From the lecture on Religion, Society and Diversity I learned that when studying religion in a social context it can be complex due to religion being a very complex aspect. We looked at the various ways in which certain people would describe ‘religion’ such as Anthropologists, Sociologists, Historians and Theologians which provided me with an insight into the many different ways ‘religion’ can be approached. I also learned that religion from the ‘inside’ which is referred to as the ‘believer’s approach’ relates to the study and practise of one’s own religion, this approach guesses that the faith or belief in question is correct and immutable. From the lecture, I also learned that religion from the ‘outside’ which can be referred to as the ‘scholarly approach’ relies on a neutral view of religion and points out the outward and visible aspects of religion.
From the tutorial I researched Emile Durkheim, from this I learned that he was a French psychologist and Philosopher who was born in April 1858 in France and died in November 1917 age 59. I learned that much of Durkheim’s work was concerned with how societies could continue their integrity and coherence in modernity. From the tutorial I also learned that he believed that there was something real in religion and he wanted to understand how religion comes to be what it is and also what it does.
I understand most of the main concepts and issues of the topics and areas I have learnt today and I could back these up with evidence of knowledge from Anthropologists looking at the works of M.C.F Bourdillon, A.R. Radcliffe- Brown and also Bronislaw Malinowski to develop further my knowledge and understanding. However, there are some concepts and issues that I am still slightly confused with as to how you would include these in a religion question in the exam and what aspects of religion to specifically target. I could research and read into further reading to help myself understand aspects that may be more important and relate to questions better. I also believe that understanding the impacts all aspects of religion has on society and putting that all together would help me to further understand this better.
I already had an understanding about some religions, and knowledge about some from studying it as a subject in High school. I didn’t have to relate to any Anthropologists it was more different religions viewpoints so the lecture and tutorial gave me better knowledge on the different things each individual Anthropologist and various others thought about religion and their views towards it. At school I studied Christianity and Sikhism and it was interesting to see the different religion’s ways of life and how they contributed to society. I also had to back up my knowledge with quotes and evidence from Humanists, Roman Catholics, Christians and Sikhs. I could improve on trying to find a link between all the different information regarding religion so when it comes to the exam it’s clear in my head what I would write when that question comes up and that it isn’t fuzzy which could lead to confusion and not knowing how to approach the question.
What I have learned from the lecture and the tutorial relates to my general understanding of how using religion as an example, society impacts on lifestyle as religion can create massive religious diversity in society such as within the work place. This could result in changes being made to working schedules to suit temporal and different holiday patterns of people belonging to religious groups which could create conflict between workers as they may feel that is unfair. There are also many other aspects of religious diversity in society today that brings in competition and disputes between groups such as a disagreement in religion or not knowing enough and making a viewpoint which is open to controversy. From the things I have learned from the lecture and tutorial, I could in the future or on placements integrate this into a class lessons with children in a Primary School when learning about religion and culture, religious diversity and religion and social issues as a whole.
Overall, I think I can improve by reading notes over again to allow myself to understand it all a bit better and make links between the different concepts and issues discussed to come to an overall and good level of understanding.
