Religion

Religion is a cultural system that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to explain the origin of life or the universe. They tend to derive morality, ethics, religious laws or a preferred lifestyle from their ideas about the cosmos and human nature. The word religion is sometimes used interchangeably with faith or belief system, but religion differs from private belief in that it has a public aspect. Most religions have organized behaviors, including clerical hierarchies, a definition of what constitutes adherence or membership, congregations of laity, regular meetings or services for the purposes of veneration of a deity or for prayer, holy places (either natural or architectural), and/or scriptures. The practice of a religion may also include sermons, commemoration of the activities of a god or gods, sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trance, initiations, funerary services, matrimonial services, meditation, music, art, dance, public service, or other aspects of human culture. The development of religion has taken different forms in different cultures. Some religions place an emphasis on belief, while others emphasize practice. Some religions focus on the subjective experience of the religious individual, while others consider the activities of the religious community to be most important. Some religions claim to be universal, believing their laws and cosmology to be binding for everyone, while others are intended to be practiced only by a closely defined or localized group. In many places religion has been associated with public institutions such as education, hospitals, the family, government, and political hierarchies. Some academics studying the subject have divided religions into three broad categories: world religions, a term which refers to transcultural, international faiths; indigenous religions, which refers to smaller, culture-specific or nation-specific religious groups; and new religious movements, which refers to recently developed faiths. One modern academic theory of world religions, social constructionism, says that religion is a modern concept that suggests all spiritual practice and worship follows a model similar to the Abrahamic religions as an orientation system that helps to interpret reality and define human beings, and thus religion, as a concept, has been applied inappropriately to nonWestern cultures that are not based upon such systems, or in which these systems are a substantially simpler construct.

Religious belief
Religious belief usually relates to the existence, nature, and worship of a deity or deities and divine involvement in the universe and human life. Alternatively, it may also relate to values and practices transmitted by a spiritual leader. In some religions, like the Abrahamic religions, it is held that most of the core beliefs have been divinely revealed.

Religious belief in Judaism

Although Judaism, or the adherence to Torah commandments by individuals and their society, is considered one of the earliest monotheistic religious system, a belief in God is not a requirement expressed by God anywhere in the Tanakh. A need for knowledge of God is expressed many times as a requirement for the Nation of Israel for example in the conclusion to the five expressions of redemption that God told Moses to convey to the People of Israel in Egypt: Therefore say to the Children of Israel: 'I am Hashem, and I shall take you out (v'hotzeiti) from under the burdens of Egypt; I shall rescue you (v'heetzalti) from their service; I shall redeem you (v'ga'alti) with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I shall take you (v'lakachti) to Me for a people and I shall be a God to you; and you shall know that I am HaShem your God, who takes you out from under the burdens of Egypt. I shall bring you to the land about which I raised My hand to give it to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I shall give it to you as a heritage - I am HaShem" (Va'eira 6:68.) The Shema affirmation, which halakhicly requires recitation in the morning and evening congregation services, expresses a Jewish creed: "Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One."(Deuteronomy 6:4.), which reaffirms the belief that there is one God. Some Reform Jews say that neither knowledge nor belief of God is necessary, and have suggested that belief is relatively unimportant for Jews. "To be a Jew," says Nicholas de Lange, "means first and foremost to belong to a group, the Jewish people, and the religious beliefs are secondary."[19] Maimonides's Thirteen Principles of the Faith are sometimes taken as the simplified fundamentals of knowledge in Judaism, especially by Orthodox Jews. They may be summarised as follows: God is the Creator. God is a unity. God is incorporeal. God is the first and the last. It is right to pray to God and to no other. The words of the prophets are true. The prophecy of Moses was true. The Torah was given to Moses. The Torah will never change. God knows all the deeds of human beings and all their thoughts. God rewards those who keep His commandments and punishes those that transgress them. The Messiah will come. The dead will be resurrected.

However, these principles have been subject to dispute even within Orthodoxy, with most Orthodox Jews accepting that this is the minimalist expression of Judaism

Religious belief in Christianity

Different religions attach differing degrees of importance to belief. Christianity puts more emphasis on belief than other religions. The Church has throughout its history set out creeds that define correct belief for Christians and which identify heresy. Luke Timothy Johnson writes that "Most religions put more emphasis on orthopraxy (right practice) than on orthodoxy (right belief). Judaism and Islam have each created sophisticated systems of law to guide behaviour, but have allowed an astonishing freedom of conviction and intellectual expression. Both have been able to get along with comparatively short statements of belief. Buddhism and Hinduism concentrate on the practices of ritual and transformation rather than on uniformity of belief, and tribal religions express their view of reality through a variety of myths, not a 'rule of faith' for their members." Christianity by contrast places a peculiar emphasis on belief and has created ever more elaborate and official statements in its creeds.[21] Some Christian denominations, especially those formed since the Reformation, do not have creeds, and some, for example the Jehovah's Witnesses, explicitly reject them

