Religion and Anthropology: What Needs to be Explained?
How does one define such a universal thing as religion or religious behavior? Is religious behavior universal? What must an observer see in order for them to claim they have witnessed religious behavior? Are actions alone evidence enough to claim an individual believes in something that cannot be verified by the senses?
Many previous attempts at defining religion and religious behavior have faltered due to focusing on something that can not be verified by an observer’s senses. No, not the supernatural which is integral to defining religious behavior as you will soon see, but belief. Another individual’s belief cannot be readily or reliably identified by an outside observer.
In this chapter you will discover why one should not rely on belief to define or acquire knowledge about religion or religious behavior. Rather, acquiring empirical or practical knowledge surrounding the supernatural requires a definition that is based on observable phenomena. As a definition of religious behavior, the communicated acceptance of another person’s supernatural claim (Steadman and Palmer 2007), is founded on observable and testable phenomena.
Learning Objectives
- Identify the characteristics that separate religious behavior from non-religious behavior.
- Explain the definition of religious behavior put forth by Steadman and Palmer.
- Identify the primary problems of the concept of “belief” in traditional social science explanations and definitions of the supernatural.
- Explain how anthropological research supports the Foundations of the Social Sciences at Boise State