During the lecture on Monday 16th January, I learned about the different types and functions of religion as well as learning about religious diversity. Due to the fact I did Higher RMPS at school, I felt that I knew a lot about religion however learning about the different functions of religion really interested me as I was not aware of just how important religion was to some people and how they use it in everyday life to cope with different aspects or to keep peace in a community. Before this lecture, I did not realise there was a difference between a sect and a cult however I now understand that a sect is “a group which depends on voluntary membership and personal commitment” and a cult is “a group that is smaller and more remote from the main trends in society than a sect.”
This lecture improved my knowledge greatly on religion as I was unaware of most of the aspects that were covered. One of the things covered in this lecture was the seven common features of religion that Ninian Smart identified. I had known about these and had covered them briefly in Higher RMPS yet the detail that we covered them was basic so going more in depth about them really appealed to me because it was a familiar concept. The lecture also made me realise how much religion impacts on society. Bourdillon (1990) identified several ways that religion impacts some societies in his book Religion and Society which included “deals with life-crisis” and “unites people in a group”. For example, focusing on religion helps deal with life-crisis, funeral rituals can help people to cope with death and keep some control over the disruption a death can cause in a community.
