Religion is simply a brain-washing control device to make individuals behave in the way that the middle class wants them to.'

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Rationale

‘Religion is simply a brain-washing control device to make individuals behave in the way that the middle class wants them to.’  

I believe this statement is true and will try to prove it through my research into the functions of religion and why people believe in it. I have chosen to study this particular area because I myself was brought up in a religious junior school and think that religion affects everyone whether you believe in a religion or not. It should be fairly easy to gain access to my sample because I can ask friends, family and other students to fill in my questionnaire. I also think it is very important that everyone understands religious views because even if you don’t agree with them yourself, you should try to see other peoples points of view to learn to be tolerant of others opinions.

In order to research this I will create 100 questionnaires and ask people aged 15-80 to fill them in for me, the questions will ask about their own beliefs and ideas on the uses of religion, for example some people chose to follow a religion because they believe if you live your life according to the rules of a religion such as Christianity, they will be rewarded in the afterlife. I think 100 people will give a reasonable sample and there is nothing un-ethical about my research because anyone I ask to take part has the right to refuse, also I am being honest about the subject I am researching.

Objectives:

1. The questions in my questionnaire will be balanced between open and closed questions because I want to gather as much data from my research as possible. I think this will be useful so I can use figures as clear evidence but also can generalise people’s answers to see if there are any patterns in respondent’s ideas.

2. As there will be 100 questionnaires issued I will try to get as even a number as possible of religious and non religious people answering so the data collected is not biased.

 

Context

Religions are often used as control devices within society which are created by the ruling class to maintain the status quo and motivate people to be efficient members of society with good work ethics so society can remain as conservative as possible. Religion appeals to many through use of shared symbols, values and norms so people joined to a religious group gain a sense of collective identity and belonging in a society that may otherwise seem fairly lonely. People often hold religious beliefs to find meaning to their existence and situations, it makes their lives appear meaningful which is important because most people would like to feel as though there was a real purpose for them being here and that it wasn’t just coincidence. The problem with religion providing these ideas to people is that they could simply be giving everyone a false consciousness, people will believe what they want to believe in so if a group teaches that there is meaning to life it will be a popular group to those who don’t want to deal with reality.

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Durkheim defined religion as a system of beliefs and practices which relate to sacred things, these sacred things unite individuals into a moral community. The ‘things’ which religions hold as sacred are only sacred because the religion puts so much emphasis on it’s supposed sacredness but it is man who creates what is sacred and what isn’t which shows how there is not necessarily truth behind religious teachings because they are simply creations of mankind given social status to control how we think. Therefore people hold similar views in society and we can work together with less conflict.

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