Deck 16: Religion

Question 1

Critics of Durkheim's analysis of religion base their criticisms on the fact that:

A)it overemphasizes religion's role in maintaining the religious order
B)it underemphasizes religion's role in maintaining religious order
C)it underemphasizes religion's role in maintaining social cohesion
D)religion may increase social inequality while it increases social cohesion
E)religious development usually decreases social inequality

Answer 1

D

Question 2

The way in which people practice religion:

A)takes only a few forms
B)take only a few forms within a culture but many forms across cultures
C)is essentially the same in every culture
D)takes thousands of forms in a country like the United States
E)if without form

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The scope of religious authority has declined in the United States and many other parts of the world.This demonstrates that:

A)religion governs fewer aspects of life than it used to be
B)religion is still a powerful force in all aspects of social life
C)religion is a common social force
D)religion is organized
E)religion is disorganized

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Durkheim called the everyday world the:

A)the collective conscience
B)collective effervescence
C)the sacred
D)the profane
E)totems

Question 5

According to Durkheim,when people transcend their everyday lives and experience the sharing of values with a larger collective,they are in touch with:

A)the collective unconscious
B)the collective conscience
C)totems
D)the profane
E)rituals

Question 6

Durkheim called public practices that connect them with the sacred:

A)religions
B)rituals
C)totems
D)collective effervescences
E)all of these choices

Question 7

Karl Marx stressed that religion:

A)failed to support the social order strongly enough
B)maintained social cohesion but failed to protect the upper class
C)often focused too much attention on those who are poor or underprivileged
D)may cause a decrease in social inequality while it increases social cohesion
E)often tranquilizes the underprivileged into accepting their lot in life

Question 8

When people live together they come to share common sentiments and values,which Durkheim called:

A)the collective conscience
B)collective effervescence
C)the sacred
D)the profane
E)totems

Question 9

One of the tasks of the sociology of religion is to account for:

A)the organizations of religion
B)variations in religious practices
C)political activities
D)the truth in religion
E)none of these choices

Question 10

The content and intensity of our religious beliefs,and the form and frequency of our religious practices,are influenced by the:

A)need to find meaning and purpose in the face of inevitable death
B)structure of the human brain
C)organization of the natural world
D)organization of the social world
E)all of these choices

Question 11

According to Durkheim,the main effect of rituals,and of religion as a whole,is to:

A)ritualize the profane
B)establish the primacy of the collective unconscious in social life
C)create a collective unconscious
D)establish the primacy of collective effervescence
E)reinforce social solidarity

Question 12

Organized religion used to be the main purveyor of formal knowledge and the most important agent of socialization aside from the family.Today that role is performed by:

A)the education system
B)the peer group
C)the criminal justice system
D)the economic system
E)the religious system

Question 13

Durkheim called objects that symbolize the sacred:

A)profanity
B)collective effervescences
C)rituals
D)profane
E)totems

Question 14

According to the psychologist William James,religion originates in people's need:

A)to keep busy
B)to be charitable
C)to find meaning and purpose in the face of inevitable death
D)to explain human behavior
E)to be intensely sociable

Question 15

Sociologists of religion are interested in which of the following questions?

A)why does one religion predominate here,another there?
B)why is religious belief more fervent at one time then another?
C)under what circumstances does religion act as a source of social stability and under what circumstances does it act as a source of social change?
D)are we becoming more or less religious?
E)all of these choices

Question 16

Durkheim's analysis of religion is based on what kind of theory?

A)conflict theory
B)functionalism
C)symbolic interactionism
D)ethnomethodology
E)feminism

Question 17

According to Durkheim,when people worship in public and in a prescribed and collective manner,they are engaged in:

A)practice
B)ritual
C)unconscious religiosity
D)effervescence
E)social solidarity

Question 18

Durkheim called the religious or transcendental world the:

A)the collective conscience
B)collective effervescence
C)the sacred
D)the profane
E)rituals

Question 19

In 2000,____ of respondents who answered a General Social Survey question on the subject had no doubt God exists.

A)3%
B)23%
C)43%
D)66%
E)83%

Question 20

The Super Bowl is an event that makes people feel part of something larger than themselves.For Durkheim,events like the Super Bowl put people in touch with:

A)the collective unconscious
B)collective effervescence
C)the sacred
D)the profane
E)rituals

Question 21

For Weber,what prompted vigorous capitalist development in non-Catholic Europe and North America was:

A)unfavorable economic conditions
B)the spread of the Protestant ethic
C)the reorganization of everyday life
D)changes in interaction patterns between men and women
E)none of these choices

Question 22

Which of the following are problems with Weber's analysis of the Protestant Ethic?

