Write a short note on Durkheim's idea of religion?

Introduction:

Emile Durkheim wrote The Elementary Forms of Religious Life between 1902- 1911 and
first published it as a complete study in 1912. There are several reasons why Durkheim chose
to study religion as a central subject of sociological interest. Durkheim was persuaded that
religion would be an appropriate subject for sociological study because it appeared to be at
the centre of society's social framework.

Durkheim’s Search for a Definition of Religion

In other words, his viewpoint is functional. Durkheim is most concerned with what religion
does: it brings people together. Durkheim believed that religious aspects of society should be
allowed to evolve alongside everything else so that appropriate symbols of solidarity for the
developing social order could emerge. The theoretical position follows from this: Religion
will always exist because it serves a purpose.

Of the early sociologists, Durkheim was the only one to provide his own definition of
religion. Pioneer sociologist Emile Durkheim described 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, called a church, all those who
adhere to them.” Emile Durkheim defined religion as a “unified system of beliefs and
practices relative to sacred things.” To him, the sacred meant extraordinary—something that
inspired wonder and which seemed connected to the concept of “the divine.”

There is a distinction between the sacred (the set apart) and the profane (everything else); the
sacred possesses a functional quality not possessed by the profane; by its very nature it has
the capacity to bind, for it unites the collectivity in a set of beliefs and practices which are
focused on the sacred object.

Durkheim began by defining religion in a way that would be consistent with all forms of
religious life, and he did so by looking for the basic elements and elementary forms of
religious activity. He stated that, while others have defined religion in terms of the
supernatural or the mystical, and tend to think of it in terms of a mystical experience or the
spiritual world, he focused on a definition of religion that identified two central elementary
forms of religious life.

 The first is a system of beliefs, practises, and rites directed toward sacred things.
These are simply defined as a set of ideas and attitudes held in relation to sacred
things, whereas rites are more broadly defined to include a system of actions
developed toward religious things and objects.
 Durkheim also mentioned the tendency in all religions to divide the world into two
regions, which he called the sacred and the profane. The division of the world "into
two regions, one containing all that is sacred, the other all that is profane," according
to Durkheim, was the most distinguishing feature of religious life.

Distinction between the sacred and the profane

Durkheim believed that the separation of the sacred and profane is the foundation of religious
life in several ways. First, he claimed that the sacred includes not only gods, spirits, and
natural things, but also beliefs, gestures, and objects that represent the sacred. According to
Durkheim, a belief is a practise or rite that has a sacred character because it is perceived as a
sacred thing by others. Second, words, expressions, and even word combinations can be
sacred. These can be uttered only by sacred persons and involve gestures and movements
which only certain people can perform. Furthermore, rites, beliefs, and social practises
emerge from sacred things and radiate around them.

According to Durkheim, profane is inferior in dignity to the sacred and thus seen as
diametrically opposed to the sacred principle. In contrast to the sacred, the profane is the
principle that has the ability to defile or contaminate the sacred, and to this extent, the sacred
and profane are linked because they appear as opposing powers within religious systems.

Characteristics of the sacred and profane

 The sacred is always distinct from all other objects and thus constitutes things distinct
from profane things.
 A system of rites and social practises emerge that specify how the sacred should be
approached and how members of the group should behave in the presence of the
sacred object.
 Sacred things are not only separated from the profane, but they are also protected by
interdictions that have the force of prohibitions or taboos acting to protect and isolate
the sacred from the profane.
 Sacred things are distinguished from profane things and are thought to be more
dignified, elevating them above ordinary things.
 The sacred and profane represent a segregation principle that formally separates the
natural world from the spiritual world, the domestic world from the outside world,
and the inside of the tribal space from the outside world. As a result, the sacred and
profane provide the group with a categorical model of opposites such as good and
evil, clean and dirty, pure and polluted, inside and outside, holy and defiled, and so
on.
 The passage from the profane to the sacred must be accompanied by rites which are
thought to ‘transform' one state into the other through rituals of initiation, rebirth or
sacrifice.
The Totem Tribes of Central Australia

After outlining a definition of religion based on the elementary forms, Durkheim turned his
attention to searching for what he called the most primitive religions. He began by reviewing
some of the early claims about which religions were the most primitive, and then he
examined two dominant viewpoints. The first were those advanced by Edward Taylor, who
claimed that "animism" was the most basic religion, and second, were the views put forward
by Max Muller who had argued that ‘naturism’ (belief that the forces of nature have
supernatural power) was the most basic of all religions.

