1 Outlining the nature and scope of the religionsociety relationship

Manisha Lath

Introduction

The existence of religion in modern societies has been one of the most enduring and perplexing phenomenon of our times. While modern societies have generally been recognized as sites of human engagement that undermine the role of the spiritual/transcendental in the actual course of everyday human existence everywhere this has rarely been the case. The general trend of thinking within the social sciences and more specifically within sociology has been that the growing rationalization and secularization of human knowledge must result in a state of disenchantment of the transcendental, more specifically, the world of religion. Not only Weber (1993) but earlier to him anthropologists like Tylor (2010) and Frazer (2000) among others were keen to emphasize the gradual erosion of the animistic and religious world to be replaced by a scientific rational world that would principally characterize the condition of modern human consciousness. Whether such a prediction has in effect come to pass or not is difficult to conclude in any generalized manner. While it is true that there are modern societies where religion has been successfully relegated to the domain of the private and the personal, it is equally true that in other modern societies, religion persists, one might even say that in many of these societies religious consciousness co-exists with its modern counterpart. No doubt this may appear problematic but by no means incompatible. Clearly, one can make a case for religion in the modern world by arguing that the rise of the rational and the secular has by no means resolved the deeper and more perplexing issues that confront humankind both individually and collectively. It is therefore not surprising that in moments of intense crisis and catastrophy, notwithstanding their position in life or the merits of their intellectual abilities, human beings everywhere take refuge in the religious seeking solace and security in the primordial solidarities that religion brings together in its everyday practice of faith and worship.

In acknowledging this relationship of religion and society, it is important to stress at the very outset that notwithstanding the modernist contention on religion both within sociology and other fields of the social sciences there has been an active intellectual engagement that seeks to understand and probe the various dimensions of this society-religion interconnection. Within sociology this relationship has been viewed in many different ways not only highlighting the specificities of theoretical traditions but also the methodological underpinnings of that which constitutes religion in the modern world. From its location in the discipline of sociology, this course attempts to explore the multi-faceted relationship that exists between religion and society not only as an ongoing theoretical concern but also as an empirical object that merits its own sets of observations, analysis and interpretation. It may be useful to point out here that as a subject of sociological engagement, religion has from the very beginning occupied an important place of theoretical engagement within the discipline of sociology. In their own ways all the major classical sociologists from Marx, Durkheim, Weber etc., invested a huge amount of intellectual engagement with the field of religion. While their ideas would no doubt be the object of discussion in one or another module of this course, it is worth pointing out here that for all these classical thinkers, their concern with religion was more focused on its existence as a social institution in society rather than a transcendental engagement with the divine. Clearly, sociologists working with the subject of religion even in the present period are less concerned with issues of a theological kind emphasizing instead the social context of institutionalized religion. In this course, a similar emphasis is sought to be established. Rather than engage with the merits and the demerits of the different theological systems under consideration, the present course looks at religion as a social institution raising questions concerning both in the context of ritual worship and belief systems as well as the normative ethical dimension that binds together the solidarities that make up each distinct religious community. Additionally, the course also considers the diversity of religious practice and how these diverse religions interact with one another within the framework of a democratic polity. In the process of such considerations there would also arise issues concerning notions of social change that account for not only the internal transformative impulses acting on a religion from within, but also how a religion undergoes changes as it comes in contact with the external forces of modernity, urbanization, industrialization etc. and how these forces then assert their own pre-conditions on the practice of a religion in a modern society.

In considering the development of such a course in the context of India, it becomes necessary to foreground the diversity of religious practice in modern Indian society. A more rigorous engagement with this diversity must clearly emphasize the fact that overlapping the concerns of a faith and its practitioners are the larger concerns of power and domination that often spawn relations of antagonism, disharmony and discontent among the practitioners of conflicting religious groups. Even as these sentiments come to get entrenched within a religion-society interrelationship, it may be useful to bear in mind that many of these concerns acquire greater intelligibility when they get linked up with the larger historical, social and political processes that have and continues to impact the structures and ideologies of modern Indian society. To that extent then, it may be worth noting that often the sources of antagonism and conflict associated with religion may lie in other domains of society wherein religion functions as a guise for these other more pressing and fundamental contradictions.

