Slideshow made for sociology class

1. Project 2:
Religion in America
Presented by Group 3:
Deniz Childir, Jorge Gomez, Ashley Huynh,
Julie Kutner, Natasha Landes, Monica
Renteria

2. History
● Religion, in one form or another, has
been found in all human societies since
human societies first appeared.
Archaeological digs have revealed ritual
objects, ceremonial burial sites, and
other religious artifacts.
● Formal religion emerged in America in
the 1600’s, as European colonists came
to North America seeking freedom from
religious persecution.
Sources: U-S-History.com; pbs.org, 2010

3. Definition
A religion is an organized collection of beliefs, cultural
systems, and worldviews that relate humanity to an order of
existence. There is an estimated 4,200 religions all around the
world.
Many religions utilize narratives, symbols, and sacred
histories in order to help place meaning to life and the universe.
From their beliefs about the cosmos and human nature, people
can derive morality, ethics, religious laws.
Often, religions may have organized systems of clergy, a
definition of what constitutes adherence or membership, and
specified places of worship. The practice of a religion may also
include ritual acts, sermons, commemoration or veneration of a
deity, gods or goddesses, sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trance,
initiations, funerary services, matrimonial services, meditation,
prayer, music, art, dance, public service or other aspects of
human culture.
Source: Fasching and deChant, 2001.

4. Functionalist Perspective
Emile Durkheim described religion
as an aid in understanding with
“things that surpass the limits of our
knowledge.”
Further, he defined religion as, “a
unified system of beliefs and
practices relative to sacred things,
that is to say set apart and
forbidden, beliefs and practices
which unite into one single moral
community…”
Source: Durkheim, 1915.

5. Functionalism and the Role of Religion
Source: Chris Deakin, 2013, youtube.com.

6. Conflict Perspective
Karl Marx believed that religion is an
“opiate for the masses” as well as being
in place to maintain social inequality.
He believed that those who were poor
were kept sedated by religion, like a drug,
and the bourgeoisie maintained their
upper levels of stratification, while the
poor accept their fate on religious terms.
Source: Marx, 1964.

7. Roles in Religion
● The major participants in the
institution of religion include clergy, a
higher power, and the people who
practice the religion.
● A conflict perspective examines the
role of women in American religion.
This view believes that women do not
share the same elevated position of
clergy as men do.
Source: Flory, 2010.

8. Evolution
● Over time, the institution of religion
has been drastically changed.
Many religious groups have started
off small in the past centuries but
as time progressed, numerous
communities have now expanded.
● As an example, there are many
temples and religious buildings
that exemplify this expansion.
● Atheists rates in America are
decreasing as more people are
turning to religion.
Source: CNSNews, 2013.

9. Religion in
America,
currently:
77% of
Americans
identify
themselves as
being Christian.
More than 16%
don’t identify
themselves as
religiously
connected
individuals.
Source: Boston.com,
2014.

10. Religion and the
Government
● Americans have the freedom of religion.
We are discouraged from mixing religion
and government.
● For example, children in public schools
are not taught religion, as opposed to
children in private schools, where many
are required to take religious classes.
● One way to improve the religious
freedom we enjoy is to encourage
religious diversity in schools. This
encouragement could help tolerance for
different religions continue to grow.

11. Conclusion
For the majority of
Americans, religion is a central
part of their lives. Religion is
the core of their being and the
binding of society.
Durkheim viewed religion
as an integrative force and a
glue for societies. Regardless
of what a group of persons
believes, religion plays an
underlying role in unification.

12. References
U-S-History. History of Religion in America. Retrieved from
http://u-s-history.com.
PBS. (2010). God in America: One: A New Adam. Retrieved from
http://www.pbs.org.
Fasching, Darrell J. and deChant, Dell. (2001). Comparative Religious Ethics: A Narrative
Approach. New York: Wiley.
Durkheim, Emile. (1915). The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. (Joseph Ward Swain,
Trans.). New York: Macmillan.
Deakin, Chris. (2013). Functionalism and the Role of Religion. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com.
Marx, K. (1964). Karl Marx: Selected Writings in Sociology and Social
Philosophy. (T.B. Bottomore, Trans). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Flory, Richard. (2010). The Long View of Women’s Roles in Religion.
Retrieved from http://crcc.usc.edu.
Chapman, Michael W. (2013). Global Study: Atheists in Decline, Only 1.8% of
World Population by 2020. Retrieved from http://www.cnsnews.com.
Boston.com. (2014). America’s Most Religions by State (Besides Christianity).
Retrieved from http://www.boston.com.