Religious movements
In the 19th and 20th centuries, the academic practice of comparative religion divided religious belief into philosophically defined categories called "world religions." However, some recent scholarship has argued that not all types of religion are necessarily separated by mutually exclusive philosophies, and furthermore that the utility of ascribing a practice to a certain philosophy, or even calling a given practice religious, rather than cultural, political, or social in nature, is limited. [24][25][26] The current state of psychological study about the nature of religiousness suggests that it is better to refer to religion as a largely invariant phenomenon that should be distinguished from cultural norms (i.e. "religions").[27] The list of religious movements given here is therefore an attempt to summarize the most important regional and philosophical influences on local communities, but it is by no means a complete description of every religious community, nor does it explain the most important elements of individual religiousness. The four largest religious groups by population, estimated to account for between 5 and 6 billion people, are Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism.

Social control
Social control refers generally to societal and political mechanisms or processes that regulate individual and group behavior, leading to conformity and compliance to the rules of a given society, state, or social group. Many mechanisms of social control are crosscultural, if only in the control mechanisms used to prevent the establishment of chaos or

anomie. Some theorists, such as mile Durkheim, refer to this form of control as regulation. Sociologists identify two basic forms of social controls: 1. Internalisation of norms and values, and 2. External sanctions, which can be either positive (rewards) or negative (punishment).[1] Social control theory began to be studied as a separate field in the early 20th century. The means to enforce social control can be either formal or informal. [2] Sociologist Edward A. Ross argued that belief systems exert a greater control on human behavior than laws imposed by government, no matter what form the beliefs take.

Informal social control

The social values that are present in individuals are products of informal social control. It is exercised by a society without explicitly stating these rules and is expressed through customs, norms, and mores. Individuals are socialized whether consciously or subconsciously. During informal sanctions, ridicule or ostracism can cause a straying towards norms. The person internalizes these mores and norms. Traditional society uses mostly informal social control embedded in its customary culture relying on the socialization of its members to establish social order. Religion is thought of by some as a common and historically established form of informal social control. More rigidlystructured societies may place increased reliance on formal mechanisms. Informal sanctions may include shame, ridicule, sarcasm, criticism and disapproval. In extreme cases sanctions may include social discrimination and exclusion. This implied social control usually has more effect on individuals because they become internalized and thus an aspect of personality. Informal sanctions check 'deviant' behavior. An example of a negative sanction comes from a scene in the Pink Floyd film 'The Wall,' whereby the young protagonist is ridiculed and verbally abused by a high school teacher for writing poetry in a mathematics class. The scene illustrates how education is all about control and conformity, and not about creativity and individuality. As with formal controls, informal controls reward or punish acceptable or unacceptable behaviour (i.e., deviance). Informal controls are varied and differ from individual to individual, group to group and society to society. For example, at a women's institute meeting, a disapproving look might convey the message that it is inappropriate to flirt with the minister. In a criminal gang, on the other hand, a stronger sanction applies in the case of someone threatening to inform to the police.[3]

Formal social control

Formal social control is expressed through law as statutes, rules, and regulations against deviant behavior. It is conducted by government and organizations using law enforcement mechanisms and other formal sanctions such as fines and imprisonment.[2] In democratic societies the goals and mechanisms of formal social control are determined

through legislation by elected representatives and thus enjoy a measure of support from the population and voluntary compliance.(citation needed)

Applications of social control theory

According to the propaganda model theory, the leaders of modern, corporate-dominated societies employ indoctrination as a means of social control. Theorists such as Noam Chomsky have argued that systemic bias exists in the modern media.[4] The marketing, advertising, and public relations industries have thus been said to utilize mass communications to aid the interests of certain business elites. Powerful economic and religious lobbyists have often used school systems and centralised electronic communications to influence public opinion. Democracy is restricted as the majority is not given the information necessary to make rational decisions about ethical, social, environmental, or economic issues. To maintain control and regulate their subjects, authoritarian organizations and governments promulgate rules and issue decrees. However, due to a lack of popular support for enforcement, these entities may rely more on force and other severe sanctions such as censorship, expulsion and limits on political freedom. Some totalitarian governments, such as the late Soviet Union or the current North Korea, rely on the mechanisms of the police state. Sociologists consider informal means of social control vital in maintaining public order, but also recognize the necessity of formal means as societies become more complex and for responding to emergencies. The study of social control falls primarily within the academic disciplines of anthropology, political science, and sociology. The continual application of low-level fear, as in mass surveillance or an electronic police state also exerts a powerful coercive force upon a populace. REFERENCE: Jary, David; Jary, Julia (1991), The HarperCollins Dictionary of Sociology, New York: HarperCollins, ISBN 0064610365 ^ a b Poore, S. Overview of Social Control Theories. The Hewett School. Retrieved on: September 2, 2007. ^ Livesay, Chris, "Informal Social Control", Culture and Identity (Sociology Central), http://www.sociology.org.uk/p2s5an4.htm, retrieved 2007-09-08 ^ Chomsky, Noam; Herman, Edward (1988), Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, New York: Pantheon,