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ASSIGNMENT SOLUTIONS GUIDE (2014-2015)

E.S.O.-15
Society & Religion
Disclaimer/Special Note: These are just the sample of the Answers/Solutions to some of the Questions given in the
Assignments. These Sample Answers/Solutions are prepared by Private Teacher/Tutors/Auhtors for the help and Guidance
of the student to get an idea of how he/she can answer the Questions of the Assignments. We do not claim 100%
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answers may be seen as the Guide/Help Book for the reference to prepare the answers of the Question given in the
assignment. As these solutions and answers are prepared by the private teacher/tutor so the chances of error or mistake
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Sample Answers/Solutions. Please consult your own Teacher/Tutor before you prepare a Particular Answer & for uptodate
and exact information, data and solution. Student should must read and refer the official study material provided by the
university.

Section - I

Q. 1. Discuss religious pluralism in India as fact and value.

Ans. Religious pluralism is a belief that one can overcome religious differences between different religions and
conflicts within the same religion. For most religious traditions religious pluralism is based on non literal view of
ones religious traditions allowing for respect to be followed between different traditions on core principals rather
than on marginal issues. It is an attitude which rejects focus on immaterial differences and instead gives respect to
those beliefs held in common. The existence of religious pluralism depends on the existence of freedom of religion
which is when different religions of a particular region possess the same rights of worship and public expression.
Freedom of religion is weakened when one religion is given rights or privileges and denied to others. Religious
freedom did not exist in communist countries where the state restricted or prevented the public expression of religious
belief and even persecuted the individual religions. In some Middle Eastern countries where they adhere to one
particular religion the pluralism is rather restricted if not overtly curbed.
India is a land of many religions. The national movement for political liberation, led by the Congress party,
brought together people of all religions. But slowly some Muslim groups claimed a separate identity for themselves
and finally got the country divided into India and Pakistan - not without the connivance of the Hindu majority. We
need not go into this history here. However, India still has the third largest Muslim population in the world. Becoming
aware of its multi-religious nature, India chose to become a secular republic. However, from the beginning there
seems to have been two different ways of understanding this secularism. These are even popularly identified with
Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi. Traces of both can be discovered in the Constitution of India and in the
discussion surrounding its framing. One vision of secularism tends to be a-religious, neutral to all religions, focusing
on science and rationality as principles for organizing community. Another vision tends to be equally positive to all
religions and takes for granted that all religions will have a certain role in public life. The Indian Constitution is
defensive of religious, among other, minorities. Gandhi lived and practiced this second type of open secularism. His
ashram communities, in which he prepared his satyagrahis, were multi-religious. He used inter-religious prayer
services to knit people together. He was killed on his way to one of these. I think that these two visions have been
in tension since then.
Q. 2. Outline religion in terms of its functions.

Ans. A religion is a system of beliefs usually involving the worship of supernatural forces or beings. Religious
beliefs provide shape and meaning to ones perception of the universe. In other words, they provide a sense of order

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in what might otherwise be seen as a chaotic existence. Religions also provide understanding and meaning for
inexplicable events such as a loved one being killed in an earthquake or some other unpredictable force of nature.
For most religious people, their beliefs about the supernatural are at the very core of their world views. he conflict
between religion and science is still contentious today. One prominent view holds that there is a clear division
between the two camps and that one is either a scientist or religious believer. The opposing side asserts that there are
similarities between the two fields and notes particular counterexamples of scientists who are religious. We do not
wish to side with either camp but rather to draw attention to the fact that we often put the cart before the horse when
engaging in such debates, for we do not have a sufficiently clear grasp of the concept of religion to begin with. What
should be considered a religion is a debate in itself. The famous philosopher William James famously proposed a set
of criteria to define religion. We wish to show that none of these criteria are sufficient, and that a better approach
would be to analyze what unique function religion holds in society, and then to define religion as that which performs
this function.
When religious studies is defined this broadly, the distinctive contribution of members of departments of religious
studiesscholars of religion is limited. Their task is merely to amass and classify data about religions and to leave to
psychologists, sociologists, and others the analysis of the data. Just as the role of a subject librarian is to assemble
the books for others to read, so here the role of scholars of religion is to assemble the data for others to analyze. A
library is judged by how many books it has collected on a subject, not by what the subject librarian thinks of the
subject. The categorization of books as religious is the responsibility of the subject librarian, but even the chief
subject librarian of the Library of Congress ordinarily defers to the author. A book by a psychologist purportedly
analyzing religion psychologically would get categorized under religion, even if also cross-catalogued under
psychology.

