International Journal of Development in Social Sciences and Humanities

According to Berger and Luckmann, the universe consists of meanings and beliefs. This belief systems shapes two important institutions in our society-religion and science. The term 'religion' is linguistically derived from latin terms—religio and religare. Both of these terms mean 'to respect, oblige to what is sacred'. With the usage of this term, the distinction between sacred and sacrilege becomes easier to judge. Sacrilege simply means 'violation of what is sacred'. This becomes a benchmark to judge 'profane actions'. The most important element however, highlighted by Durkheim, is that not all beliefs can be designated as sacred, but only those which are collectively considered by people. These 'common' meanings have the power to shape communities, societies and even nations. The tribal communities, for example, Mundas and Bhils, are bound together with their own meanings of sacred and profanity in kinship, worships and rituals. Similarly, the Parsi society has its own ways to conduct their religious codes. Finally, religions can also shape nations like in the Middle East. The Shia dominant Iran conducts its relations with neighbours differently from the Wahhabism (Sunni) dominated Saudi Arabia