The Impacts of Religious Uniformity and Intolerance on Social Cohesion

    While religious uniformity can create a sense of belonging for some, it can also lead to intolerance for those who are not part of your faith and community. Understanding the social dynamics that form alongside uniformity and intolerance can help unite or divide people. Education is one of our greatest tools and should be used to educate ourselves and others. By studying the impacts of religious uniformity and intolerance, we can hopefully see early warning signs that can prevent violence and instead promote peace, inclusivity, and diversity. Religious intolerance often intersects with other forms of racism, and so studying those can help us understand them better and help promote a more equitable society for all. Creating a tolerant community fosters mutual respect, especially in times of crisis. Making the communities we inhabit more resilient, welcoming, and inclusive for all, will create more understanding neighbors that everyone can benefit from. Religious uniformity and intolerance can influence various aspects of society including politics, education, and social values. Fostering environments of religious tolerance can enhance mutual respect and understanding, strengthening the social fabric, and contributing to a more stable and peaceful society.

    I decided to study the three different theories of Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, and Max Weber and their varying views on religion. I also created a survey to gather data to go along with my research as that is one of the easiest ways to get quantitative data fast. I made it anonymous as I knew religion can be an emotional subject, especially here in Utah. I hoped to get some great honest answers about people's feelings and opinions on religion with it being anonymous. I ended up with 44 participants which gave me some great data to work with.

    Out of the 44 participants, 26 were born/raised in Utah, 18 were born/raised outside of Utah. I wanted to know if the participants were still in the same religion they were raised in, and 17 of the 44 answered yes, while 27 of the 44 answered no. I also asked for their current religious affiliation, and 20 answered they identified as Christian while the rest were divided as such; 17 identified as atheist/agnostic, 3 belonging to a folk religion, 1 Islam, 1 spiritual but not religious, 1 omnism, and 1 unafilliated but not agnostic. I thought it was important to understand the religious/nonreligious makeup of my participants so that I could understand the data that I was to receive from them. Emile Durkheim described religion as a vital institution that contributes to the stability and cohesion of society and so I knew I had to include him and Functionalism in my research. Karl Marx said that religion was created to distract people from the harsh realities of everyday life and so a study of religion would not be complete without his views and Conflict Theory. Max Weber suggested that individuals make rational choices about whether to practice religion based on social support and spiritual fulfillment, and so adding Rational Choice Theory was a good third option.

    To start with Emile Durkheim and Functionalism, I found a paper written by Professor A.R. Radcliffe-Brown. In his paper on religion and society, he mentions that “any religion is an important or even essential part of the social machinery, as are mortality and law, part of the complex system by which human beings are enabled to live together in an orderly arrangement of social relations. From this point of view, we deal not with the origins but with the social functions of religion, i.e., the contributions that they make to the formation and maintenance of a social order.” (Radcliffe-Brown, p.33) The key points of Functionalism when it comes to religion are social cohesion, moral framework, socialization, and that religion can provide answers or purpose in life. There are always drawbacks as religion can lead to discrimination, violence, or alienation as well.

    In my anonymous survey, I asked if religious uniformity and intolerance can marginalize and target groups from the broader society by creating division and conflict. 42 out of the 44 participants answered yes to that question. I then asked if they thought violence was caused by religious uniformity and intolerance. The answer this time was not as clear cut, but still in the same direction. Out of the 44 participants, when it came to violence and religious uniformity, 2 said yes, 23 said some of the time, 5 said most of the time, and 4 said no. For religious violence and intolerance, 22 said yes, 8 said some of the time, 14 said most of the time, and none said no. During my research I came across many different ways religious violence can play out. Some forms of religious violence are warfare, cyberattacks, witch-hunts, property damage, terrorism, mob violence, armed conflict, surveillance, forced conversations, human sacrifice, initiation rites, government force, and harassment just to name a few.

    Karl Marx saw a correlation between alienation and religion. In his book, Seven Theories of Religion, Daniel Pals said “We must notice a striking parallel between religious and socioeconomic activity. Both are marked by alienation. Religion takes qualities - moral values - out of our natural human life, and gives them, unnaturally to an imaginary and alien being we call God.” (Pals, pg.140) Some of the key concepts of Karl Marx’s conflict theory when it comes to religion are false hope and comfort, religion is used as a tool for control, it legitimizes social inequality, and it can exacerbate tensions. But Marx also saw that religious movements could be a source for change.

    Rational Choice Theory was the hardest of the three to research. Professor L.R. Iannaccone said “Most critics condemn rational choice for embracing too much or too little; too much, in that it assumes lighting powers of calculation, full information, and total self-control; too little, in that it fails to take account of preference formation, normative constraints, emotional impulses, social structures, and the like. Hence, it is said that more realistic models of human behavior must do more to acknowledge limitations of the human mind and the complexity of human culture.” (Innaccone, pg.85) Religion is very personal and emotional matter and cannot be measured in many ways. The choices people make are mainly based on costs and benefits, but emotions play a huge part as well, and that is something so personal and individual that it is tough to measure as Professor Iannaccone described in his findings above. Some of the key points of Rational Choice theory when it comes to religion are benefits, big business, social networks, costs, competition, and connections.

