Religion can be defined as a collection of customs and practices deemed sacred by a community that supports the idea that there is a supernatural being who surpasses all human understanding. According to Karl Max, religion is the opium of the masses (Keirns et al., 376). The premise means that it can be used to calm, soothe, and give hope to the masses. Faith is found in all communities and practiced differently. The most common types of religion are Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. Each of these religions believes in the existence of a supernatural being who guides morality. Sociologists apply various techniques to study theology, including but not limited to the use of structured research and the use of social anthropological approaches. Going back to the definition of religion by Karl Max, one can agree that it has been used as an opiate. Arguably, religion is mainly practiced by most of society. In many instances, the majority is made up of vulnerable individuals and families who use their religion to feel better about their severe living conditions.
Conflict theorists believe that religion causes inequality (Keirns et al., 392). Using their argument, it can be stated that religion can also be used as a form of social control by placing accountability measures to ensure the vulnerable are not exploited. Such actions would also ensure that women are treated in the same respect as men. Indeed, some religions currently encourage different treatment of men and women, with women being subjected to inhuman treatment (Keirns et al., 401). For example, in my opinion, Christianity has been used unfairly to treat women as a lesser gender. Priests and pastors have convinced their congregations that God agrees that women are a more inferior gender, which is all due to bias interpretation of the Bible.
Reference
Keirns, J. Nathan. Introduction to Sociology 2e. OpenStax College, 2016.