Sociology And Religion | EssayIvy.com

Surname 1

Name

Instructor

Course

Date

Sociology and Religion

Religion as a numerously dimensioned topic in sociology, different people/groups of

people/societies has different perspectives concerning the various aspects of religion in

sociology. Among the various dimensions that are worth understanding is the reason why women

in the U.S. take up new religions. There are various reasons related to sociological aspects which

influence such patterns in the society. Among the most influential reason why women easily

change religion is the influence of gender. Feminism has greatly influenced the decisions

pertaining change in religion in the recent past. The best example to show how feminism is part

and parcel of the reason is the face veil issue perception in determination of the women’s place

in the society. According to a study conducted by O’Neil et al (2015), most of the feminist and a

considerate portion of those respondents who claimed not to be feminist, the veil was a symbol

of oppression and it was unacceptable to them. It implicates that by not wearing the veil, the

women express their triumph over oppression and being viewed as the inferior members of the

society. However, the perception about such costumes as far as history can tell has a great

influence on religion and can also be demoralizing. Terrorist are always associated with the

Muslim religion. It implicates that by wearing Islamic related costumes, the thought of one being

a terrorist will still trigger in the minds of the majority. For instance, in the AMERICAN vs.

Surname 2

MUSLIM BAG EXPERIMENT youtube video the girl wearing simple jeans short and a top

easily convince people to look after her bag while the veiled girl receives cold responses and

people are suspicious when she requests them to look after her bag. Such reactions may be

demoralizing and can interfere with one’s loyalty or perception about their religion. However,

this same reaction is also same for men whereby, men wearing the turban are Muslim terrorist

suspects whereas the turban is also worn by Hindus, Christians, as well as Jews. For instance in

the Confused Islamophobes Target American Sikhs: The Daily Show youtube video, it is evident

that people harshly judge turban wearing men for Muslim terrorist associate whereas some are

native Indian Sikhs who have a distinct religious perception about their turban. Given that the

veil is a crucial aspect of the Muslim religion, the Muslim feminist may prefer changing to

another religion preferably Christianity to overcome the feeling of oppression.

In most modern nations, the outcry for ending religious oppression has been heard and

they preferably use the law as social engineering tool to develop nationally or rather universally

acceptable beliefs and moral values which help to bring social cohesion among citizens (Yilmaz

9). Through such developments, such countries have enjoyed religion civilization which is a

more universal and accommodating religious option. The Islamic states such as Pakistan have a

very strong relationship between their Islamic religion and their culture. The Islamic religion in

some way places women in a very inferior position in the society. As many people would think,

there should be a necessary trade-off between the Islamic religion/faith/belief and the Islamic

feminism. In such situations it would demand that women who felt oppressed and want to cut the

strings of oppression to denounce Islam and find for a more accommodating religion such as

Christianity (O'Neill et al 1896). In some cases, women have denounced Islamic religion.

However in most cases, women have remained silent about the issue instead of betraying their

Surname 3

faith. The trend has continued until in the recent past when activists and scholars came out with

the idea of women fighting for their rights of equality without violating their beliefs. With the

uprising of the Islamic feminism a group of scholars and activists saw the need to balance

between the feminism and religion. Musawah led the seemingly necessary movement in

countries such as Egypt and Pakistan amon 47 other nations which were Muslim dominated.

Together with legal practitioners and policy makers from the respective countries they decided to

enlighten the people that religion is never biased towards men but seem so due to poor

interpretation of Muslim texts concerning the position of both genders in the society. It

implicates that the Islamic movement was a liberating revolution which sought to empower the

women with minimum disruption of the Muslim Religious organization.

While religiosity will influence one’s behavior from personal beliefs or feelings about a

certain aspect of life (whether social, cultural, religious etc), conventionality influences one’s

behavior based on what is demanded from them by the religion; precisely what the

Christian/Islamic/Hindu among other religions require from their followers. While men in most

cases are the heads in many religions, women tend to take a followers role. It implicates that

whatever they conventionally follow supersedes their religiosity (what they feel and believe is

right). It explains why the Islamic religion seemingly biased against the female gender when in

real sense it is the nature of the relationship between the female conventionality and religiosity.

