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A paradox about religion discussed in your text is that:
a. Religions that are more demanding of their followers grow faster than less strict religions, but as a religion grows larger, it tends to become less strict.
b. Religions that are more demanding grow very slowly, yet their members are more strongly attached to the religion, so it is a more powerful social force.
c. Religions that are less demanding grow quickly, but their members are less committed, so they are not a powerful social force.
d. Religions that are less demanding grow very slowly, but since their membership changes quite quickly, it seems as if they have many followers.
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A
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Defined broadly, religion is: a. holy and special practices to help individuals become closer to God.
b. a set of shared stories, beliefs, and practices about sacred things that guide beliefs and behaviors.
c. an individual’s way of making sense of the world. d. the opium of the masses.
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B
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The sacred realm is:
a. special, reserved, set apart from everyday use, unknowable, and mystical.
b. make-believe.
c. special and reserved, but incorporated into everyday life.
d. mundane.
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A
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Objects and behaviors that are profane are:
a. part of everyday life.
b. objectionable.
c. able to inspire awe in people.
d. unnatural.
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A
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Maria and Steve are on summer vacation in Greece. They want to go into an old church to view the artwork inside, but before they are allowed to enter the church, a volunteer church worker asks them both to cover their bare legs and arms and provides them with coverings. This example illustrates:
a. how supernatural beliefs of one group can affect the lives of others.
b. how the sacred and profane mix easily.
c. how religious believers can be intolerant of the way other people live.
d. how places considered sacred are often protected and set apart from what is considered profane.
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D
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Sacred things can include books, buildings, days, and places. From a sociological standpoint, the sacredness comes from:
a. the item itself.
b. the symbolic meaning created from the collective investment of community.
c. the meaning God gave to the object.
d. holy scriptures.
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B
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Theism is ____________; examples of it include ____________.
a. the belief in a difference between the sacred and the profane; holy books and holy water
b. the belief that spirits are present in the natural world; totemism and shamanism
c. the adherence to ethical principles; Taoism and Buddhism
d. the worship of a god or gods; Hinduism and Islam
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D
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Ethicalism is ____________; examples of it are ____________. a. the belief in a difference between the sacred and the profane; holy books and holy water
b. the belief that spirits are present in the natural world; totemism and shamanism
c. the adherence to ethical principles in order to live a moral life; Taoism and Buddhism
d. the worship of a god or gods; Hinduism and Islam
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C
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Animism is ____________; examples of it are ____________. a. the belief in a difference between the sacred and the profane; holy books and holy water
b. the belief that spirits are present in the natural world; totemism and shamanism
c. the adherence to ethical principles in order to live a moral life; Taoism and Buddhism
d. the worship of a god or gods; Hinduism and Islam
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B
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A ____________ is a group of people who get together for worship.
a. denomination
b. religion
c. church
d. congregation
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D
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Approximately what percentage of people in the world identify themselves as Christian?
a. 15%
b. 25%
c. 33%
d. 50%
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C
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The second-largest religion in the world and in the United States is:
a. Hinduism.
b. Protestantism.
c. Catholicism.
d. Islam.
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D
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The ____________ population of the United States has grown since the 1960s due to immigration from countries like Indonesia, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, along with countries in the Middle East.
a. Hindu
b. Muslim
c. secular
d. fundamentalist
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B
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As is the case within Christianity, denominational divisions exist within Islam. The main division is between which two groups?
a. Sunnis and Shiites
b. Islamists and Islamic fundamentalists
c. Muslims and Islamists
d. secularists and fundamentalists
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A
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Buddists adhere to certain principles to lead a moral life. This is called:
a. animism.
b. theism.
c. ethicalism.
d. pluralism.
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C
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Christianity would be called a(n) ____________ religion.
a. animistic
b. ethicalist
c. pluralistic
d. theistic
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D
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All religions began as:
a. denominations.
b. cults.
c. animism.
d. civil religions.
