Religion and

Social Science
 OBJECTIVES
▪ Analyze the influences of religion to culture
and society (MELCs);

▪ Explain the social scientific approach to the

study of religion; and

▪ Discuss the positive and negative effects of

religion.
Religion as a phenomenon is a complex
reality.
RELIGION
▪ It is a social ▪ It is also a socially
phenomenon that is constructed
not simply about the institution with
pursuit of particular particular historical
beliefs or practices contexts and
prescribed for us by trajectories depending
religious leaders. on the physical and
social constraints that it
is faced with.
RELIGION
The beliefs and practices of a religion have
consequences on its followers and the wider
society that it is part of.

The beliefs of a religion can compel an

individual to exercise particular values; but
these values are not merely individualistic.
RELIGION
Values and beliefs can inform a particular
religious group’s behavior in the public sphere.

A person’s religious experience cannot be

observed by some else.
Social Scientific approach
● It understands religion as socially
constructed realities.

● This means that the shape of

religion as an institution with beliefs,
moral codes, practices, texts,
hierarchy and personalities is
contingent upon the interaction of its
human agents with one another.
 Methodological
(The suspension of belief in the divine is a fundamental character of any social scientific approach to
the study of religion.)

• This is the fundamental character of any social scientific

approach to the study of religion (Berger 1967).
• This statement is not to deny the existence of the divine
with a particular way of relating to the world, but an
intellectual pursuit carried out by theology, a discipline,
which has a systematic way of studying the divine.
Religion is a search for
the order of things
Critically, religion is about
ordering of events, people
and the material world into
a coherent whole
Religion is a search for
personal meaning
Religion helps find
meaning in an
otherwise chaotic
world.
RELIGION
•Religion has become a very important aspect in the
development of civilizations and cultures.
• It has proven to be beneficial to the attainment and
maintenance of social stability and cohesiveness.
• But as time went by, it has also become the basis of
conflicts between societies, even within societies.
 Promotes Social Harmony

Provides Moral Values

Provides Social Change

Positive Effects of
Religion Explains the Unknown

Gives Positive Goal in Life

Gives People a Sense of

Belonging
 Affirms Social Hierarchy

Causes Discrimination

Triggers Conflicts and

Negative Effects of Fights
Serves as an Economic Tool for
Religion Controlling the Masses

Impedes Scientific Success and

Development

Obstructs the Use of Reason