The Sociology of Psychology

This essay is in response to Otep De Guzman’s comments on my earlier posting. Otep used to be a colleague when both of us worked for the ASEAN Business Advisory Council and Mr. Jose Concepcion Jr. His interest is in Political History and Social Policy. He now works in the Middle East as a Human Resource Specialist. His comments are pasted below in full.

Otep!!! It's been a long time and it's nice to hear from you. I apologize for not responding immediately. I was tied to some boring administrative stuff – stuff all of us call work?.
Anyway, alas! The kind of blogging I want to generate! See what I mean William?
Moving on to the issues you raised. I understand the relevance of making distinctions between the micro and the macro aspects of religion. It becomes easy for us to categorize the functions of religion to man as individual -- with private decisions to make and internal demons to address -- and man as gregarious. However, when you consider religion and its observance as something complex, the distinction becomes blurred.

I agree with Otep that religion is a constructed phenomenon designed to handle different forms of uncertainty. It keeps man sane because he doesn't have to worry about things and concepts beyond what his neurons can assess. Besides, why should he bother about the mysteries of the universe when there is a prescient “Being” who/that doesn't want to be understood?
But man, the individual, can't be free from his social attachments. No matter how serious he becomes entwined with his internal demons he is still tied to the community where he belongs (even ascetics and hermits can't be entirely free of their worlds). What's more is that even if he acts in his individual capacity, it would still result in the creation of local histories -- his story as a person who is directly linked to his ecology. Thus, there is an overlap between his private and public attachments which make distinctions difficult to achieve. This is not to say that we should forget about the psychology of religion. We just need to look at man's practice of religion in the context of his environment.

Again, I agree with Otep's sociology of religion in which it serves as a belief system that attempts to fulfil the expectations of (and on many occasions, attempt to sustain) the social order. Although it sounds more like the commonly used definition of 'ideology', religion as belief system serves as a lever that once pulled could move even the most passive person to action. What bothers me though is his critique of the major world religions' opting to outdo each other. In some sense it's true that pressures were created and will remain for years to come. This especially applies to mission churches that claim to have all the answers to man's problems and that other denominations are mere repositories of doctrinal error. But I don't see them as lynchpins of peace and security in world affairs. On the contrary, the emergence of new religious movements and the revival of old ones also have positive effects on both local and international developments.

The impact of their activities on various local development efforts is very welcomed in communities where it is directed. Forget about Dubya Bush and his right-wing acolyte. They give religion and religious organizations (at least the good ones) a bad rep. Empirical studies show (Barro, 2004) that there is a direct link between religiosity (not spirituality) and economic growth. These studies were conducted in ghetto neighbourhoods (Bronx) and guess what, the active involvement of different churches in these communities contributed to the decline of gang wars, drug trafficking, and recidivism to name just a few. In the Philippines, there are Catholic and Christian organizations that are directly involved in community development (which I think should be studied further by development scientists).

On the international level, the World Bank just got interested in religious issues and invited members of the World Council of Churches to discuss development interventions. Picture this, the World Bank, one of the pillars of modernization theory, funded many academic and policy research majority of which argued that the more modern and secular a community becomes the more they deviate from religious beliefs and practices. Now, it's trying to muster the influence of religious organizations after realizing that the neo-liberal agenda is inadequate in addressing economic and social problems of poverty, marginalization, unemployment, etc.

Lastly, I still agree with Otep that religion is critical to the Philippines noting the many different religious stripes we have. Unlike him, I believe that it HAS NOT FAILED -- YET. The adaptive nature of religion and its complexity provides us more space that can be utilized for development purposes. I don't deny that patronage politics is still at play in the country but to stop there would be very limiting. There are many rooms for manoeuvre religion and religious organizations that can be beneficial to the people.

Olrayt! Otep, if you have friends who are interested in discussing more about religion please tell them about my blog. Their ideas would surely help. Thanks.

================

Hey there Lem!
In discussing religion, maybe we should make distinctions about religion as psychology and religion as sociology, or micro and macro if you prefer.

"Religion" in a micro mode is both a created phenomenon in itself (based on the person's belief structures) or the mind's built-in mechanism to handle uncertainty.

"Religion" in a macro mode is more about the use of belief systems to fulfill certain expectations of the social order. Judging by the performance of the major world religions the relevance of hierarchy in religion has created pressures that will remain the lynchpin of peace and security in the world today. While the Catholic Church has been decayed by ennui and the onslaught of the contradictions of modern humanism and liberalism, the orthodox Muslim world has become even more virulent and anti-change.

All in all, the religious phase of our civilization as an institution has drawn to a close and the demands of a greater "spirituality" free from any specific dogma will be the way to go. In the West this has progressively been the move, except in the US, where W has wisely used his religious attack dogs to blindside opponents of his administration. The US case is critical for the Philippines, which has religious leaders of every stripe entrenched in the power structure.
They are special in that they are major power-brokers. Religion in this society HAS FAILED, no matter how well-meaning the intentions of many do-gooders. The structure has propped up the old politics of patronage in the country.More to say, but awfully little time to stay awake!Note:

Lifted from www.pinoid.com