Section-I: Course structure

In elaborating on the structure of this course, it may be useful to point out at the very outset that the scope of the religion-society interrelationship in India is both vast and diverse. While this course has looked at several religions within Indian society, it does not claim to exhaust the entire field of religions in India. Instead by focusing on the religion-society interrelationship, the course opens itself up to a range of issues and concerns which we believe are central to any significant and relevant discussions on the subject of religion and its place in modern Indian society.

This course comprises of thirty-five modules which are further divided into six broad thematic areas. Each of these themes are developed around several modules that cover different facets of the explanations that are cumulatively brought together to provide a more holistic understanding of the particular theme under consideration.

In part I, we begin with engaging the field of religion by looking at the theoretical and conceptual orientations that have been developed from within the discipline of sociology and anthropology. In discussing the sociological approaches we discuss the contributions of Marx, Weber and Durkheim and how these classical thinkers have contributed ideas on religion relevant for the discipline of sociology of religion. In the context of the anthropological approach, we look at how anthropologists have approached the study of rituals and beliefs in non-Western societies. Here again it must be noted that we look at how the field of religion/religious studies as a discipline was established both in the West as well as at a later time in the non-Western or post-colonial societies. In doing so, we have shown how given the different historical and intellectual conditions under which the study of religion emerged in both these places, their trajectory of development has also been distinctly different. Whereas in the former, religion developed as an autonomous field with its own independent modes of enquiry, in the non-Western world the usefulness of the religion category itself came under interrogation paving the way for a completely different reorientation in the study of the religion-society interrelationship. Further, given the centrality of religion in non-Western societies, the study of religion get immediately associated with larger concerns of history, culture and politics. To that extent it may be pointed out here that the study of religion finds presence in a number of disciplinary and interdisciplinary fields of the social sciences in non-Western societies. Finally we also look at how Western scholars have sought to study religions of non-Western societies focusing on the Indological and orientalist perspectives. In this regard, this theoretical engagement with the religion-society interrelationship opens up several areas of enquiry including not only the role of the category of religion, but also what happens to this category when it is moved out of its original historical context.

In part two, this course looks at the theme diversity of religious practice in India. In considering the different religious traditions the focus is mainly on considering how diverse religions came to distinguish a set of rituals and belief practices that gave rise to distinct religion-society interrelationships within Indian society. Notwithstanding their distinctive orientation the diverse religions all contributed to ensuring a complete amalgamation of society and culture into that of the religious. Unlike in the West where religion existed as a separate and distinct institution in India religious consciousness of different kinds had deeply penetrated the lifestyle and worldview of society making the religious synonymous with the cultural. In doing this attention has been paid to different religious orientations in the way that these came to get established and how they have impacted the larger discourse of social relations in society as a whole. Alongside the engagement with different religions in the Indian context, this theme of religious diversity has also engaged with the category of religion bringing to the fore the ongoing debate concerning the status of Hinduism whether it be a religion or a way of life. Such a debate we want to argue is indicative of not only the status that religion enjoys in Indian society, it is equally significant in pointing to the different ways in which discourses of politics, history and culture come to get entwined with the religion-society interrelationship in the Indian context. In considering the theme of religious diversity an effort is also made to consider religious practice that has strong roots in the life of the lower caste and marginalized within Indian society. While we consider the emergence of Bhakti and it’s far reaching consequences for religion and society in India, we also consider the growth of Navoyana Buddhism which had and continues to have a deep impact on the Scheduled Caste and their engagement with religion in modern Indian society.

In part three, we deal with the theme the structure and practice of religious activity. In this theme we look at the empirical field of religion by considering the dimensions of both structure and practice and how these have come to shape the diversity of religious experience in Indian society. We consider how the temple complex structures a particular kind of religious practice amongst its community of believers. In the case of these practitioners it becomes clear that any useful engagement with the category of religion in the Indian context must look at the diverse sects and cults that make up the bulk of religious communities within Indian society. The huge number of these sects and cults is also indicative of the diverse and distinctly different ways in which communities of believers carry out the practice of their faith in the everyday world.