A)the correlation between the Protestant work ethic and the strength of capitalist development is weaker than Weber thought
B)Catholicism has coexisted with vigorous capitalist growth
C)Protestantism has coexisted with relative economic stagnation
D)all of these choices
E)only a and b

Question 23

According to Weber,the Protestant ethic had wholly unexpected economic consequences.Where it took root,and where economic conditions were favorable:

A)religious revivals swept the countries
B)early capitalism grew robustly
C)road construction increased dramatically
D)churches proliferated in the countryside
E)churches proliferated in urban areas

Question 24

Who said that religion is the "opium of the people"?

A)Durkheim
B)Marx
C)Weber
D)Parsons
E)Bellah

Question 25

According to Weber,capitalist development was hindered in Asia because Buddhism in India and Confucianism in China:

A)have strong magical and otherworldly components
B)have a strong focus on the material world
C)are relatively rational religions
D)are not really religions in the conventional,Western sense of the term
E)lacked the moral principles of Protestantism

Question 26

The view that religious institutions,actions,and consciousness are on the decline is commonly known as:

A)the rationalization thesis
B)the profanity thesis
C)the secularization thesis
D)the revised secularization thesis
E)the sacralization thesis

Question 27

According to Brym and Lie,civil religion may:

A)focus too much attention on the political system
B)divert attention from inequalities in society
C)focus too much attention on the poor
D)focus too much attention on the economic system
E)divert attention from established religions like Protestantism,Catholicism,Judaism,and Islam.

Question 28

What did Weber call the idea that people can reduce their religious doubts and assure a state of grace by working diligently and living simply?

A)the Puritan thesis
B)the Protestant ethic
C)the spirit of labour
D)Protest ethics
E)Shakerism

Question 29

Which sociologist stressed the way religion can contribute to social change?

A)Durkheim
B)Marx
C)Weber
D)Parsons
E)Bellah

Question 30

Since the 1960s,fundamentalist religious organizations have rapidly increased their membership:

A)especially among Catholics
B)especially among Lutherans
C)especially among the working class
D)especially among Protestants

Question 31

Despite the consensus about secularization that was still evident in the 1980s,many sociologists modified their ideas in the 1990s because:

A)accumulated survey evidence showed that religion was in an advanced state of decay
B)accumulated survey evidence showed that religion was not in an advanced state of decay
C)in most areas of the United States religion was in serious decline
D)surveys showed that ideas about God vary greatly around the world
E)surveys showed secularization was a myth

Question 32

When compared to other postindustrial countries,the United States is:

A)one of the least religious
B)one of the most religious
C)about as religious as most other postindustrial countries
D)one of the most secular

Question 33

As material conditions improved for people living in medieval and early modern Europe,popular belief in magic,astrology,and witchcraft:

A)increased as a means of making sense of life
B)gradually lost ground as a force in people's lives
C)came to coexist with Christian beliefs
D)replaced Christianity
E)none of these choices

Question 34

People who interpret their scriptures literally,seek to establish a direct,personal relationship with the higher being(s)they worship,and are relatively intolerant of people whose views differ from theirs,are called:

A)Christians
B)fundamentalists
C)mainline Christians
D)Jews
E)Muslims

Question 35

By the end of the 1900s,Weber remarked on how the world had turned away from religious authority to science and other forms of rationalism.The world,he wrote,had become:

A)rationalized
B)disenchanted
C)enchanted
D)irrationalized
E)dereligified

Question 36

In recent decades,religious belief and practice among a large minority of Americans has:

A)sharply decreased
B)sharply intensified
C)stayed the same
D)decreased only slightly

Question 37

The persecution of witches in medieval and modern Europe was partly an effort to:

A)certify witches in order to regulate their practices
B)eliminate hostility against alternative religious viewpoints
C)eliminate competition and establish a Christian monopoly over spiritual life
D)ensure the predominance of secular institutions in society
E)ensure the predominance of the monarchy in society

Question 38

Robert Bellah called the quasi-religious beliefs and practices that binds the population together and justify our way of life:

