Religious objects are so impressive for the believer because they appear to emanate a power that, according to Durkheim, can not be anything else than the power of society. We can observe how such power is produced during religious meetings. Here people are gathered, they are close to each other, they may dance or sing together, and then all of a sudden, something spectacular may happen. They may collectively reach a state of euphoria, a kind of ecstasy or rapture that equals a state of [FOREIGN], collective effervescence. They feel uplifted, and that is the moment when the feeling of social unity is created and reinforced, and it is no accident that this can only happen in a collective ritual that is the outcome of accumulated group energy. Religion is not only a product of society, it also fulfills functions for society. Durkheim was one of the first thoroughly functionalist thinkers, a man who always tried to discern what sociological functions a certain phenomenon fulfill. For example, in contributing to the social cohesion of the larger social system. He stressed that this search for functions is completely different from the search for cause and effect relations. We already saw that was a precursor of functionalist thinking. But Durkheim was the man who used functionalist analyses in a more systematic way, and who programmatically wrote about this way of reasoning in the science of sociology. One of the many functions of religion is to repair the ties between people when they have been harmed. For example, in mourning rituals, the networks of social relationships between people that have suffered from the passing away of one of them are glued together again. In this way, and in many other ways, religion has important functions to fulfill. It strengthens social cohesion. It supports social regulation. It is power antidote to egoism and anomy, those negative tendencies behind those rising suicide figures. But here, Durkheim is confronted with a problem. He also witnessed the event of the process of secularization. He himself, the son of a Rabbi who became and agnostic professor of sociology, was living proof of this process. So where are we heading if religion becomes less important under conditions of modernity? When it comes to religion as a source of sociological orientation, you could say that the modern social sciences have adopted some of the cognitive functions within the past were fulfilled by religion. They now help us to understand our place in society. Where the image of society in religious imagery is still blurred and vague. In sociology, it has become not only clearer but also easier to criticize and discuss without having to fear the risk of being treated as a heretic. But what about a more emotional aspects of religion? What about its strengthening power? What about its functions as a source of social cohesion? Here Durkheim says something very interesting. The Gospels, he says, are not immortal. And mankind will always write new ones. We may develop completely new institutions and belief systems that fulfill the functions that traditional religions fulfilled in the past. Durkheim even mentions nationalistic gatherings of citizens who celebrate membership of their beloved nation and to the moral principles that they all share. The reader here is reminded of the French when they celebrate liberty, equality, and fraternity on the 14th of July. Or you may be reminded of Americans on Independence Day. And the example that I just gave of the outrage that a nationalist person may experience when she must watch the burning of the national flag, that example was, in fact, not taken from the world of religion but from the world of nationalism. And it makes clear that a flag can be seen as just as sacred as a cross. Sometimes my students tell me that they believe that large pop concerts, rock concerts, international soccer matches also fulfill religious functions. And when I speak about [FOREIGN] they tell me that moving with hundreds of people on the repetitive beats of electronic dance music may have that very same effect, attended by a deep feeling of unity with everybody present. And when a large company announces the appearance, for example of a new cell phone, and we feel at one with people all over the world who stand in long lines to buy that elegant small computer. We also may experience a kind of semi-religious feeling that transcends national borders, a kind of global solidarity. Durkheim's book on religious life, all those arguments about the sacred and the profane, about effervescence, about the functions of religion still offers us today a very impressive theoretical framework that can help us to understand our own societies, and for that, we should thank the son of the rabbi.
