'The main function of religion is to provide people with a code of behavior which regulates personal and social life' Assess the extent to which sociological argument support this view of religion in modern society.

Talcott Parsons believed that religion is the primary source of meaning for members of society. It “legitimizes the core values of a culture” and “promotes social solidarity”, meaning he supports the claim that Religion provides a code of behavior. As humans we ask many questions, “why are we here?”, “What is our purpose?” and more importantly, “what happens when we die”. Parsons says that “Religion provides meaning” by attempting to answer these ‘eternal’ questions. Religion is able to justify irrational things like the innocent suffering. Religion provides a comfort that these injustices will be resolved in a form of ‘after life’. Religion, he says, also provides ‘sacred core values’. For example, certain rituals brought whole communities together in religious worships. So Religion obviously emphasizes the idea of consensus.

The Marxist view of religion is in great contrast to the Functionalist views. For Marx, people’s religious beliefs reflect their ‘alienation’. Meaning through the rise of capitalist societies people become more alienated resulting in people becoming products of work and religion. Marxist believe that Religion does not act as social cement that bonds society but as ’social opium’ – Karl Marx’s ‘opium of the masses,’ which provides a false hope or consciousness to those who are suffering, namely the proletariat. Marx also suggests that religion legitimates exploitation within society and also promotes the ideology of rewards in the after life for those who follow the rules within society thus creating an obedient society. Leach found that 80% of Bishop’s were of upper or middle class backgrounds therefore the church, by recruiting the majority of its people from this background, have lost contact with ‘ordinary people’ thus providing a need for social opium to mask what is happening.

Engels supports Marx in this belief as he too argues that religion comes in the way of true consciousness as religion can be viewed as a false search for equality, which can never be met. In support of Marx and Engels the ‘German Ideology’ a set of ideas, which believed that the dominant ideologies of every time period were invented and controlled by the ruling classes, therefore it can be argued that religion could be, used as another weapon in the class struggle

Feminism, much like Marxism, looks at religion as being used as social opium, in this case to control women.  Feminists view religion as a source of patriarchy and therefore view social control as a negative function as opposed to functionalists who see social control as a positive aspect within society.

Feminism argues that historically religion has been used, to control feminine bodies by labeling them as deviant, to support the family in a patriarchal sense and to deny feminine sexuality as it is seen as a potential threat to social stability. It is clear that feminists would see Religion as a code of behavior, but it is one that negatively affects women due to the Patriarchal ideologies imposed throughout Religion.

From the different perspectives we can see that Religion does greatly provide people with a ‘code of behavior’ which keeps personal and social life in order. Although, according to conflict theories the ‘order’ can be seen to repress women and the lower classes, it is clear that there is a code which benefits the overall.