Discuss the organisation of religion in society.

1. There are different forms of the communities of believers such as the church, the rest and the cult. Church is a well established organisation. It has a bureaucratic structure with a hierarchy of office bearers from among the believers. The Catholic and the Protestant are such churches. No other religion is so highly organized.

2. Hinduism has on organized body except that some vital temples of the country have the body of persons entrusted with the responsibility of management of temples. Temples too have priests and other employees to look after the maintenance of the temples and carry out routine

religious functions. The priests are usually selected only onventionally.

3. Max Weber and Ernst Troeltsch have made an important distinction between churches and sects. As compared to church sects are smaller in size. They are also not so well-organised. They usually originate as a remonstration against the old established religion. It is initiagited by a few and gradually others join it.

4. The sect rejects the tenets of the conventional religion and attempts to convince people about the weaknesses of the traditional religion. It motivates the people to follow the teachings of the sect. Arya Samaj, Neo-Buddhism and Ram Krishna Mission are the examples of sects of Hinduism.

5. Cult is yet another religious organisation. It is formed around ideology and thinking of a particular individual leader. The like-minded people follow him.

6. A person may follow a cult principle and adhere to any other religion. The cult is still smaller and has a shorter life that sect. Examples of cults in the West as given by Giddens are the groups of believers in spiritualism, astrology or transcendental meditation. The Kabir Panth, Sai Baba, Jai Gurudev are some of the present cults in India.