Research Of The Functions Of Religions In Social Governance

The religions in our country have a long history and a far-reaching influence. The relationship between the religious and social governance are mutual penetration and influence. The realization of The religions’ functions in social governance need some social and historical conditions, such as substances, values, systems and actions, with others ways of social governance. There are abundant concepts and practices of social governance in China and Western’s traditional religious, which still can guide and provide historical reference for today’s social governance.The religious play a important role in improving the social individuals, social groups and social whole. The functions of the religions in social governance can realize because of some mechanisms. In the first part, the social individuals accept the religious doctrines and use them to guide their behaviors and social practices. Then, when the social individuals integrate into social groups by religious symbolic social network, individuals’ values and actions will translate into social groups’ values and actions.In the mean time, when the social groups are big enough, the social groups’ values will translate into the social whole’s core value, which the religious can use to guide and interact the politics, economy, culture and society and other social structure to achieve social whole’good governance.But in the mean time, the religions can also have bad influences. To solve the problems which the religions cause in social governance, the paper gives some suggestions, for example, keep the guidance of core values, improve religions, reject heresy and feudalistic superstition, resist reactionary forces of overseas, government guides the development of religions.The paper mainly adopts document analysis method, qualitative analysis method, field method to discuss the religions’ role in social governance. The field method is based on the findings of one county in southeast China. The county’s religions have a long history, the numbers of the religious sites, religious activities and believers are very high. So the county is typical for study the role of our religion in social governance.The paper is divided into six parts. Part one includes research background and significance, overseas and domestic research status, research idea, the framework of the article and study methods. Part two discuss related notion, theoretical basis and the relations between the religious and social governance. Part three discuss religions’ development and features, the history and present situation of religious performing in social governance and the realization of religions’ functions in social governance’s conditions and mechanisms in details. Part four discuss the past and present and the functions in social governance of religions in C county of Z province. Part five analyzes the negative functions which religions cause in social governance and put forwards some relevant recommendations. Part six includes research results and research prospects.