Deck 13: Pivotal Institutions Religion

Question 1

Religion is an activity that relates to the beyond of human life.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Scientists are considered to be the best authorities on religion.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Modern religions may be categorized into monogamous and polygamous.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Islam is the second-largest religion in terms of the number of followers.

Question 5

The chief religion in China is Zoroastrianism.

Question 6

Durkheim's theories of religion stress the function of social integration.

Question 7

Karl Marx considered religion to be an institution that prepared people for communism.

Question 8

By supporting societal norms, religion functions to sanction the status quo.

Question 9

Americans have developed a kind of "civil religion" by attributing sacredness to political ideals, national heroes, and a common destiny.

Question 10

Those religious bodies in the United States that are highly secularized are losing members and attendance is waning.

Question 11

Social scientists agree that religion is functional in society.

Question 12

The United States is one of the least religious nations in the world.

Question 13

The characteristics of the sacred are that it is mysterious, powerful, and unusual.

Question 14

The need to transcend everyday experience is a reaction to the human condition, which is characterized by powerlessness, contingency, and scarcity.

Question 15

Rites of passage are rituals engaged in by followers of pagan religions.

Question 16

Religion in America has become increasingly spiritual.

Question 17

Marx believed religion was used to:

A) help people improve their lives
B) support the exploitation of the masses
C) deal with reality
D) attain immortality

Question 18

Durkheim believed that religion:

A) exploited the masses
B) was a reflection of human society
C) had nothing to do with social life
D) was a radical force in society

Question 19

Religion has the function of:

A) supporting societal norms
B) making life anxiety-ridden
C) having the individual lose his/her identity
D) decreasing a person's sense of security

Question 20

In countries such as Iran and Iraq, the Moslem religion is a(n):

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

Question 21

Baptists, Anglicans, Methodists, and Lutherans in the United States are:

A) sects
B) cults
C) denominations
D) ecclesiae

Question 22

Religion in the United States:

A) is a state religion
B) has no connection to gambling
C) lacks voluntary organizations
D) none of the above
E) all of the above

Question 23

The denomination which is generally divided according to class lines in the United States is:

A) Catholicism
B) Protestantism
C) Judaism
D) Islam

Question 24

The reality that lies beyond human perception is called:

A) transpersonal reality
B) paranormal reality
C) transient reality
D) transcendent reality
E) transposed reality

Question 25

The social class(es) least interested in church participation is (are) the:

A) lower-middle class
B) upper-lower class
C) upper and lower classes
D) none of the above

Question 26

According to some commentators, today religion in the United States is used to:

A) get closer to God
B) support social and political values
C) promote love among humans
D) become more spiritual

Question 27

Secularization will:

A) finally destroy religion in the United States
B) promote secular humanism
C) stimulate new sects and cults
D) be punished by God

Question 28

Religion performs all but one of the following functions:

A) provides answers to basic questions for which there is no other authority
B) supports societal norms and values by transforming them into divine laws
C) helps people deal with guilt for their transgressions, offering a way back to a constructive life
D) provides a single set of norms that are universally accepted and agreed upon

Question 29

Religious beliefs are often contained in:

A) doctrines
B) creeds
C) articles of faith
D) all of the above

Question 30

According to sociologists, Americans' religious behavior reflects:

A) an attempt to revive old religious traditions
B) an ongoing need for the supernatural
C) the stress on individualism present in the society
D) the separation of church and state

Question 31

Social scientists:

A) provide criteria for choosing a valid religion
B) neither accept nor reject claims of divine revelation
C) have no interest in the content of religious doctrines
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 32

An example of polytheism is:

A) Hinduism
B) Christianity
C) Buddhism
D) Zoroastrianism

Question 33

Islam was established:

A) about the time of Moses
B) around the time of the apostle Paul
C) well after the founding of either Judaism or Christianity
D) 400 years before the birth of Jesus Christ

Question 34

Which religion includes a hierarchy of gods?

A) Christianity
B) Shintoism
C) Zoroastrianism
D) Hinduism

Question 35

Durkheim's approach to religion involved the opposed concepts of:

A) good and evil
B) children of light and children of darkness
C) natural and supernatural
D) sacred and profane
E) ice people and sun people

Question 36

In animism:

A) animals are worshipped as gods
B) spirits are worshipped as disembodied humans
C) spirits are thought to acquire various forms
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 37

Durkheim viewed religion as a form of social:

A) recreation
B) innovation
C) ingratiation
D) integration

Question 38

Durkheim's analysis suggests that so-called primitive people:

A) invented the concept of gods
B) thought they were gods
C) projected their human ideals and personified them as gods
D) saw themselves as clans of animals

Question 39

In Melanesia, "mana" is:

A) the power of good over evil
B) the power of evil over good
C) a power that is neither good nor evil
D) the food miraculously given to the escaped slaves in the wilderness

Question 40

According to functionalism, the fundamental human needs are:

A) income, safety, and deference
B) life, liberty, and the pursuit of property
C) survival and expressiveness
D) control over nature and the denial of death

Question 41

Religions:

A) reinforce society's notion of good and evil
B) link the human and divine orders
C) provide a special feeling of belonging and power
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 42

Rituals that have been established around certain critical times are called:

