The wild sacred and the domesticated sacred: Religion as a reflection of society

Abstract

The weakness of the religious institution does not mean the weakness of religious feeling, which can be expressed through channels other than those determined by the religious institution, which, as such, seeks to institutionalize the expression of feeling religious and to control it. Thus, just as we can speak of a domesticated sacred represented by the religious institution, there exists on the other hand a wild sacred which naturally seeks to free itself from all restrictions and expresses itself through trances characterized by the physical outburst. The sociological analysis of this sacred savage reveals that it is nothing a disguised expression of certain social frustrations experienced by marginalized people who aspire to a better life. It is also considered a reflection of the crisis experienced by religious institutions and a reflection of social anomie