A)the sacred
B)the profane
C)organized religion
D)civil religion
E)rituals

Question 39

According to Weber,Judaism and Catholicism are relatively rational religions in that their followers:

A)are good in math
B)abstain from magic
C)avoid engaging in legalistic interpretation of the holy writ
D)all of these choices
E)none of these choices

Question 40

Followers of Protestant theologian John Calvin stressed the need to engage in intense worldly activity,to display industry,punctuality,and frugality in their everyday lives.Max Weber called these beliefs the:

A)the Protestant ethic
B)the Puritan thesis
C)the spirit of labour
D)Protest ethics
E)Shakerism

Question 41

Churches that are pluralistic,allow diversity,and are tolerant of nonmembers are ____?

A)sectarian
B)ecclesiastical
C)denominational
D)multicultural
E)relativistic

Question 42

What type of religious organization tends to recruit like-minded members mainly from lower classes and marginal groups and promote worship that is highly emotional and based less on abstract principles than immediate personal experience?

A)churches
B)sects
C)cults
D)denominations
E)ecclesia

Question 43

What kind of religious organizations integrate themselves into the mainstream by recruiting members from all classes of society?

A)churches
B)sects
C)cults
D)denominations
E)ecclesia

Question 44

Churches,sects,and cults are:

A)all becoming secularized
B)all becoming internally differentiated
C)the three main types of religious organization according to sociologists
D)found principally in North America; cults are rare in Asia,while sects are virtually non-existent in Africa
E)found principally in North America; cults are rare in Africa,while sects are virtually non-existent in Europe

Question 45

Religious organizations that are generally led by a charismatic person and tend to recruit members from only one segment of the stratification system are known as:

A)churches
B)sects
C)cults
D)denominations
E)ecclesia

Question 46

What type of religious organization in the United States today recruits nearly all its members from among the college educated and seeks converts almost exclusively on college campuses?

A)churches
B)sects
C)cults
D)denominations
E)ecclesia

Question 47

Christianity was the state religion in the Roman Empire and Islam is the state religion in Pakistan.They are examples of:

A)churches
B)ecclesia
C)denominations
D)sects
E)cults

Question 48

Religious bodies used to run most schools and colleges.Now they are run mainly by nonreligious authorities.This change is an example of:

A)the theory of civil religion
B)the profanization thesis
C)the desecularization thesis
D)the revised secularization thesis
E)credentialism

Question 49

Religious organizations that form by breaking away from churches due to disagreement about church doctrine are called:

A)churches
B)sects
C)cults
D)denominations
E)ecclesia

Question 50

A religious organization that is well integrated into mainstream society,has abstract teachings,and does not challenge worldly authority,is known as a(n):

A)church
B)sect
C)cult
D)denomination
E)ecclesia

Question 51

One effect of the differentiation of religious institutions has been to:

A)make religion applicable only to the nonspiritual part of most people's lives
B)cause people to look to religion for moral guidance less often than they used to
C)cause people to look to religion for moral guidance more often than they used to
D)force many people to remain close to strict interpretations of religious belief
E)force people to choose from a smaller variety of religious beliefs and practices

Question 52

A bureaucratic religious organization that has accommodated itself to mainstream society and culture is called a:

A)church
B)sect
C)cult
D)denomination
E)synagogue

Question 53

Which form(s)do churches take?

A)sects
B)ecclesia
C)denominations
D)ecclesia and denominations
E)all of these choices

Question 54

Men and women who claim to be inspired by supernatural powers and whose followers believe them to be so inspired are known as ____ leaders.

A)charismatic
B)authoritarian
C)religious
D)magical
E)sectarian

Question 55

A religious organization that has endured for many years,formally trains its leaders,applies a strict hierarchy of roles,and has clearly drawn rules and regulations is called a:

A)church
B)sect
C)cult
D)denomination
E)synagogue

Question 56

What are state-supported churches called?

A)sects
B)ecclesia
C)denominations
D)synagogues
E)temples

Question 57

Which of the following is NOT one of the categories into which sociologists divide religious groups?

A)churches
B)sects
C)cults
D)denominations
E)none of these choices,i.e.,they are all categories into which sociologists divide religious groups

Question 58

According to ____,worldly institutions have broken off from the institution of religion over time.

A)Durkheim
B)Bellah
C)the secularization thesis
D)the revised secularization thesis
E)the theory of civil religion

Question 59

Religious organizations such as Baptists,Methodists,Lutherans,Presbyterians,and Episcopalians are examples of ____.

