Question

What did Durkheim define as the three essential characteristics of religion? Identify something in society that exhibits these essential characteristics but we would not think of as religion. How does Durkheim define sacred? Name three items you consider sacred, the items need not be associated with a religion. Describe each item and its sacred qualities.

Answer 1

• Durkheim identified three essential elements of religion: (1) belief in the sacred; (2) religious groups, or cults; and (3) ritual. Religion emerged, he says, when humans began to assemble into larger groups. One effect of this new interaction was a collective sense of a larger force which controlled their lives.
• This perception was the beginning of the notion of the sacred. According to Durkheim, the distinction between the sacred and the secular, or routine, is one of the first sets of mental categories acquired by humans.
• In Indian society for example,beliefs and religion all play an important part in everyone's life.Certain rituals people follow which are not a part of religion but is considered sacred by them.There are certain groups in India,who still follow human sacrifice,especially of a child, as an essential part to overcome their problems related to family,money etc.They have immense belief in it and consider it very important but it is not a part of any major religion in India,but a part of a cult group,that mostly exists in rural India.The people who follow it consider it a sacred ritual.
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