“Human life, O’Dea observes, is marked by contingency and death. For most people life is also painfully affected by powerlessness and scarcity. It is religion, O’Dea proposes, that enables people to cope with these challenges, persevere in the roles they play in their social setting, and thus become instruments serving the equilibrium of society. Religion protects society from breakdown.Religion offers support and consolation to people during times of disappointment; religion communicates a sense of security under conditions of uncertainty; religion confirms the accepted norms of society as religious duties and thus stabilizes the social order, despite the unequal distribution of rewards; religion communicates a social vision that at times releases reformist impulses in society; religion in many cases provides people with a collective identity; and religion helps people as they move through the phases of their life cycle and teaches them how to die. Thus, because religion makes people peaceful, resourceful, and stable, it fulfils an all-important, irreplaceable function in society.”
