... of community but worshipping their own society may be true of the aborigines but may not be true of other cultures or of all societies in the modern world. Also in the modern day society there is more than one religion and everyone worships different things and religion and society are totally separate, there is also the fact that some religions criticize society so people believe for that reason they cannot worship their society. Durkheim only comments on groups of people he doesn't mention individuals or people who don't believe in god at all, so it cannot be generalized. Another Functionalist that looked into this was Talcott Parsons he believed religion reinforced social norms in society. He says religion give society guidelines that are acceptable like the 10 commandments, he says religion helps people to cope with problems like death and that religion gives meaning to life. His theory can ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now