Further, in considering these practices we look at certain traditions of mystics and Godmen and how these are linked up with the larger aspect of ascetic tradition in India. In exploring further the diversity of religious practice we also consider the different ways in which pilgrimages and festivals contribute to the creation of the religious experience amongst diverse religious communities. Equally the study of ritual and worship in Indian society must also open up to areas of change and point to the nature of how ritual practice in more recent times is undergoing changes not only at the level of the commodification of ritual and worship but also in terms of how religion itself is rapidly being transformed into a performative spectacle raising questions about the nature of religion and religious diversity in contemporary Indian society.

In part four, we consider the theme of religious identity to understand how the construction of religious identities function within society. Given the vast diversity of religious practices that exist within society, the issue of identity emerges as significant not only in the domain of the religious context but also in terms of how these identities come to be represented in the everyday life of the believers. One very important aspect that is dealt with in this section is the relationship between religion and caste. Whether it is the legitimization of caste in Hinduism or the persistence of caste amongst other religious communities, what appears as singularly important is that the structure of caste hierarchy and its discriminatory ideology continues to exist across the different religious communities in the Indian context. The persistence of caste in Indian society amongst all the different religious communities is clearly indicative of the fact that notwithstanding the claims of different religious groups, caste has successfully managed to embed itself within Indian social institutions, thereby, creating the conditions for its continuous reproduction in Indian society. Thus existing religious structures appear to have integrated into the caste system rather than advocate for its abolition. This is notwithstanding the fact that they continue the practice of discrimination which is antithetical to many religious teachings. A more important identity that also emerges in this context has to do with the way religious identity came to engage with the discourse of Indian modernity. In this regard, it becomes important to note how despite the claims of modernity, religious identities sought to configure and represent themselves in terms of majority-minority religious identities. We also consider the reform movement in 19th century India which sought to create the identity of Hindu by cleansing rituals and beliefs from irrational practices that were seen as barbaric and discriminatory. However what such an effort eventually succeeded in giving shape to is to consolidate a Hindu majoritarian identity that had severe consequences for the future of modern Indian society. Like the Hindu reform movement, we also discuss the Islamic reform movement to show how the practice of Islam within Indian society gave rise to a more conservative and rigid identity that further enhanced the majority-minority identity discourse. The hardening of these religious identities on both sides of the majority-minority divide has only further deepened the communal divide that afflicts large sections of Indian society everywhere.

In part five, we deal with the theme of ideology and conflict in the religion-society interrelationship. In this theme we look at how competing and contesting ideologies have resulted in deepening and widening the sites of religious conflict in modern Indian society. If on the one hand, we consider how Hindu nationalism emerges as an ideology in the context of modern Indian society, on the other, we look at the growth of secularism and how secularism as an ideology and practice has sought to configure a distinctive relationship between religion and society in modern India. Yet it is this ideology of secularism that is constantly under threat from the ideology and practice of communalism in India. We look at the practice of ideology and communalism by focusing on the related spheres of politics, culture and history to understand the basis of antagonism and hatred among different religious communities. While there are a host of issues that must be dealt with in the context of communalism in India, we look at two such issues which include the Ramjanmabhoomi movement and the issue of religious conversions. In both these issues we consider how majoritarian sentiment has come to act upon those who practice a minority religion. In both cases, we explore the contours of a majoritarian sentiment and the way this gets represented in the politics and culture of contemporary Indian society. In considering the sites of religious conflict, we look at the issue of religious intolerance and try to understand how this issue impacts the everyday working of the religion-society interrelationship. Here again we try to consider how an intersection of history, politics and culture gives rise to the phenomenon of religious intolerance. Further, we also consider how from the vantage point of a historical understanding of this relationship, the emergence of sectarian strife and how such a phenomenon has persisted within different religious groups over the centuries continuing into the present. In exploring this complex arena of the religion-society interrelationship, the modules in this theme also point to the fact of how unresolved contradictions in other spheres of social, economic and material life can serve as the ground to trigger off communal conflict.