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B
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Civil religion is:
a. a set of laws that reinforce religious freedoms.
b. a set of sacred beliefs that become so commonly accepted by most people that they become part of a national culture.
c. the veneration of respected political leaders (such as the founders of a nation) to the status of prophets or saints.
d. when laws are believed in so fully that people begin to treat them as if they are sacred.
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B
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Which of the following is an example of civil religion?
a. laws that forbid employers to ask about a job applicant’s religion
b. movements to abolish the death penalty
c. national holidays such as Washington’s birthday and Martin Luther King Day
d. when political leaders end speeches with the phrase "God bless America"
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D
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The United States is a pluralist country. The one thing that might hold it together is the idea of a common patriotism. This could be called:
a. theism.
b. animism.
c. a sacred canopy.
d. a civil religion
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D
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Which question is a sociologist of religion most likely to ask?
a. "Which religion offers the most access to universal truths?"
b. "How are religious beliefs patterned by social forces?"
c. "What is the individual’s experience of faith and religion?"
d. "Does God exist?"
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B
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Which of the following statements is least likely to be made by a sociologist?
a. "Religious beliefs and practices are a method of social organization."
b. "Only monotheistic religions are real religions."
c. "Religion is a powerful mechanism of social control."
d. "Religion can be a conservative force that prevents groups of people from recognizing their oppression and subordination."
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B
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To understand the role of religion in people’s lives and how individuals value and experience their faiths, which type of sociological approach should we adopt?
a. microsociology
b. mesosociology
c. macrosociology
d. all of the above
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A
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Which of the following is NOT a way that sociologists study religion?
a. exploring the ways people use religion to make sense of scientific discoveries
b. understanding the purposes religion serves for individuals and societies
c. examining why people are attracted to certain religions d. determining which religions possess and profess absolute truths
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D
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Peter Berger stated that religion shapes our social world, but at the same time, it is influenced by our social world. This, he noted, is a:
a. contradiction.
b. dialectical relationship.
c. pluralistic notion.
d. civil religion.
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B
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Today, sociologists tend to study religion from a ____________ perspective. This allows them to look at everyday human interactions, practices, and beliefs on a small scale.
a. microsociology
b. macrosociology
c. middle-range theory
d. neo-Marxist
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A
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Karl Marx referred to religion as the "opium of the masses." By this, he meant which of the following statements?
a. Some people can become hooked on religion like others become addicted to drugs like opium.
b. Some people sell religion to others like a commodity or a drug.
c. Religion pacifies people with promises of the afterlife; as a result, they are not troubled by social inequalities.
d. Religion keeps people pacified with promises of rewards in the afterlife; therefore, they do not challenge the subjugating, exploitative, and alienating social conditions in this life.
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D
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Evidence to support the conflict perspective of religion comes from all of the following EXCEPT:
a. In the caste system in India, people were born into statuses that determined their life chances. This system was thought to be the natural way of the world and ordained by the gods.
b. African American churches have been sources of social support, social networking, and political activism, as well as providing congregants with a haven from their marginalized place in society.
c. Christianity in Europe during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was used as a justification for imperialist expansion into non-Christian counties.
d. Evangelical Christian women are less likely to work outside the home, tend to marry earlier, and have more children than nonevangelical women.
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B
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Scholars have criticized Marx’s notions about religion, specifically its failure to:
a. take religion seriously.
b. account for the social support function served by religion.
c. explain the relationship between religion and the development of capitalism. d. all of the above.
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A
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In what way are the conclusions of Weber and Marx similar?
a. To Weber, religion was central to the development of capitalism; to Marx, capitalism would crumble if people stopped believing in God.
b. To Weber, religion was a fundamental and permanent part of human societies; to Marx, religion was necessary to maintain stratification.
c. To Weber, people in the modern world are trapped in the iron cage; to Marx, people in the modern world are alienated.
d. To Weber, the modern world is full of faithful people who are high on religion; to Marx, religion is like a drug.
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C
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According to Marx, one of the ways a factory owner (capitalist) would control his workers (proletariats) would be through religion. This was done by:
a. teaching the workers that they would reap their reward in the afterlife.
b. locking them in church unless they were on the assembly line.
c. keeping them so busy with church activities they didn’t have time to form a rebellion.
d. teaching them that they were unworthy of earthly pleasures.
