONAL ALTERNATIVES) ULTEE: IT IS NOT WISE TO CALL THESE ALTERNATIVES RELIGIONS TOO

  24. PHILOSOPHERS OF SCIENCE HEMPEL AND NAGEL POINTED OUT THAT AN EXPLANATION OF THE ORIGIN OF SOMETHING THAT INVOKES ITS CONSEQUENCES IS UNSATISFACTORY CAUSES PRECEDE EFFECTS, BUT HERE THE EFFECT IS THE CAUSE OF THE UNIVERSALITY OF RELIGION

  25. THE QUESTION OF WHY EVERY SOCIETY HAS A RELIGION PRESUPPOSES THAT EVERY SOCIETY HAS A RELIGION SO THE WHY-QUESTION OF THE SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION MAY BE A FALSE QUESTION DOES INDEED EVERY SOCIETY HAVE A RELIGION?

  26. OF COURSE, ANSWERS DEPEND UPON THE DEFINITION OF RELIGION UPON EVEN NOT-SO-CLOSE AND NOT VERY DESTRUCTIVE READING OF DURKHEIM’S 1899 PIECE ON THE DEFINITION OF RELIGIOUS PHENOMENA IT TURNS OUT THAT DURKHEIM WIDENS HIS DEFINITION OF RELIGION SO THAT MORE AND MORE SOCIETIES HAVE A RELIGION

  27. DESPITE DICTIONARY DEFINITIONS AND THE GERMAN WORD ‘GOTTESDIENST’ AND THE DUTCH WORD ‘GODSDIENST’ DURKHEIM REFUSED TO EQUATE RELIGION WITH WORSHIP OF GOD(S) ACCORDING TO DURKHEIM, THERE ARE RELIGIONS WITHOUT GODS AKIN TO THE GOD OF CHRISTIANITY

  28. AS DURKHEIM NOTED SYSTEMS OF IDEAS DOMINANT IN MAJOR AGRARIAN SOCIETIES DID WITHOUT A RELIGION, IN THE SENSE OF AN OFFICIAL GOD OR GODS ALTHOUGH LARGER-THAN-LIFE STATUES WERE MADE OR BUDDHA, BUDDHA IS NOT A GOD CONFUCIUS IS NOT A GOD, CONFUCANISM DOES NOT HAVE GODS

  29. DURKHEIM: THE CHINESE EMPEROR PERFORMED RITES TO SAFEGUARD THE HARMONY OF MAN AND WORLD DURKHEIM WAS PREPARED TO CALL THIS A RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY WOUT ULTEE: THIS CERTAINLY IS A RELIGIOUS-LIKE ACTIVITY BUT A RELIGION WITHOUT A GOD IS NOT A SOCIETY WITHOUT GODS

  30. WOUT ULTEE: IF CONFUCIUS AND BUDDHA ARE NOT GODS, THIS DOES NOT IMPLY THAT THE PEOPLE FOLLOWING CONFUCIUS AND BUDDHA DO NOT BELIEVE IN GODS IN CHINA THE EMPEROR AND ITS BUREAUCRATS FOLLOWED CONFUCIUS, BUT THE MASS OF CHINESE PEOPLE WERE TOLD BY CONFUCIUS’ FOLLOWERS TO REVERE THEIR ANCESTORS AND THE MASS OF CHINESE PEOPLE BELIEVED IN GODS

  31. ULTEE’S THESIS: SEVERAL AGRARIAN SOCIETIES AND HERDING SOCIETIES HAD PERSONS AND BOOKS TO BE FOLLOWED BUDDHA IS A PERSON TO BE FOLLOWED, AND CONFUCIUS IS A PERSON TO BE FOLLOWED, AND SO IS JESUS OF CHRISTIANITY WITHIN JUDAISM PEOPLE ARE TO FOLLOW THE LAWS GOD GAVE TO MOSES AND WITHIN THE ISLAM THE CORAN WAS TOLD BY GOD TO MOHAMMED

  32. SO, WHEN DEFINITIONS ARE AT STAKE, TAKE CARE NOT TO WIDEN THE SCOPE OF DEFINITIONS IN SUCH A WAY THAT YOUR FAVORITE HYPOTHESIS REMAINS CORROBORATED AND DO NOT BE MISLED BY THE POSSIBILITY OF RELIGIONS WITHOUT GODS REMAIN FOCUSED ON THE QUESTION OF SOCIETIES WITHOUT GODS