A second, slightly bolder way of defining religious studies is to entrust scholars of religion with not merely
gathering data but also presenting them from the worshipers point of view. Scholars of religion here record the
actors point of view, but they do not assess it. They present the worshipers view of the origin, function, and
meaning of religion, but they leave to psychologists, sociologists, and others the determination of the actual
origin, function, and even meaning of religion.
The third, far bolder way of defining religious studies is to grant it the status of a discipline and not merely a
subject- matter. Defined this way, religious studies is the distinctive prerogative of scholars of religion. To study
religion is now to study a distinctively, or irreducibly, religious subject. Some scholars of religion bar others from
studying religion on the grounds that what others study is by definition psychology or sociology rather than religion.
Most scholars of religion allow others to participate in the study of religion, but they still demarcate one aspect of the
subject as irreducibly religious. Psychologists and sociologists, it is granted, decipher the psychological and
sociological aspects of religion, but there remains an irreducibly religious aspect. Scholars of religion who insist on
an irreducibly religious aspect of religion are sometimes called religionists.
Section - II

Answer the following questions in about 250 words each.

Q. 3. Briefly differentiate between shamans, priests, and prophets.

Ans. The priesthood is verifiably the oldest known religious institution and appears to have originated in the
Nile region. It is quite distinct from the other ancient religious office, that of the shaman. Underlying shamanism is
the belief that spirits cause imbalance and disharmony in the world. The shamans role is to determine which spirits
are at work in a given situation and to find ways to appease the spirits. This may or may not involve animal sacrifice.
Underlying the priesthood is belief in a single supreme Spirit to whom humans must give an accounting, especially
for the shedding of blood. In this view, one Great Spirit (God) holds the world in balance and it is human actions that
cause disharmony. The vast assortment of ancient laws governing priestly ceremonies, sacrifices, and cleansing
rituals clarifies the role of the priest as one who offers animal sacrifice according to sacred law. The priest was
forbidden to consult the spirits of the ancestors as shamans do in trance states.

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Priests are intermediaries between the Creator and the community, not between the spirits and the community.
Both offices are intermediary, but their worldviews are quite different. When sickness, sudden death, or a great
calamity such as flooding or plague affects the community, the shaman investigates the cause and seeks to balance
benevolent and malevolent energies. When the community served by the priest experiences hardship, deprivation
and loss, the priest calls the people to repentance and seeks to restore the community to the peace of God. In ancient
times, this sometimes meant seeking out the offenders by using the binary system of divination represented by the
Urim and Thummim. These represent numerous binary sets. The urim would have a number of associations which
would be assigned the opposite meaning with the thummim. Using these tools involved more than yes-no questions.
It involved deriving meaning from the directional poles, gender, numbers and reversals. The morehs or ancient
prophets apparently used the same approach when rendering counsel such as that given to Abraham by the moreh at
the Oak of Mamre (Gen. 12:6).
Q. 4. Discuss secularism and secularization.
Ans. Secularism is the belief that society were best arranged such that religion were given no sort of special status
or authority, so that (for example) the dreams of one of my shepherd ancestors attributed to their chief god would not
(absent anything else) be treated by unembarrassed adults as acceptable evidence in a court of law or a good basis for
legislation. Secularisation is the process of secularism's becoming significantly more important in society. Secularism
and secularization are closely related, there are real differences because they do not necessarily offer the same answer
to the question of the role of religion in society. Secularism is a system or ideology based on the principle that there
should be a sphere of knowledge, values, and action that is independent of religious authority, but it does not necessarily
exclude religion from having any role in political and social affairs. Secularization, however, is a process which does
lead to exclusion.

During the process of secularization, institutions throughout society economic, political, and social - are
removed from the control of religion. At times in the past this control exercised by religion might have been direct,
with ecclesiastical authorities also having authority over the operation of these institutions for example, when
priests are in charge of the nations only school system. Other times, the control might have been indirect, with
religious principles constituting the basis for how things are run, such as when religion is used to define citizenship.
Whatever the case may be, either those institutions are simply taken away from religious authorities and handed over
to political leaders, or competing alternatives are created alongside the religious institutions. The independence of
these institutions in turn allow individuals themselves to be more independent of ecclesiastical authorities no
longer are they required to submit to religious leaders outside of the confines of a church or temple.
It is possible for the process of secularization to proceed smoothly and peacefully, in reality that has often not
been the case. History has shown that ecclesiastical authorities who have wielded temporal power have not readily
handed over that power to local governments, especially when those authorities have been closely associated with
conservative political forces. As a consequence, secularization has often accompanied political revolutions. Church
and state were separated in France after a violent revolution; in America the separation proceeded more smoothly,
but nevertheless only after a revolution and creation of a new government.
Q. 5. Evaluate Evan-Prichards approach to the study of religion.

