Functionalist view about the role of religion in today society

To some extent, fundamentalist view is true for today society. Religious institutions all over the world hold many charity activities, calling for union from believers to help needy people. Such events reinforce the social solidarity since they remind people that they are like a big family and they need to help others. Religious beliefs also provide a source of comfort for people to hold on to in such a changing world.

However, one criticism of the fundamentalist view is that it cannot be applied to large-scale multicultural societies. Nowadays, secularisation is taking place, religious institutions have less impact on believers therefore they might not be able to promote social order and solidarity. What’s more, in contemporary societies, there are different groups having different values and beliefs. In such case, religion may not only unable to create social solidarity but also be a source of potential conflicts between people holding different beliefs. For example, the conflict between Palestine and Israel is rooted from religion. The 9/11 is also an instance of how variance of religious beliefs can cause such a disaster. In addition, conflicts can arise within faiths as well. The rivalry between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland and the war between Sunni and Shiite Muslim in Iraq are two indisputable example of such intra-religion discord. In other word, Functionalists have overestimated the power of religion in keeping the harmony of a society. Moreover, Feminists and Marxists argue that the shared values and beliefs reinforced by religions are not consensus values but those held by dominant social groups (men/ ruling class, respectively).  They claim that religions justify inequalities in society and are actually a conservative force to control people. Functionalists also ignore cases when religious institutes can promote social change. For instance, the beliefs of Calvinists helped stimulate the growth of capitalism in Europe.

More recently, Bellah (1970) proposes the concept of civil religion (e.g) Americanism, Nazism etc. By studying American society ("Civil Religion in America"), he finds that such multi-ethic and multi-faith society can still be united under a common set of values: Americanism. This civil religion has fundamental common beliefs, values, holidays, rituals just like traditional religions. The country leaders play the central role in the religion and are often respected and even worshipped like religion leaders ( e.g Lincoln ). The event of 9/11 is viewed by sociologists as an attack on Americanism. However, it reinforced the collective conscience and social solidarity in the US at that time and provoked a great sense of patriotism.

Bellah’s view is shared by Nanda (2008) in the study called “God and Globalisation”. Nanda claims that Hinduism has become inter-linked with Indian Nationalism. Hinduism integrates individuals in India and influences government policies (e.g) “Hindu Science” is a complulsory subject in Indian schools.

The concept of civil religion can still be applied to contemporary societies whereby different cultures exist at the same time. However, in many societies which are also multicultural (e.g) the UK but civil religion doesn’t seem to take any form.

 In conclusion, Functionalism provides a useful definition of religion as well as its role in the society. However, some functions mentioned by Functionalists aren’t very appropriate in the context of diverse contemporary society.