    One of the questions I was most curious about in my survey was if my participants beliefs were respected by others around them. Out of the 44 participants, 9 said yes, 19 said most of the time, 14 said some of the time, and 2 said no. When I asked them if they respected other’s beliefs, 34 said yes, 9 said most of the time, and 1 said some of the time. I wanted to know if tolerance or diversity was more important and out of the 44 participants 33 said that diversity was important while 11 said it was not. When I asked the same question about tolerance, 37 said tolerance was important while only 7 said it was not. Since all of my participants did live in Utah at the time they took my survey, I wanted to see what they thought of the community they currently lived in. I wanted to know if they thought their community was diverse and/or tolerant. I asked them what they currently saw in their community around them. Out of the 44 participants, 32 said they saw more uniformity than diversity, 2 said they saw only uniformity, 2 said they saw only diversity, 1 said they saw more diversity than uniformity, and 2 said they were equally represented.

    Utah is an interesting state when it comes to religion as there has always been a majority religion present. I found a Pew Research Study done in 2007 and then again in 2014 in Utah. Adults were asked questions about religion. 80% of adults in Utah had an absolutely certain belief in God in 2007, then in 2014 that number had dropped drastically to 61%. Another question from the Pew Research Study said that 66% of adults in Utah said that religion was very important in their lives in 2007 but by 2014 that number had dropped to 58%. In my survey, 27 out of the 44 participants mentioned that they were no longer in the same religion that they were born/raised in. Maybe it is nothing, or maybe it is individuals seeing uniformity and intolerance in religion as something they no longer want to be associated with as it is doing more harm than good to their neighbors and the community they live in.

Definitions used in my survey:

• Uniformity: Creating an environment of sameness, silencing dissenting thoughts, opinions and beliefs.
• Diversity: All religions are equally valid and should be tolerated and respected.
• Intolerance: The inability to respect other people’s religious beliefs, practices, or identities.
• Tolerance: The acceptance and understanding of different religions and their practices, and the promotion of peaceful coexistence among them. 

Sources:

Engels, Friedrich. “Speech at the Graveside of Karl Marx,” in Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels: Selected Works, tr. and ed. Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute, 2 vols. (Moscow 1951), 2:153. 

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2024/03/15/8-in-10-americans-say-religion-is-losing-influ ence-in-public-life/

http://www.pewresearch.org/religious-landscape-study/database/state/utah/

Iannacconne,L. R. (1995). Voodoo Economics? Reviewing the Rational Choice Approach to Religion. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 34(1), 76-88. http://doi.org/10.2307/1386524

Pals, D. L. (1996). Seven Theories of Religion. Oxford Universities Press. P.140 

Radcliffe-Brown, A. R. (1945). Religion and Society. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 75(½), 33-43. http://doi.org/10.2307/2844278

Stark, R. and Finke, R. (2001). Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion. University of California Press. p.37

Weber, M. (1949). The Methodology of the Social Sciences. New York Free Press. p.117

[Paper written for SOC 4000 research project UVU Fall 2024]

Amy Brouwer . 2025 . All Right Reserved

Lighter by Yung Pueblo Book Review

I am usually not one for self-help books. I have tried a bunch over the years and I just cannot get into them for some reason. A few of them I have faithfully read/listened to until the end and then still have not liked, while some I have just stopped listening to altogether cause I could never get into them. 

The audiobook for this book is read by the author and he is slightly monotone as he reads. I wasn't sure I would like his calm steady voice and it got to me slightly at certain times especially since it was 7 hours of the same voice without a lot of inflection. I almost stopped the book and picked something different but then it got good. I was not too far into it when all of a sudden I was paying really good attention and nodding along as he explained how he was trying to work through trauma to love himself. I found myself relating to his story even though we both experienced completely different things. After a little bit, I couldn't put it down and I had to continue to listen to what else profound he would utter next. I replayed certain parts that were very inspiring to me personally and wrote down some of the things he said so I could remember them. Even though I have now listened to the book and finished it, I think I will buy a hard copy of it so I can really read through it again and again. 

I enjoyed the entire book from beginning to end and was impressed by his knowledge and way of communicating all his thoughts and feelings. One part really stuck out to me so I made sure to write it down.

"We crave for our loved ones to live their lives in certain ways and make decisions that align with how we would decide things for ourselves. The love we have for our dear ones is often tarnished by our inner push to control them even when we know that real love is supporting their freedom."

I don't really have a problem supporting my kids in anything they do but my extended family is having a hard time with my "faith crisis" and feel that I am making a big mistake. I would love to convey to them that even though I am not following their path in life, I am in fact following my own path and it is still a good one. Maybe one day they will see that even though my path is different from theirs it is not any less valid or right.

I actually enjoyed it even though it was a self-help book.

Amy Brouwer . 2025 . All Rights Reserved