Religion Is a Great Source of Comfort’: Does the Sociology of Trauma and Disaster Lead Us to Agree with This Notion of the Function of Religion When Seen in the Context of Personal and Collective Disaster and Tragedy?

‘Religion is a great source of comfort’: does the sociology of trauma and disaster lead us to agree with this notion of the function of religion when seen in the context of personal and collective disaster and tragedy?

This assignment will begin by assessing how the notion of religion is a good source of comfort. Then it will go on to briefly explain why, and some conclusions will be drawn through the work of Émile Durkheim.

Religion can be a good source of comfort as it can be used as an imperative coping mechanism for any person who believes in a particular faith or doctrine. (Tausch et al., 2011) argues in the Louisiana health aging study (LHAS) based around hurricane Katrina and Rita (HKR), that if one is to understand religions influence on the collective and the personal, they would first have to include three important dimensions. Those dimensions are: (a) Faith community, which include; support and involvement; (b) religious practices, which include; faith, rituals, study and traditions; and (c) spiritual beliefs; which include, personal, internal beliefs, framings, meanings, and perspectives). All of which give a person some degree of comfort and each for different reasons.

(Tausch et al., 2011). Respondent (HKR 11) from the (LHAS) study reported on their response to ‘faith community’ “my church was very supportive, collecting clothes, and food, and giving shelter, and offering prayer services”. This indicates that in times of panic, trauma and anguish people can use religion as a form of social cohesion, which can be used to comfort them in times of need. This can also be reinforced with another participant’s testimonial from the (LHAS), respondent (HKR 15) “after the storms the main thing that I can see that actually has come out of it for me is that it has been a humbling experience and it has changed my life in a way that I really can’t even explain. Helping other people is what helped me to cope. I took on so much other stuff helping other people that it kind of drowned out what I was going through, and God fixed it. So while I was trying to fix somebody else’s situation, God was fixing mine. I just continued to stay in prayer and helped those that needed help and in the process, God helped me”. This respondent takes comfort through religious involvement (helping people) and believes through doing so, they will also be helped. The second dimension that was relevant to the study was ‘religious practices’.

(Tausch et al., 2011). Religious practices was a key focal point in the study’s findings, this was because many of the respondents mentioned that reading the bible was helpful to them in times of trouble and through prayer gave them hope, comfort and strength.  These practices can be seen in respondent (HKR 305) “I feel like I get on my knees as much as I can, as much as it hurts me to get down, I get on my knees twice a day and thank the Lord because he has been good to me”. This respondent uses religious traditions and faith as a source of comfort, which leads one to believe that through religious studies and rituals, people can take solace through religion. The final dimension Tausch mentions is ‘spiritual beliefs’. According Tausch, Spiritual beliefs are the most sensitive of the three dimensions, this is because people hold their beliefs quite close to them. This can be seen in respondent (HKR 218) “I think the reason that I am not a worrier is my abiding faith in the Lord, I’m not a worrier, and that has to do with my religious beliefs, that the Lord will take care of me and that he’ll give me the strength that I need to handle whatever comes along”. This response indicates that the respondent takes all of their personal worries and places them elsewhere, (faith in the Lord). This leaves the respondent in a place of solace and comfort as they believe God will give them the strength to handle whatever comes along. Similar outcomes were drawn in the ‘How Religion Comforts the Dying: A Qualitative Inquiry’. (Pevey, Jones and Yarber, 2009). To summarise, this study was set out to explore the manner in which religion may function to comfort the dying. The study found that participants were able to find comfort in religion by using it to provide an order to their lives, it suggested that the participants had a personal relationship with the divine other ’a God’ and a believed strongly in an afterlife. The study also had very similar themes to (LHAS) as people who had a faith seemed to take great comfort in surrendering themselves to a ’higher power’ or ‘purpose’ which gave them comfort in regaining control over their circumstances, believing that God is in control of their lives and not them. This alleviates them of pressure whilst also letting them express their thoughts and feelings freely, especially when family and friends do not. From the two study’s it becomes clear to see that people can use religion as a form of comfort, even more specifically in times of trauma and disaster and at the end their lives, and according to Durkheim, this has something to do with the way people attach meaning to life. Durkheim and Swain (2008) Argue religion is a phenomenon which is mostly social and it is a way to express collective reality. He also argued, religion acts a source or solidarity which provides a meaning for life which is a crucial part of the social system. This meaning for life stems from the notion that all people need a purpose and cohesion to interact efficiently and religion is a great function for doing this. Durkheim himself was not religious but he did argue, although religion may not be rational it was indeed functional.