Using the textbook, it seems that religion serves three main functions within the society. First, it helps in providing social cohesion to assist in maintaining the social solidarity through shared beliefs and controls. The social cohesion is achieved through reciting prayers that honor God either in church, mosque, or temple. Second, religion also serves as a social control for enforcing religious-based norms as well as morals to assist in maintaining control and conformity in the society. Finally, religion also serves the purpose of offering purpose and meaning for answering all the existential questions (Michel & Pace, 2011). However, the function of social cohesion is also served by sports, particularly football as it has often aimed at fostering social cohesion and inclusion in regions where disengagement and social isolation is responsible for fragmenting the local communities through their organizations and corporate leaders.
According to Percy and Taylor (2015), various reasons make sociologists in thinking that there are three ways in which sports teams are similar to religions. First, certain sport commentators are considered as prophets as they are capable of predicting the outcome of the game, while certain players are known in creating miracles. On the same note, religion and sport have very similar language, such as faith, worship, dedication, commitment, and sacrifice. Second, the followers of both sports and religion are always born into their own beliefs either as a result of geographic accident of their birth or being indoctrinated by the beliefs of their parents at an early age. Finally, both religion and sports share the capability of unifying a given groups of people (Ludwig, 2015). Just the same way religion is capable of unifying people of various races originating from all countries across the globe, so do sports as sports teams’ fans come from different socioeconomic backgrounds to gather together for witnessing their team play.
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Various reasons can explain why rituals are becoming a feature of professional sporting events including the notion that most people including the Americans are devoted to football just the same way they are devoted to religion. Mourning rituals have been used to recognize the survivors and victims of Aurora Theater shooting during the Denver Broncos pre-season football game. Moreover, this is as well by the fact that mourning rituals do not only happen in religious tradition, but they also happen in a more public showground, such as that of sports. However, this does not suggest that religion is becoming less crucial within the United States as all those fans of sports teams also have their own individual religion faiths to follow and believe in (Adogame, 2015). Besides, sports only act as a platform of connecting individuals from diverse religious background, such like in the case of United States.
The information on U.S. Religious Landscape Survey about the belief in God observes that almost all religions believe in God to a certain percentage including the Buddhist, Catholic, Evangelic Protestant, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Unaffiliated, and Muslim. However much they may be worshipping a different god, all of these religion faiths believe in the existence of a supernatural being who is God (Butterworth & Senkbeil, 2017). Therefore, based on this information and by revisiting question 2, religion is not becoming less important within the United States. This is because the map also shows that there is a higher percentage of believing in God by ethnic and racial composition of the U.S. including the White, Asian, Black, Latino, and other.
Evolution of Marriage
Initially, marriage as a social institution was very viable where a man and woman could reach an agreement upon becoming bones wife or husband. Now, times have changed societies have now assumed new tactics that are way out of the marriage context. People are engaging in questionable relationships where they are not searching for love or responsibilities. A woman may engage with a man for sex only not considering the other parties regarding of marriage get children, and one will bring up the children on their own either the woman or man.
Marriage has a great responsibility in our societies through maintaining and preserving morals. Therefore, the marriage institution contributes to the society regarding civilization, legal social and other ethical codes. Thus within the lane, there is a consideration of the woman and men ethical code. The marriage institution has been altered through various ways of civil influences, and to some, they even think of it as a way to “make each other happy,” this has resulted in a lot of divorces. If marriage as a social institution were not currently there, then the society would luck morals. Marriage codes of sexual behaviors which are considered a commitment between a woman and a man would be broken. Over time, shifts towards individualism have altered the marriage institution as we know it, people to do not want commitments and are having random sex without consideration of ethical dimensions ( Hodgson, 2018) .
I do feel that marriage as a social institution will not last; reason being is that people are more obsessed with individualism. In days or centuries to come marriage as a social institution will be gone. Nowadays, people are shifting towards an independent life. Marriage is not going anywhere anytime soon, but in time, in my opinion, it will be gone.
References
Adogame, A. (2015). Editorial: Religion and Sport, Past, Present and Future. Studies In World Christianity, 21(3), 193-200. doi:10.3366/swc.2015.0123
Butterworth, M., & Senkbeil, K. (2017). Cross-cultural comparisons of religion as “character”: Football and soccer in the United States and Germany. International Review For The Sociology Of Sport, 52(2), 129-145. doi:10.1177/1012690215588214
Hodgson, G. M. (2018). Wrong turnings: How the left got lost . University of Chicago Press.
Ludwig, F. (2015). Football, Culture and Religion: Varieties of Interaction. Studies In World Christianity, 21(3), 201-222. doi:10.3366/swc.2015.0124
Michel, P., & Pace, E. (2011). Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion. Leiden: Brill NV.
Percy, M., & Taylor, R. (2015). Something for the weekend, sir? Leisure, ecstasy and identity in football and contemporary religion. Leisure Studies, 16(1), 37-49. doi:10.1080/026143697375502
