From the Marxist perspective the Totemic worship of their society, would be seen as the worship of the unequal hierarchy of society, which forces people to accept their position in society instead of fighting oppression. Therefore Marxists would argue that religion’s role in society is to make the proletariat accept their role, whilst Functionalists would declare that religion promotes social solidarity.
Durkheim also believes that religion’s role in society is to reinforce collective conscience, as the worshipping of society strengthens; values and moral beliefs form the basis of social life, so there is greater power to direct human action. Thus promoting social solidarity, expressing common values and beliefs and the integration of society is strengthened. The neo-Marxist perspective also shows that religion promotes social solidarity. The example of Father Camilo Torres a Roman Catholic priest in Colombia demonstrates this.
The vast majority of Colombians live in extremely poor conditions, while 65% of land is owned by a handful of powerful families. Father Torres believed this was unjust. His solution was a ‘Christian revolution’ to “…feed the hungry, give drink to the thirty, clothe the naked…”. The Catholic Church did not agree with him, and so he joined a guerrilla movement. He was killed fighting the government in 1966. The peasants of Colombia saw him as a martyr and in 1968 many priests followed his example to pledge their support for revolutionary struggle against the state. The actions of Father Torres show that even the ruling classes can join the proletariats to fight an oppressive and capitalist society. Therefore religion does play a great role in enabling society to join together when there is a crisis.
Parsons, another functionalist sociologist believes human behaviour is directed and controlled by the norms of the social system. He says that religious beliefs provide guidelines for human action and standards against which peoples conduct can be evaluated. The Ten Commandments integrates religious beliefs with norms of the social system. For example the commandment “ thou shalt not kill” is also used as a social norm. Therefore religion can be used to control people into acting in a way, which does not disturb society. It also promotes social consciousness as people see that killing is morally wrong and they would be punished in the afterlife for doing so, thus they would not do it.
However Marxist sociologists believe that religious “laws” such as, “do not steal” are created to benefit the ruling classes, because as the proletariats follow these religions and everything they say, it allows the ruling classes to exploit them.
Marxist would also say that religion is only a subtle, soft form of social control. As the ruling class recognises that force will cause subject classes to rebel. As Gramcsi said, “It (religion) is a velvet glove covering the iron fist of the state.” Meaning that the soft material is religion used to control the masses but behind all this is the “iron fist” used by the ruling classes to gain profit by exploiting their labourers.
Furthermore Marxists view people’s beliefs in religions are reflecting their feeling of alienation as they are working for the capitalist system, rather than themselves. Therefore they use these religious beliefs and practises to protect them against their lack of control over their destinies, dehumanisation and oppression. According to the Marxist perspective “religion is the opium of the masses”. Consequently, “opium” the drug, makes people accept their oppressed position in society instead of fighting it, in a workers revolution. Because their belief in religion teaches them that they will have a better life in the afterlife and that the drug, (religion) removes the pain of oppression.
Moreover the functionalist Parsons, states that religion helps social order, because when people are “hit” by events, which they cannot foresee, prepare for or control, religion becomes the mechanism for adjustment, restoring normal patterns and coming to terms with the event.
In addition Parsons says that religion brings meanings to all the problems of evil that occur in societies, particularly when people profit through evil actions. Religion resolves all this by saying that evil will receives its deeds in the afterlife. Also that religion makes sense of intellectual and emotional adjustments and in general promotes order and stability is society.
On the other hand Marxists would claim that religion only makes the masses accept their position in society, as it was part of Gods plan. As the Christian hymn says, “the rich man at his castle and the poor man at his gate…God made them high and lowly…” This justifies the class structure of the bourgeoisie and the proletariats and does not allow questioning, as it is Gods plan for the “poor man” to be poor. Marxists say that the only role that religion plays in society is being a fantasy escape for proletariats from their oppressive positions, however all the promises of religion are false.
Durkheim declares that religion is a expression and celebration of peoples solidarity, nevertheless a Marxist would say that it is a consolation for experiences which lack genuine solidarity of which are capable. What’s more the promises of heavenly rewards in religion are an illusion, as true happiness occurs only when the exploited shake off the chains of oppression to seize and practice their freedom.
The three perspectives: Functionalist, Marxists and Neo-Marxists say that religion plays a role in society. However they have different ideas about what this role is. The functionalists see religion as a tool to promoting social solidarity and a way of keeping society stable. Whilst Marxist see religion as a form of ideology which leads the masses in false directions, obscuring the nature of reality whilst the ruling classes use it to rule over them. And an institution, which maintains capitalist rule by dominion and oppression. On the other hand the neo-Marxists agree that religion and the church are used to shape the minds of the working classes to aide their exploitation, but they also give strong examples of times when religion works in the favour of the oppressed to support them in their struggle in oppression and for freedom.