Finally, in the last theme of this course, we look at continuity and change in the context of religion-society interrelationship. While continuity and change affects the working of this relationship in all societies everywhere in the world, it is both relevant and significant to understand how a religion changes for its practitioners as a result of diverse forces that act upon it both internally and externally. In this connection we look at issues of syncretism and coexistence of religious diversities which have always been a persistent feature of the religion-society relationship right from its ancient times. Notwithstanding the emergence of different kinds of religious representation over the past two centuries, syncretism and coexistence have continued to dominate the social fabric of modern Indian society. Alongside these continuities, we also look at the persistence of gender and patriarchy within religious communities everywhere. Here again despite the forces of modernization and enlightenment, religions everywhere continue to discriminate against women on the basis of patriarchy and other narrow and discriminatory ideologies. Similarly, the advent of globalization has not only widened the scope and reach of religion on a global scale, it has also transformed religious practice in a variety of different ways. In this connection, we look at how religion is dealt with in the age of information technology by focusing on the phenomenon of televangelism. Here we observe how communication technologies are enhancing and widening the scope of religious practices within ever growing community of believers that are brought together by these communication technologies. Similarly, in the age of neoliberalism, we also look at how religion comes to be consumed in the 21st century. Here again the emphasis is on looking at how in the era of global capitalism the market begins to determine how religion would come to be practiced both in terms of the individual believer as consumer as well as how religion itself is being transformed into a range of marketable commodities that now become a part of the religion-society interrelationship.

Section-II: Methodology

In developing an understanding of the religion-society relationship a general concern has been to ensure that the discussion on the various themes that make up this course remain within the larger Discipline of Sociology and more specifically within the Sociology of Religion. The development of the study of religion within sociology dates back to the writings of Durkheim (2008) and Weber (1993). In many ways both these thinkers framed the modern discourse within the sociology of religion. While Durkheim emphasized the functional analysis of religion, he was able to bring to the fore the sui generis character of religion. Religion as a social fact not only highlighted the role of the normative in everyday life, equally it made possible the functional analysis of ritual in the way that these contributed to the maintenance of solidarity within society Pickering (2009). Max Weber (1993, 1946, 1958) sought to develop a historical and interpretative approach to the study of religion in human society. Not only was Weber keen to draw out the historical nature of the religious phenomenon he was equally keep to interpret the religious phenomenon by juxtaposing it in relationship to the growth of modern capitalism. Weber’s emphasis in drawing our attention on the role of religion as a mode of value orientation for subject-actors opened the Sociology of Religion to a vast array of interpretative studies. While both scholars were deeply involved in understanding the normative dimension of religious belief and practice, they were equally keen to understand the nature of this phenomenon in non-western societies. It is this anthropological/historical engagement with religion in non-Western societies that has also made possible the development of Sociology of Religion to study the ritual and belief systems in societies like India. Further, in the case of Karl Marx, one uncovers the ideological dimension that foregrounds the relationship between the superstructure of a religious consciousness and its relationship to a given mode of production. Marx’s thesis on religion as false consciousness was aimed at establishing the materialist conditions within which was embedded the religious consciousness of its practitioners. To that extent, it would not be wrong to suggest that the analysis of religion as ideology (Fitzgerald 2000) has opened up useful and significant areas of research especially when dealing with issues of religious conflict and intolerance.

In each case, the sociology of religion has borrowed from all these classical masters to develop a substantive corpus of writing on the religion-society relationship both in the context of modern industrial societies as well as in traditional non-Western societies. Some important works in this regard include Robertson (1969), Weber (1993), Yinger (1946), Luckmann (1967), Wilson (1969), Davie (2013), Pickering (2009), Johnstone (2015), Dillon (2003), Parsons (1944). Similar works that study religion and society in India, include Madan (1992), Robinson (2004), Weber (1958) Lorenzen (2006), King (2013), Patel (2007), Asad (2009), Fitzgerald (2000), Zavos (2013).

From the vantage-point of the present course, it may be useful to point out that in the development of the various themes that comprise this course. The effort was largely directed at understanding and developing insights on these themes in the context of the religion and society in India. In foregrounding this Indian context, it is important to recognize that notwithstanding its popular usage in the context of discussions and analysis in India, the term religion has a deeply controversial and problematic usage in the Indian context (King 2013, Lorenzen 2006, Fitzgerald 2000). It is important to acknowledge this particular problematic in the study of Sociology of Religion in India. Thapar (2000) is not wrong in suggesting that the study of religions in India must actually focus on the diverse sects that make up the totality of that what is popularly termed as Religion in India. A similar perspective has been emphasized by M.S.A Rao (1979) in his study of sects and cults in India. Clearly the point being suggested here is that one needs to go beyond Madan’s (1992) use of the category religion to embrace a far more sensitive universe in which we are actually talking about sects whose large-scale monolithic structures make them appear as if they were religions, when in fact the category religion has a completely different historical and intellectual context associated with it Fitzgerald (2000). Clearly then from a methodological standpoint the study of Sociology of Religion in India must necessarily begin by acknowledging this problematic discourse of nomenclature and work towards a more sensitive understanding of how the religion-society relationship gets constituted, represented and interpreted in a society like India.