Ans. Evans-Pritchards argued that the key issue facing cultural anthropology was the question of translation.
For him, this involved two, complex matters: the problem of entering into the mental world of an alien and unfamiliar
culture and the problem of then making that world understandable to others, comparing it to the cultures which they
are more familiar with. Thus, one must first translate ones own thoughts in a manner which can accommodate the
experiences of the object culture and then translate those experiences into ideas which others can comprehend. With
regards to comparative religion, in 1965 he published his seminal work Theories of Primitive Religion in which he
argued against the various theories which had been constructed by anthropologists along various sociological and
psychological lines. He based his position on the great difficulties people have in entering the minds of others - in
failing to properly do it, researchers tend to attribute to other cultures and ancient peoples motivations which more
closely match those of the anthropologist, not the subjects of the study.

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Evans-Pritchard also argued that believers and nonbelievers both approached the study of religion in very different
ways. Non-believers tend to look for sociological, psychological, existential or biological theories which explain
religion as an illusion. By contrast, believers tend to explain religion in terms of how people conceive their reality
and relate to it. Although both agree that religion is an important factor in social life, for the believer religion also has
an extra dimension. As a result, Evans-Pritchard agrees with W. Schmidt that religion can best be understood by
believers whose inward consciousness and experience of religion plays a part.
Q. 6. Discuss the concept of civil religion.
Ans. Civil religion is a concept that originated in French political thought and became a major topic for American
sociologists since its use by Robert Bellah in the 1950s. It means the implicit religious values of a nation, as expressed
through public rituals, symbols (such as the national flag) and ceremonies on sacred days and at sacred places (such
as monuments, battlefields or national cemeteries). It stands outside the churches, although church officials and
ceremonies are sometimes incorporated into the practice of civil religion.
Originating in the work of Rousseau, with echoes in Tocqueville, this concept made its major impact on the
social scientific study of religion with the publication of an essay titled Civil Religion in America, written by
Robert Bellah in Daedalus in 1967. The article caused an almost unprecedented burst of excitement among sociologists
and other scholars of religion. Soon the topic became the major focus at professional conferences in the social
scientific study of religion, and numerous articles and booksmost being conceptual and historical, some being
empirically basedbegan to appear.

In social scientific usage, cultural institutions are usually matched by certain kinds of social groups. Religion,
for example, is socially embodied in associations called churches, education in schools, the economy in businesses,
and so on. Civil religion is unique in U.S. culture-and arguably in other cultures as well-in that it does not claim an
identifiable social group short of the entire society itself.
Civil religion stands somewhat above folk religion in its social and political status, since by definition it suffuses
an entire society, or at least a segment of a society; and is often practiced by leaders within that society. On the other
hand, it is somewhat less than an establishment of religion, since established churches have official clergy and a
relatively fixed and formal relationship with the government that establishes them. Civil religion is usually practiced
by political leaders who are laypeople and whose leadership is not specifically spiritual.
Section - III

Answer the following questions in about 100 words each.

Ans. Sacred and profane are words that have traditionally been used in connection with religion. Sacred on the
other hand has always been used for all things holy and religious. They are in effect antonyms that are very commonly
used in daily life.
The word profane comes from Latin word profanus. This means that all things that are holy are opposite of
profane. Profane was earlier used to refer to all unholy things. It was also used for ordinary things, times and places.
When you look at the structure of a church, it looks like any other structure made of concrete. But it is only when you
step inside that you get a sense of holiness. This is why everything associated with church or all other religions is
considered to be sacred. This feeling of awe and reverence has somewhat been mitigated in modern times and we get
this feeling only on special occasions every year when we are celebrating any religious festival.
Q. 8. Describe the features of Calvinism.

Ans. Calvinism was largely as formulated in his Institutes, published 1536. Calvin was greatly influenced by St
Augustine in inferring predestination from divine foreknowledge, and he therefore presumed that the elect, chosen
for salvation, were known to God from before the creation. Free will was an illusion. Church organization followed
from that basic premiss, that the chosen of Godthe elect-should share government with the ministers. Each unified
system of thought is governed by an inherent fundamental principle or principles. This is also true of Calvinism.

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Beginning in the early nineteenth century, scholars, representing various schools of opinion, made a study to determine
the genius of the Calvinistic movement. Among these were scholars who had no eye for the organic unity within the
system itself. They satisfied themselves with discovering some dominant trait which, in their estimation, set off
Calvinism from other systems of thought. Taken into Scotland from Calvins Geneva in 1559 by John Knox, Calvinism
became the national creed and was recognized as the established church in 1690. In England it struggled first to
influence Anglicanism, then to overthrow it. After 1660 it was at first the most powerful of the dissenting sects but
lost ground rapidly to the baptists and congregationalists and in the early 18th century was infiltrated by socinianism
and unitarianism.
Thus, some characterized Calvinism as a religious system in which the spirit of democracy and the passion for
liberty was the distinguishing trait. This spirit was thought to have been derived from the liberty-loving Swiss among
whom Calvinism arose.

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