In this lecture, I came to realise how closely linked Religion and Culture are. I always knew that in some aspects religion influenced culture and vice versa however I did not realise the full extent of this until after this lecture. Religion and culture raise a number of social issues, both bad and good.  For example, religion can provide individuals tackling a social problem with a community who can help them, However, in contrast, religion is susceptible to internal extremist forces which can promote violence and conflict.

It was interesting to see the difference in opinion that some of the scholars had on religion as culture and where they overlapped. The difference between Karl Marx’s opinion and Max Weber’s opinion was very interesting as they were on total opposite sides of the scale.  Karl Marx claimed that religion is not necessary because God is ‘man-made’ whereas Max Weber praised religion and said it was an agent of social change. Bruce Lincoln was very in the middle of both of these scholars as he believed one must not believe everything religion claims as first hand evidence yet he also stated that societies contrast religion as part of the process of social formation.

For me, the most interesting part of this session was definitely the input on ‘Unchurched’ spirituality. When thinking of religion, I had always went straight for the traditional approach of a religious group who were part of a church and attended a church / prayed often. It interested me to see that there was a continuing decline in ‘organised’ religion as other forms gained ground.