Conclusion

Notwithstanding the claims of modernity that religion would be restricted to one’s personal orientations and beliefs, in India, religion has only sharpened the fault lines that threaten to rupture the social fabric of civility and coexistence. It is in response to concerns of this kind that such a course would prove most beneficial to a student of Indian society. Against a growing sentiment that seeks to amalgamate the social, cultural and religious into one single identity bereft of historical and existential considerations, it is important to invoke a sense of rigour that can critically interrogate the claims and counterclaims of those who function with an understanding of the category religion that is both exclusivist and intolerant of the religious diversity at the heart of Indian society. An engagement with such a course must no doubt call upon the student to stray away from the popular and unchallenged constructions of religion and society in India and encourage instead a more nuanced understanding of how this interrelationship functions both in the past as well as the contemporary present. The present course that examines the religion-society relationship in India seeks to encourage the learner by calling for a more rigorous examination of the various themes that comprise this discourse. It is hoped that such a course would provide for the student a more enlightened and critical understanding of how religion operates in the Indian context. Such an understanding can immensely contribute towards the creation of a more sensitive understanding of religious diversity and its dynamic existence in our society.

Reference bibliography

• Asad, T. (2009). Genealogies of religion: Discipline and reasons of power in Christianity and Islam. JHU Press.
• David Lorenzen, 2006. Who Invented Hinduism: Essays on Religion in History, Yoda Press, New Delhi.
• Davie, G. (2013). The sociology of religion: A critical agenda. Sage.
• Dillon, M. (2003). Handbook of the Sociology of Religion. Cambridge University Press.
• Durkheim, E., & Swain, J. W. (2008). The elementary forms of the religious life. Courier Corporation.
• Frazer, James George, Sir. (2000). The Golden Bough. New York: Macmillan
• Fitzgerald. T (2000). The ideology of religious studies. (New York: Oxford university press)
• Johnstone, R. L. (2015). Religion in society: A sociology of religion. Routledge.
• King, R. (2013). Orientalism and Religion: Post-Colonial Theory, India and” The Mystic East”.Routledge.
• Luckmann,  T.  (1967).  The  invisible  religion:  The  problem  of  religion  in  modern  society.Macmillan.
• Madan, T. N. (Ed.). (1992). Religion in India. Oxford University Press.
• Parsons, T. (1944). The theoretical development of the sociology of religion: A chapter in the history of modern social science. Journal of the History of Ideas, 176-190.
• Patel, S.. (2007). Sociological Study of Religion: Colonial Modernity and 19th Century Majoritarianism. Economic and Political Weekly,42(13), 1089–1094. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4419405
• Pickering, W. S. F. (2009). Durkheim’s sociology of religion: Themes and theories. Casemate Publishers.
• Rao, M.S.A. (ed.) (1979). Social Movements in India, Studies in Peasant, Backward Classes, Sectarian, Tribal and Women’s Movements, Manohar Publication, New Delhi.
• Robinson, R. (Ed.). (2004). Sociology of religion in India. SAGE Publications India. Sociology of religion: theory and practice / Jackson, 1 M.J. : B.T. Batsford, 1974 Robertson, Roland/s. (1969). Sociology of religion. Penguin 1 Books
• Thapar, R. (2000). Cultural pasts: Essays in early Indian history. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
• Tylor. Edward Burnett (2010). Primitive Culture- Researches into the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Art, and Custom Volume 2. Cambridge University Press
• Weber, M. (1946). The social psychology of the world religions.
• Weber. M (1958). The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. Scribner, New York.
• Weber, M. (1993). The sociology of religion. Beacon Press.
• Wilson, B. R. (1969). Religion in secular society. Penguin.
• Yinger, J. M. (1946). Religion in the Struggle for Power: A Study in the Sociology of Religion.
• Zavos, J., Kanungo, P., Reddy, D. S., Warrier, M., & Williams, R. B. (2013).Public Hinduisms.
• SAGE Publications India.