Substantive Theory Of Religion

1.) The first question is, why do you think people believe in God? My first thoughts were that religions that believe in God have been passed down for generations. Another would be that religion gives people a sense of purpose in life. People may believe in God because some think it would take a supernatural thing, person, or spirit to create a world so complex. When I started reading the book and articles I got more insight of how this question is answered. According to Micheal Shermer, author of the article, Who Believes in God-- and Why?, Shermer and Shulloway did a thorough analysis of the surveys they gave to people. The examined family demographics, religious background, personality characteristics, and other factors that contribute to

My idea of religion is an object, person, deity, or thing that is valuable to a single person or groups of people. These groups or individual find ways to celebrate, worship, or sacrifice for the significance of whatever it is to them. According to an editorial by William Swatos (Jr. Editor). The definition of religion, created by scholars, can be organized in these four approaches. The substantive, functional, verstehende , and formal approach. The first approach includes scholars such as E.B. Tylor, who had the first definition of religion to represent the substantive approach. Substantive approach is more about “prevent categorizing primitive religions” (Swatos.) The Functional approach has scholars that represent more of what religions do. One of the many scholars who represented this approach is Emile Durkheim. His definition is “beliefs and practices that unite into a single moral community called a Church all those who adhere to them” (Swatos). The next approach is Verstehende approach. Steven Runciman is a historian and scholar that represents this approach. Runciman criticized, “ both substantive and functional definitions by pointing out that social actors decide such matters as whether there is a sacred-profane divide or an empirical-nonempirical distinction in their world, and that, moreover, any two members of a society might disagree.”(Swatos) The last approach is Formal and the founder of the definition of this category is Georg Simmel. His representation of Religion is, “”the religious state of the soul produces no logically necessary, pre-determined content" and "no content possesses in itself the logical necessity to become religion" (Simmel 1984 [1903]: