Emile Durkheim believed that religion
had functionality in terms of integration, balance, stability, order, consensus
and solidarity. These were both psychological/personal and social functions.
Christianity performs these functions both positively and negatively. According
to the functional theory of religion, religion addresses: the limitation of
scarcity by providing compensation for deprivation of money, power and status
by providing a value in personal and social life; the uncertainty of future by
compensating for anxiety and insecurity; and the sense of impossibility and
powerlessness by empowering.
Psychological Functions of
Religion
The psychological functions of religion refer
to the role of religion in addressing the situation a person encounters in
life. Based on the above three limitations on a personal level, religion serves
in both a positive and negative way.
Positive
One
function of religion is to give meaning and purpose to
life. Many things in
life are difficult to understand. Even in today’s highly technological world,
much of life and death remains a mystery, and religious faith and belief help
many people make sense of the things science cannot tell us. Religion performs
this psychological function which leads to greater psychological and physical well-being.
Religious faith and practice can enhance psychological well-being by being a
source of comfort to people in times of distress and by enhancing their social
interaction with others in places of worship. Many studies find that people of
all ages, not just the elderly, are happier and more satisfied with their lives
if they are religious. Religiosity also apparently promotes better physical
health, and some studies even find that religious people tend to live longer
than those who are not religious. Christianity, from this perspective, through
the assurance of salvation in Jesus, God’s positive purpose for humankind and
the promise of eternal life and a future equitable kingdom,
Religion also functions to compensation
for deprivation. As people experience economic hardships, forced migration and
physical trauma, mental health issues and loss of morality, religions can help
to alleviate poverty, advocate cause of the least, provide shelter and provide counseling.
Certainly Christianity, as a missional religion, actively engages in this
manner. From providing education, food packages, healthcare, social advocacy
and developing low housing, as well as pastoral counseling, many churches work
hard to materially manifest the kingdom of God among the poor and
disadvantaged.
Religion
also functions to provide a sense of identity and belongingness. Within the
Christian context, adherents are part of community of faith within their
society, as well as part of the worldwide “Body of Christ” and also citizens of
the present and future kingdom of God.
Negative
One
of the negative psychological functions of religion is strengthening strains
and adding to the depravation of the individual. Christianity as an alternative
community within a pluralistic society or a minority religion can have negative
implications if members are persecuted or oppressed because of their choice of
religion. Some churches also place financial burdens on members in terms of
tithes or collections.
From
a Marxist perspective, religion can also function as an opiate of the poor and
oppressed, keeping them satisfied with present conditions. Christianity’s
emphasis on enduring suffering and the future kingdom can be manipulated to
maintain the status quo.
Religion
also functions to foster exaggerated self-consciousness or exclusiveness. An
understanding of being God’s chosen people can lead to a feeling of
superiority. As a result a “me/they” attitude can develop within members towards
non-Christians. When Christianity is a dominant religion this can also produce
a narrow world view and hostility, passivity, lack of responsibility towards
non-Christians. This has the potential for social conflict.
Sociological
Functions of Religion
Positive
Religion reinforces social unity and
stability. As discussed above, this was one of Durkheim’s most
important insights. Religion strengthens social stability in at least two ways.
First, it gives people a common set of beliefs and thus is an important agent
of social cohesion. Second, the communal practice of religion, as in houses of
worship, brings people together physically, facilitates their communication and
other social interaction, and thus strengthens their social bonds. Religion is an agent of social control
and thus strengthens social order. Religion teaches people moral
behavior and thus helps them learn how to be good members of society. In the
Judeo-Christian tradition, the Ten Commandments are perhaps the most famous set
of rules for moral behaviour, while Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount,” can also be
understood as a “manifesto” for social cohesion and control.
Religion
can also motivate people to work for positive social change. Christianity
has played a central role in the development of the civil rights and social
justice movements, liberation theology and opposition to economic
globalisation.
Negative
Religion also serves to support
social dysfunctions. With an emphasis on social integration, a religion that
holds to conservative values can actually maintain the status quo and support a
problematic present situation. Not only did Roman Catholicism do this but also
Luther’s conservative views on social status highlights how a church (either
Catholic or Protestant) can resist social change or reform and be a barrier to
social change.
Religion can also support
aggressive attitudes and criminal behaviour. Forced conversion and persecution
of non-Christians, desecration of non-Christian places of worship are result of
a negative function of religion as social control.
Religion can also function to
foster social conflict. Whether in response to a radical secular ideology which
is perceived as a threat to the social cohesion and control or as a result
fundamentalist religious attitude, religion has contributed to some of the
world’s greatest atrocities and human rights abuses. Since Christianity became
a dominant religion there have been many instances of this, from the Crusades,
Reformation and Counter reformation
(including the Inquisition). Even within Christianity, differences over
doctrine have led to major social conflicts both in the pre-modern, modern and
postmodern eras.
Application
to the Fijian Context
Positive Psychological
and Social Functions
Apart from the positive message of
the Gospel, Christianity’s positive functions in Fijian life (individual and
personal) include the ending of the practice of cannibalism and to a large
extent tribal warfare in the early stages of missionary endeavour. Mission work
has lead to the establishment of schools and orphanages, provision of
healthcare, and other positive compensation to the deprivation of not only
Christians but non-Christians as well, especially the marginalized.
Christianity has maintained the
social cohesion of the indigenous Fijians as well as social control as
pastors/ministers hold a position of influence in the villages. This extends
into the urban areas where traditional social structures are maintained. In
most villages, the church hall is the focal point for social gatherings and
events. Outside Fiji, Christian Fijians regularly gather together for church
services which become opportunities to reconnect and maintain social unity.
Christian morality remains the foundation for moral and legal standards in
Fiji.
In terms of social change,
Christianity has played an important role in the abolition of the oppressive
indenture system through which the British brought bonded labourers from India.
Christian organizations such as the Young Women’s Christian Association,
Ecumenical Centre for Research, Education and Advocacy and the Fiji Council of
Churches have played a prophetic role in critiquing the status quo and leading
positive social change movements.
Negative Psychological and Social Functions
However, Christianity has also had a
dysfunctional role both for individuals and Fijian society. Excessive financial
demands by mainline churches and Pentecostal “gospel of prosperity” have been
highlighted as one of the key causes of poverty in Fiji. Denominationalism has
led to fracturing of family and social cohesion. As mentioned above,
Fundamentalist and ethnocentric elements within churches have actively persecuted
non-Christian minority groups and sought to entrench their control of society
through political means and criminal activities. Conservative attitudes of some
churches have also led to major social and political conflicts, some of which
have been violent. The resistance to social reform has by these churches has
also negatively affected the social development of Fiji. At the same time many
churches inability to address the issue of increasing functional equivalents is
leading to a growing schism within society.
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