A) natural rites
B) ritualization exchanges
C) cultural transitions
D) rites of passage
E) conventional rites

Question 43

The theologian Ludwig Feuerbach portrayed God as:

A) an inappropriate object of worship
B) a figment of the human imagination
C) a sort of ideal
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 44

Liberation theory is:

A) another name for atheism
B) a fusion of Christianity and Marxism
C) a doctrine of personal transcendence
D) a branch of Roman Catholicism

Question 45

Marx regarded religion as:

A) a deliberate hoax on the part of dominant classes
B) alienating on both personal and social levels
C) an opiate
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 46

The Protestant denomination emphasized in Max Weber's Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism was:

A) Baptism
B) Anglicanism
C) Calvinism
D) Lutheranism
E) Non of the above

Question 47

Weber's "Protestant Ethic" is:

A) a rejection of the ideological function of religion
B) a refutation of economic determinism
C) a vindication of the morality of capitalism
D) an explanation of Third-World underdevelopment

Question 48

The transition from a charismatic religious leader's direct example to routine procedures and observances is called:

A) differentiation
B) denomination
C) institutionalization
D) bureaucratization

Question 49

All religions, once established, consist of:

A) beliefs, rituals, and organization
B) doctrine, sacraments, and priests
C) dogma, ecclesia, and faith
D) church, clergy, and believers

Question 50

Theology is:

A) the sympathetic interpretation of myths
B) the rational system of ideas that explains a belief system
C) a justification of the function of religion
D) the rules of ritual observance

Question 51

The most common form of religious behavior is:

A) tithing
B) mana
C) prayer
D) taboo

Question 52

Cults differ from sects in that:

A) they are small, voluntary, and exclusive
B) they reject the status quo
C) they have no ties to existing religious groups
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 53

The term "ecclesia" means:

A) a book of the Bible
B) a member of the clergy
C) a universal religion
D) a state religion

Question 54

What is the percentage of Americans who say they believe in God?

A) 50 %
B) 75%
C) 71%
D) 99%

Question 55

What percentage of Americans attend church or synagogue at least a few times a year?

A) 50%
B) 75%
C) 45%
D) 72%

Question 56

Religiosity refers to:

A) depth of religious feelings
B) whether one believes in God or gods
C) whether one participates in religious rituals
D) a belief in heaven and hell

Question 57

More than many Europeans, Americans believe in:

A) life after death
B) miracles
C) a personally concerned God
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 58

The second largest American religious group is:

A) Islam
B) Buddhism
C) Judaism
D) Gnosticism
E) New Ageism

Question 59

A key tenet of Christian fundamentalism is:

A) political conservatism
B) the view of earthly existence as purgatory
C) the reduction of the New Testament to a few fundamentals
D) the literal interpretation of the Bible

Question 60

Which branch of Judaism ordains women as rabbis?

A) Orthodox
B) Conservative
C) Reform
D) Sephardic

Question 61

The attempt to unite the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches foundered on the issue of:

A) married clergy
B) transubstantiation
C) papal infallibility
D) women as priests

Question 62

From the point of view of Catholicism, Protestantism began as a(n):

A) cult
B) charismatic movement
C) fundamentalist movement sect
D) ecclesia

Question 63

Religion in the United States has been distinct because:

A) we have never had a state religion
B) religious prejudice and discrimination have never existed here
C) there has been no separation between church and state
D) we have prevented religious dissenters from immigrating

Question 64

A 44-nation survey regarding religions found that:

A) Americans are the least religious of these nations
B) 59 percent of Americans said that religion played an important role in their lives
C) the English and the French are much more religious than Americans
D) Canadians are as religious as Americans

Question 65

The United States is an exception in that:

A) wealth correlates with religion
B) wealth does not correlate with religion
C) in most wealthy nations religion is very important
D) none of the above

Question 66

Religiosity, defined as belief in God and an afterlife is:

A) higher in the east and west of the United States
B) higher in the south and Midwest of the United States
C) equally intense in all regions of the United States
D) not a characteristic of Americans

Question 67

The majority of Americans identify themselves as:

A) Protestants
B) Catholics
C) Jews
D) belonging to a variety of cults

Question 68

The highest church membership is found in:

A) the Midwest
B) the Eastern seaboard
C) the West
D) the South

Question 69

What percentage of Americans attend church every week?

A) 55%
B) 68%
C) 26%
D) 33%

Question 70

An example of religion affecting political affiliation is illustrated by the fact that:

A) Muslims are prevalently Democrats
B) Protestant Evangelicals have gravitated in large numbers to the Republican Party
C) More Republicans than Democrats believe in God
D) Republicans are more committed to upholding moral values

Question 71

Prejudice and discrimination;

A) have never existed toward diverse religious groups
B) have been a part of the relationships among diverse religious groups
C) are tenets of some religions
D) none of the above

Question 72

In a famous novel, a character says something to the effect that "without God, anything is possible." What does he mean by this statement? Do you think it is sacrilegious? What social function does this statement support? In your answer, consider the normative system of society and the maintenance of the status quo.

Question 73

A well-known sociologist has made the point that religion "mystifies" what are essentially human inventions. Explain his meaning. Of the two above definitions of God and religion, to which do you personally subscribe? Are there any particular events in your life that would explain your feelings toward religion?