<P> Durkheim defined religion as </P> <P> A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, i.e., things set apart and forbidden--beliefs and practices which unite in one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them . </P> <P> In this definition, Durkheim avoids references to supernatural or God . Durkheim argued that the concept of supernatural is relatively new, tied to the development of science and separation of supernatural--that which cannot be rationally explained--from natural, that which can . Thus, according to Durkheim, for early humans, everything was supernatural . Similarly, he points out that religions that give little importance to the concept of god exist, such as Buddhism, where the Four Noble Truths are much more important than any individual deity . With that, Durkheim argues, we are left with the following three concepts: the sacred (the ideas that cannot be properly explained, inspire awe and are considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion), the beliefs and practices (which create highly emotional state--collective effervescence--and invest symbols with sacred importance), and the moral community (a group of people sharing a common moral philosophy). Out of those three concepts, Durkheim focused on the sacred, noting that it is at the very core of a religion . He defined sacred things as: </P> <P>... simply collective ideals that have fixed themselves on material objects...they are only collective forces hypostasized, that is to say, moral forces; they are made up of the ideas and sentiments awakened in us by the spectacle of society, and not of sensations coming from the physical world . </P>

What german philosopher and social scientist had a great effect on realism