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A
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Weber wondered how ____________ entered the modern world when the premodern worldview was governed by ____________.
a. tradition; irrationality
b. faith; reason
c. capitalism; feudalism
d. rationality; tradition
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D
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Weber likened the history of society to a train, and ideas to the switchmen of the tracks. What does this mean?
a. Ideas can be powerful forces to create change and alter the course of history when they are believed by enough people at the right time.
b. Ideas control the actions of people and can stop the progress of society.
c. Ideas control the materialistic human urge to hoard wealth, much like a train will speed out of control if not slowed down. d. Ideas control the basic human urge toward individualism by keeping people in the same society moving down the same track together.
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A
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Max Weber wrote The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. In this work he proposed that modern societies were moving from tradition or habit to
a. rationality.
b. atheism.
c. magic.
d. Buddhism.
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A
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Max Weber visited the United States in 1904. He was greatly influenced by:
a. George Washington.
b. inner-city life.
c. Benjamin Franklin.
d. agricultural life.
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C
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Weber’s idea that Protestantism was the most important driving force behind the spread of capitalism was contested by Daniel Chirot (1985), who said it wasn’t the development of Protestantism that influenced the spread of capitalism, but the major impetus was:
a. geography.
b. family form.
c. belief in magic.
d. movement toward equality.
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A
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According to Max Weber, in order to understand what drives social action, we must try to understand what meanings social realities have for others. This is called which of the following?
a. symbolic realism
b. schadenfreude
c. Verstehen
d. gestalt
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C
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According to Weber, which religion was a necessary condition for the development of capitalism?
a. Catholicism
b. Protestantism
c. Hinduism
d. Judaism
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B
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Calvinists believed that their souls were selected for salvation before birth. This is known as:
a. rationality.
b. self-sacrifice.
c. predestination.
d. faith.
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C
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The idea that you are preselected by God for salvation is one of the basic tenets behind:
a. Judaism.
b. Buddhism.
c. feudalism.
d. Protestantism.
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D
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According to Durkheim, religion is created by ____________, and religious expressions represent ____________.
a. hardship; delusions
b. a higher being; the will of God
c. sacred power; individual desires
d. social interaction; collective realities
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D
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Which of the following statements is NOT one that reflects Durkheim’s thoughts about religion?
a. Sacred objects have power and meaning because individuals collectively invest the power and meaning in the symbols.
b. Because of tension between different religious groups in pluralistic societies, religion undermines social unity.
c. When people conform to the rules of their religion, they are conforming to the moral authority of their society.
d. We need to look at the functions that religion serves in order to understand how religion develops.
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B
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Durkheim felt that one of the major functions of religion was that it perpetuates:
a. sexism.
b. racism.
c. solidarity.
d. inequality.
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C
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Which of the following is an example of how social solidarity and collective conscience function?
a. Jake attends school in a racially and ethnically diverse city. It is difficult to find many social norms that all of the students share, but most say they believe in God.
b. Zara is a Jewish girl who attends a Catholic school, not for religious reasons but for the quality of the education. Despite this difference, she feels accepted by most of her peers.
c. Max attends a church youth group regularly. Because he is active in group-sponsored activities and has been socialized to the norms of this group, he is less likely to spend time with peers who may engage in deviant activities.
d. Moira’s religion teaches that it is wrong to have premarital sex, so when she becomes sexually active, she hides it from her friends and family.
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C
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Research has shown that religious attendance and affiliation are inversely correlated with alcohol, tobacco, and drug use. Which of the following is a valid conclusion of this?
a. Religion causes people to have positive behavioral outcomes.
b. People who are less likely to smoke, drink alcohol, and use drugs are more drawn to religion.
c. Healthy lifestyles are closer to the will of God.
d. We cannot determine if religion causes healthy lifestyles or if some other factor predisposes healthy behavior and religion.
