What religion is
Anthropologists study religion not to decide which is true, but to understand what religion does in human life.
Defining religion
Definitions vary, but most anthropologists describe religion as beliefs and practices concerning supernatural or sacred forces, beings, and realms. Early scholar E. B. Tylor defined it simply as belief in spiritual beings. Others emphasise its social side: Émile Durkheim argued that religion unites people into a moral community around things set apart as sacred.
Kinds of belief
Animism is the belief that animals, plants, places, and objects have spirits or souls. Polytheistic religions honour many gods, each often linked to a domain like the sea or harvest. Monotheistic religions recognise a single God. Many people also hold agnostic or atheist views, and anthropologists study non-belief as part of the range of worldviews.
Sacred and profane
Durkheim distinguished the sacred, set apart and treated with special respect, from the profane, the ordinary everyday world. A mountain, a book, a day of the week, or a building can become sacred. Treating something as sacred involves rules about how to approach, handle, or speak about it.
Flashcard
Belief that natural things and places have spirits
Check your understanding
A community believes the river, the forest, and certain stones each have their own spirit. This is: