Changing Religious Involvements

Although sociologists do not agree on the cause of declining religion, I do think it is interesting to think about how big of an impact religion can have on a person’s everyday life. The idea of institutional differentiation, “the fragmentation of social life, as specialized roles and institutions are created to handle specific tasks are functions” (McGuire 286) is one of the debatable reasons for why beliefs in a religion or attendance at a church is declining. Because programs such as Welfare are replacing the Poor Box, a collection of money and/or gifts for the needy by the church, less involvement within the church is required. The implementation of law and the court system eliminated the necessary prosecution’s defined by the church in the Middle Ages. As time passes, our society will continue to advance. Societies strive to eliminate the needs of people and more and more projects and technologies will be created to do that. If our government takes care of problems once solved by participating churches, such as not being able to provide necessities for themselves, fewer church volunteers will feel that it is their job to do so. If we give people a physical and more obtainable way to find answers like therapy or law, fewer people will need to look to their church when they encountered problems. Because many people consider their religion to be sacred and essential to their way of life, I do not think that religion will fade out altogether, but I do think it will always change and conform to what society needs at that point in time.