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D
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The trend in industrial nations toward a separation between church and state, a belief in rationality and science, and the movement away from religiosity and spiritual belief is known as:
a. rationality
b. modernity
c. blasphemy
d. secularism
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D
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Secularization is:
a. the process by which a religious group becomes seen as a fringe group that deviates from the main teachings and doctrines of a church.
b. the transformation of a society away from religion and toward a separation of religious and social institutions such as politics, the economy, and the family.
c. the confinement of religious interests to narrow and specific tenets, rather than an acceptance of all parts of religious doctrine.
d. none of the above.
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B
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Which of the following is NOT an example of secularization?
a. Mark and Tessa seek premarital counseling from a therapist rather than a member of the clergy.
b. Crosses are used for decoration and worn as fashion accessories.
c. The government announces a number of faith-based initiatives for the provision of social services. d. In France, students are forbidden to wear religious items while at school.
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C
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During the 1960s some social scientists touted the secularization theory. This theory predicted:
a. an increase in the number of people calling themselves religious.
b. that the influence of religion would be diminished in the coming years.
c. the United States moving toward one mono-religion.
d. a decrease in people attending services, but an increase in the number of people believing in God.
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B
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Peter Berger wrote, in the 1960s, that the world was becoming more secular. Recently he wrote that:
a. he was wrong, and most of the world today is certainly religious.
b. rather than becoming more secular, the world is becoming more solidified. c. capitalism is responsible for the lack of religion still found today.
d. rather than becoming more secular, most of the world has a new religion called atheism.
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A
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What is pluralism?
a. the presence and coexistence of many different groups within one society
b. tolerance for other beliefs and making sense of the world, but recognizing that there is only one right way to live
c. the reduction of all social processes and structures to a single theoretical explanation
d. the tensions that arise when there are multiple religious groups within an increasingly secular society
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A
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In the 1960s, Peter Berger wrote that pluralism would cause a ____________ in which religion would lose its legitimacy, as the ____________ would come apart. The result would be psychological malaise and a loss of meaning to life.
a. secularization of society; tenets of faith
b. diversity of belief structures; society
c. resurgence of faith; tenets of faith
d. crisis of credibility; sacred canopy
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D
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Which of the following is NOT a central belief of evangelical Protestants?
a. The Bible is without error.
b. Salvation comes only through belief in Jesus.
c. Conversion is not required to be saved.
d. proselytism
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C
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A difference between evangelical Protestants and fundamentalist Christians is that:
a. fundamentalists believe that the Bible should be taken literally; evangelicals do not.
b. fundamentalists believe that we should engage with the world; evangelicals separate themselves from society.
c. fundamentalists separate themselves from the world; evangelicals try to win converts by engaging with the world.
d. fundamentalists are conservative Protestants; evangelicals are more liberal.
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C
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What percentage of Americans claim a religious affiliation?
a. 11%
b. 24%
c. 65%
d. 86%
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D
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With regard to people changing their religious affiliation, which of the following is TRUE?
a. Nearly all Americans change their religious affiliation more than once during adulthood.
b. There is more growth among conservative Protestant denominations; moderate and liberal denominations have lost members.
c. Teenagers tend to feel less connected to religion once they have "shopped around" for a denomination.
d. Religion shopping is less common among young adults than it is among middle-aged adults.
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B
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When asked if they attend church services at least once a month, about 60% of Americans say they do. But when daily diaries of people’s activities are examined, rates of church attendance are much lower. This problem of self-reporting of positive behaviors is known within sociology as:
a. guilt avoidance.
b. social desirability bias.
c. embarrassment avoidance.
d. normative adherence.
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B
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For some followers of religion, embodied practices make the religious experience feel more authentic and real. Which of the following is NOT an embodied practice?
a. dancing
b. breathing
c. shaking hands
d. beliefs
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D
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Some sociologists of religion, such as Kelly Besecke, study how people reconcile scientific knowledge with religious beliefs. Besecke found that American Christians practice "reflexive spirituality." This means:
a. that people automatically believe the central tenets of their religion, even if they are at odds with science.
b. that people begin to see the spirit world as involved in making human life possible.
c. that people look to religion to provide meaning, wisdom, and profound thought rather than absolute truths about the way the world works.
d. that people experience cognitive dissonance when it comes to science and belief.