A)sects
B)ecclesia
C)denominations
D)cults
E)all of these choices

Question 60

Members of what kind of religious organizations choose to separate themselves from society and frequently follow strictly enforced rules concerning dress,diet,prayer,and intimate contact with outsiders?

A)churches
B)sects
C)cults
D)denominations
E)ecclesia

Question 61

In 2000,in a General Social Survey,____ of respondents said they had NO doubt that God exists.

A)20 per cent
B)35 per cent
C)41 per cent
D)51 per cent
E)66 per cent

Question 62

Critics of Durkheim's theory of religion lodge which of the following criticisms?

A)his theory overemphasizes religion's role in maintaining social cohesion.
B)religion often incites social conflict.
C)when religion does increase social cohesion,it often reinforces social inequality.
D)all of these choices
E)none of these choices

Question 63

Which of the following is NOT one of the patterns of religious behavior revealed by General Social Survey data?

A)older people tend to attend religious services more frequently than younger people
B)frequent church attendance is more common among African Americans than whites
C)people whose mothers attended religious services are more likely to do so themselves
D)religiosity is based on individual choice

Question 64

According to data from the General Social Survey,church attendance is ____ among African Americans than European Americans.

A)higher
B)lower
C)the same
D)sometimes higher,sometimes lower

Question 65

Which theorist equated religion with a drug based on the argument that religion often tranquilizes the underprivileged into accepting their lot in life?

A)Emile Durkheim
B)Max Weber
C)Thomas Hobbes
D)John Calvin
E)Karl Marx

Question 66

Which of the following are measures of religiosity?

A)strength of religious beliefs
B)emotional attachment to a religion
C)knowledge about a religion
D)frequency of performing religious rituals and applying religious principles in daily life
E)all of these choices

Question 67

Based on an analysis of data from the General Social Survey,who attends religious services most frequently?

A)older people
B)younger people
C)middle-aged people
D)men
E)women

Question 68

____ are public practices that connect us to the sacred.

A)Routines
B)Public patterns
C)Rituals
D)Secularization
E)None of the above.

Question 69

According to the Bible,the first Jew was:

A)Adam
B)Moses
C)Abraham
D)David
E)Joseph

Question 70

In medieval and early modern Europe,Christianity became a powerful presence in:

A)music
B)art
C)architecture
D)literature
E)all of these choices

Question 71

Why do older people attend religious services more often than younger people on average?

A)they have more free time
B)they don't have as much need for religion as the young
C)they are required to go to church
D)they grew up in a less religious time
E)none of these choices

Question 72

Which is NOT true of Hinduism?

A)Hinduism teaches reincarnation.
B)Hindus believe in many gods.
C)Hinduism bears the stamp of many other religions.
D)Hinduism developed into a system of rituals and sacrifices.
E)none of these choices.They are all true.

Question 73

Which of the following are factors on which religiosity depends?

A)opportunity
B)need
C)learning
D)all the above
E)none of these choices

Question 74

Who called religion "the opium of the people"?

A)Durkheim
B)Marx
C)Weber
D)Brym
E)Bellah

Question 75

Ecclesia are:

A)elders in the church
B)the entire body of the church
C)small-denominational churches
D)state supported churches
E)none of these choices

Question 76

What is a collective conscience?

A)Common sentiments and values that people share as a result of living together.
B)A feeling of guilt that emerges in the presence of a collective.
C)A transcendence of social influences in order to be closer to one's religion.
D)The shaming of an individual by a social group in an attempt to sanction.
E)None of the above.

Question 77

We distinguish the everyday world of the ____,from the religious transcendent world of the ____.

A)sacred; profane
B)profane; sacred
C)profane; secular
D)sacred; secular
E)None of the above.

Question 78

Religious fundamentalism has become a political phenomenon in:

A)the United States
B)India
C)Israel
D)the Middle East and Africa
E)all of these choices

Question 79

According to Bellah,a set of quasi-religious beliefs and practices that binds the population together and justifies our way of life is called:

A)collective conscience
B)the sacred
C)totems
D)civil religion
E)rituals

Question 80

In Durkheim's terms,the Super Bowl trophy is an example of a ____.

A)charismatic trophy
B)secular icon
C)votive object
D)totem
E)religious statuette