Should women be in a leading position in the Islamic religion then they could understand their

place in the society in a better way and hence have better and reasonable fighting grounds against

male chauvinism (Yilmaz 46). On the other hand, males are in a better position to react from

their personal beliefs rather than what is expected of them by the Islam religion; given that in

most religions men are placed in a higher place than the females, their beliefs can go beyond the

Surname 4

expected religious limits and trigger chauvinism. In relation to religiosity and conventionality,

religious symbols for both males and females are bound to explain where the differences in both

religious aspects differ for male and females. While sex brings out the difference between a man

and a woman, gender is a product of culturally cultivated making which brings out the

behavioral-making differences which separate the male nature from the female nature. Hence,

sex can be termed biological while gender is evidently a social construct. Religious symbols are

key social inputs in the shaping of gender and hence arguably determine how both and a woman

behave (O'Neill et al 1898). If religion stipulates men to lead, then they also lead in the society

but how they lead is upon the society to decide.

Religious pluralism is also another modern dimension in the world today. It regards the

policy of religious diversity within a country or a community/society. Religious pluralism can be

influenced by a number of factors. Some of the factors include; the number of religions within a

country/society, the level of closeness in terms of beliefs and practices among distinct religions,

the presence of a dominant/influential religion, and the level of social civilization. Such factors

have led religious related issues like abortion, religious education, homosexuality, school prayers

as well as the denomination of the president to be of great political concerns in the U.S. among

other countries (Yilmaz, 28). With the multiple races, religions, and denominations, the U.S. has

experienced a great deal of social civilization in an attempt to curb social conflicts from the

numerous sub-divisional aspects (race, religion, gender etc) of the society. Consequently,

religion being one of the aspects of the society has also undergone civilization hence giving rise

to a universal civic religion. In such a social platform, matters concerning the legalization of

abortion based on civic as well as religious perspectives have been discussed effectively based

on all forms of reasoning. Other matters such as electing a Non-Christian (Muslim) President has

Surname 5

also heated up with some Christians disgustingly maiming the possible Muslim president to be

violent and possibly Non-American minded. In the Confused Islamophobes Target American

Sikhs: the Daily Show youtube video, President Trumph claims that Muslims hate the Americans

and plans to deploy more security in Muslim neighborhoods. Due to the various religions in the

U.S. disputes have always arose regarding how prayers should be conducted and what and why

which religion or not should be taught in schools. In other countries such as Pakistan with at

most 3 religions a group of people from the Muslim religion kill Christians in the name of

preserving their religion. Such circumstances are highly questionable with regards whether to it

necessitates being a member of any religion. It is just as convoluted as it is in the P.K. (2014)

Bollywood movie when the God seeking alien P.K. wonders, “Which God do I follow?” after

having encountered so many of them in his experience on earth.

Surname 6

Works Cited

(TYT), The Young Turks. Conservatives REALLY Want To Kick Out One Particular State. 3

October 2014. 13 December 2017 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ck9Ro2OxU8>.

Halder, Sukanta. PK (2014) Hindi Full Movie. 21 December 2014. 13 December 2017

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5YtnO4en7w>.

Jovian, Karim. AMERICAN vs MUSLIM BAG EXPERIMENT. 11 September 2016. 13

October 2017 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0dMkFxIe4Y>.

Noah, Trevor. Confused Islamophobes Target American Sikhs: The Daily Show. 26 April 2016.

13 October 2017 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RskvZgc_s9g>.

O'Neill, Brenda, et al. "Freedom of religion, women's agency and banning." Ethnic and Racial

Studiesthe face veil: the role of feminist beliefs in shaping women's opinion (2015): 1886-1901.

YILMAZ, IHSAN. " Dynamic Legal Pluralisms in England, Turkey and Pakistan." Muslim

Laws, Politics and Society in Modern Nation States: Society in Modern Nation States (2005): 1-

49.

Place new order. It's free, fast and safe

Paper type

Deadline

Page count

550 words

Total price: $ 15.00

Our customers say

Jeff Curtis

USA, Student

"I'm fully satisfied with the essay I've just received. When I read it, I felt like it was exactly what I wanted to say, but couldn’t find the necessary words. Thank you!"

Ian McGregor

UK, Student

"I don’t know what I would do without your assistance! With your help, I met my deadline just in time and the work was very professional. I will be back in several days with another assignment!"

Shannon Williams

Canada, Student

"It was the perfect experience! I enjoyed working with my writer, he delivered my work on time and followed all the guidelines about the referencing and contents."