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C
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Which of the following features was NOT part of the social context of early nineteenth-century America, a time when religious faiths were becoming networks for social change?
a. rapid population growth
b. new communications infrastructure
c. strong national institutions
d. market expansion
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C
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In which two early social movements were religious groups involved?
a. voting rights and civil rights
b. abolition and temperance
c. abortion and abolition
d. women’s rights and the right to life
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B
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The linking of social movements with religion demonstrates:
a. the popularity of religion.
b. the recognition of morality only within a religious framework.
c. the powerful capacity of religion to shape the social world.
d. the lack of efficiency of political action to create social change.
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C
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Which of the following was NOT a social resource of black church communities that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was able to draw upon?
a. social networks
b. organized church structures
c. funding
d. armies
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D
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Which of the following is a negative social function of religion?
a. Religion can be a means of creating political momentum for change.
b. Religion can strengthen social cohesion.
c. Religion can justify differences between groups in society.
d. Religion can be a means of expressing group identify and culture.
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C
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In its level of religiosity, the United States is similar to:
a. other wealthy industrialized nations.
b. other wealthy democratic nations.
c. some poor and low-income developing nations.
d. former Communist nations.
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C
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The faith of Americans tends to be more broad than deep. This is evidenced by which of the following results from research?
a. People from 65 countries were asked to rate, on a scale of 1 to 10, the importance of God in their lives; 50% of Americans responded with a 10.
b. Of those Americans who agree that the Bible is the inspired word of God, only half can name the first book of the Bible.
c. 58% of Americans believe in the devil and 77% believe in heaven.
d. A little over 26% of Americans are white evangelical Protestants.
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B
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The opening story in Chapter 16 of your text discusses Cecil Bothwell, a man running for council in Asheville, NC. The controversy was that he considered himself a "post-theist." This is essentially the same as a(n):
a. Mormon.
b. atheist.
c. sectarian.
d. octarian.
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B
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With regard to family and religion, which of the following statements is FALSE?
a. Catholic parents encourage more independence in their children than do Protestants.
b. Religious teenage girls tend to be less sexually active than their peers.
c. Conservative Protestants tend to get married earlier in life and have more children than liberal Protestants.
d. Protestant parents are more likely than Catholic parents to use corporal punishment.
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A
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With regard to gender and religion, which of the following statement is FALSE?
a. Women’s groups exist in a third of all congregations; men’s groups exist in about a quarter.
b. Women tend to be more religious than men.
c. Women’s organizations in churches have maintained their numbers even as women have entered the workforce in greater numbers since the 1970s.
d. Traditional religious beliefs tend to be correlated with traditional gender roles.
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C
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College faculty members in the ____________ are much more likely to belong to churches and express religious commitment than are faculty in the ____________.
a. natural, physical, and engineering sciences; social sciences, law, and humanities
b. South; North
c. social sciences, law, and humanities; natural, physical, and engineering sciences
d. disciplines with more female students; disciplines with more male students
|
A
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There have been a greater number of ____________ presidents of the United States than any other religion.
a. Baptist
b. Methodist
c. Episcopalian
d. Catholic
|
C
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One of the most "upper-class" religions is:
a. fundamentalism.
b. Episcopalianism.
c. Buddhism.
d. Judaism.
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B
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As people age they:
a. become more secular.
b. become less religious.
c. become more religious.
d. become more cranky.
|
C
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Protestantism is split into many different ____________, or groups that share the same faith and are governed by the same administration. Examples are Baptists, Lutherans, and Methodists.
a. denominations
b. congregations
c. sects
d. churches
|
C
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Which of the following defines a "church"?
a. a religious body that has a high degree of tension with civil society
b. a religious body that coexists with its surroundings with little tension
c. a religious body that offers an alternative to secular engagement
d. a religious movement that makes new claims about the supernatural
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B
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