Rejection of Animism and Naturism

Animism means the belief in spirits. Edward B. Tylor believes this to be the earliest form of
religion. Naturism means the belief that the forces of nature have supernatural power. F. Max
Muller believes this to be the earliest form of religion.
Durkheim rejected these ideas on multiple fronts. First, he stated that Taylor's view of
religion was based on a vague and indeterminate spirit world rather than a system of actions
and practises found in reality. Taylor’s ‘spirits’ and ‘souls,’ were not subject to observation,
and are therefore not suitable to sociological study. The second viewpoint was that of Muller,
who believed that humans create religion on their own. According to Durkheim, this
viewpoint holds that religion arises from individuals and human nature.But Durkheim said
that this is not possible since neither the individual or nature are sacred by themselves. Third,
Durkheim believed that because neither humans nor nature are sacred on their own, religion
must derive its sacredness from somewhere else, which can only be society. According to this
viewpoint, humans have a religious nature not because of the spirit or natural worlds, but
because they live in society. Durkheim's goal, on this account, was to demonstrate that
religion has a social origin that can only be explained by looking at society.

Earliest Elementary religion

The earliest of all religions are the tribes of central and Northern Australia since these are the
more elementary religions in comparison with others that have existed. There are several
reasons for this. 
 To begin, the beliefs and practises of totem religions are relatively homogeneous
across different societies, making it easier to identify a common principle underlying
the practises and beliefs that unite them.
 Second, the anthropological and ethnographic evidence for totemic religions is more
extensive than for other religions.
 Durkheim believed that Australia's totem tribes exemplified the most basic religion
and that the underlying system of beliefs and practises best exemplified the nature of
religious life itself.
 Durkheim was intrigued by the totem tribes of central Australia because they had a
religious system that was linked to a specific'social organisation based on a specific
set of religious ceremonies which developed in relation to the totem.'
 They also formed groups that occupied a region where the entire population was
divided into clans that came together on a regular basis for long-lasting religious
ceremonies. According to Durkheim, this was a people whose religious beliefs and
institutions were identical, and when periodic religious feasts and ceremonies arose,
they suspended their daily economic activity and gathered in one place for a religious
ceremony.

Nature of totemic beliefs

First, he noted that even though they are not blood relatives, all members of the group refer to
themselves by a tribal name. This connects them as if they were blood relatives and
distinguishes them as if they were family members.

Second, the totem name they use identifies them as a tribal people, requiring them to
recognise duties and obligations to one another on a par with blood obligations. Reciprocal
aid, vengeance, mourning, and the obligation not to marry among themselves are among
them. As a result, the totem binds them collectively, as if they were a blood family.
Third, their beliefs include a system of prohibitions and taboos that require them to separate
the totem from profane things and distinguish it as sacred. This separation is enacted by a
religious ritual that performs the separation in a specific manner and in accordance with a
specific procedure that tolerates no error.

Fourth, totemism is primarily a tribal religion in the sense that it represents the tribe as a
whole descended from a mythical or ancestral being whose beliefs and practises have
survived the test of time.
A fifth feature of totemism is its tendency to expand beyond the immediate affairs of the tribe
to include a system of ideas representing all of human existence, specifically ideas
representing causal forces in the universe and natural world. Totemism thus expands outward
into the world to encompass a total classification system related to human existence, the
creation of the universe, and the natural world itself.

As a result, the totem can be described as an institution that leads to three distinct types of
religious activities. The first is a set of beliefs and rites that unites and binds a social group
around a sacred object. The second is a system of special prohibitions and restrictions that
outline the tribal members' obligations to the totem object. Third, there is a system of rites
and religious ceremonies that bring them together as a group and allow them to worship the
sacred totem. Fourth, there is a subset of religious rules known as interdictions, which bring
all of the separate clans together for a multi-day religious ceremony.