  33. DURKHEIM’S DEFINITION OF RELIGION: A SYSTEM OF BELIEFS AND RITES WITH RESPECT TO THE HOLY SHARED BY THE MEMBERS OF A COMMUNITY

  34. MORE CRITICISM DURKHEIM’S DEFINITION REST UPON THE HYPOTHESIS THAT THE IDEA OF A PERSON-LIKE ENTITY WITH POWERS SURPASSING THOSE OF INDIVIDUAL HUMAN BEINGS IS FORMED IN RITES IN WHICH A LOT OF PERSONS PARTAKE DEFINITIONS SHOULD NOT CONTAIN HYPOTHESES

  35. THE LATER SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION NEGLECTED THIS HYPOTHESIS AND FIDDLED AROUND WITH DATA FROM THE EUROPEAN VALUES SURVEYS THIS LEAD TO A FAKE CORROBORATION OF THE HYPOTHESES THAT, DESPITE EMPTY CHURCHES, PEOPLE STILL BELIEVE GRACE DAVIE, BELIEVING WITHOUT BELONGING, 1994 THE EUROPEAN VALUES SURVEYS WOULD MAKE CLEAR THAT A LOT OF PEOPLE BELIEVE IN GOD WITHOUT BELONGING TO A CHURCH

  36. DAVIE’S TWO TABLES, FROM THE EUROPEAN VALUES SURVEYS

  37. THE CORRELATION AT THE COUNTRY LEVEL BETWEEN WEEKLY CHURCH ATTENDANCE AND FOR INSTANCE BELIEF IN HELL IS 0.8 THE INDIVIDUAL CORRELATION IS 0.3 SO, CONTRARY TO DAVIE’S HYPOTHESIS AND IN AGREEMENT WITH HER DATA AND WITH DURKHEIM’S HIDDEN HYPOTHESIS BELIEVING AND BELONGING DO GO TOGETHER

  38. IN ADDITION, DAVIE DID NOT ENTER INTO THE QUESTION OF HOW MANY OF THE BELIEVERS WHO DO NOT BELONG WERE RAISED BY PARENTS WHO BELONGED AND BELIEVED

  39. SO, THE FUNCTIONALIST QUESTION IS WHY DOES EVERY SOCIETY HAVE A RELIGION? DURKHEIM WAS ABLE TO RAISE THIS QUESTION BECAUSE HE WIDENED THE USUAL DEFINITION OF RELIGION

  40. WHEN REJECTING COMMON DEFINITIONS, DURKHEIM INSISTED THAT SOCIOLOGISTS SHOULD NOT USE THE IDEAS ON GOD OF THEIR OWN SOCIETY TO CLASSIFY EVERY OTHER SOCIETY ACCUMULATED REPORTS BY MISSONARIES, AND FIELDWORK BY ANTHROPOLOGISTS MADE CLEAR THAT NOT EVERY PRE-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY HAD THE IDEA OF A SUPREME CREATOR WHO PUNISHES EVIL AND REWARDS THE GOOD THIS IS AN INTERESTING FINDING

  41. ARE THERE BETTER QUESTIONS THAN THE QUESTION OF WHY EVERY SOCIETY HAS A RELGION? THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION WITHIN BIOLOGY DID NOT ONLY RAISE THE QUESTION OF THE ORIGIN OF MAN, IT RAISED THE QUESTION OF THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, OR RATHER THE QUESTION OF WHY THERE ARE SO MANY SPECIES, WHY THERE IS SO MUCH BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

  42. FOR THOSE WISHING TO APPLY EVOLUTIONARY THEORY WITHIN SOCIOLOGY THE QUESTION THEREFORE IS NOT WHY EVERY HUMAN SOCIETY HAS A RELIGION BUT WHY RELIGIONS DIFFER SO MUCH BETWEEN SOCIETIES AND DIFFER THEY DO, SINCE DURKHEIM BEGGED TO DIFFER FROM THE COMMON DEFINITION OF RELIGION

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