Supernatural belief

Either in small-scale or large-scale societies, supernatural belief have a large impact on social, political and economic process. It influences the way how people think, how they behave and how they live. The society limits people's behaviour and thinking while human also leads the way their society to go forward. Thus, the power of supernatural belief or religion can not be ignored. Now i'm going to analyze the role of supernatural belief in the small-scale society we have examined.

The Azande believe in magic, oracles and witchcraft. Though people who live in the modern society may think those things are naive and unscientific, those supernatural beliefs play a important role of the Azande’s society. For the social process, the Azande think any misfortune happens is because of witchcraft and they believe that witchcraft can be inherited: a male witch can pass his witch power to all of his sons while a female witch can pass to her daughters. In our way of thinking, when a male/female is considered as a witch, all males/females in his/her bloodline should be a witch; otherwise, no one in his/her bloodline can be a witch. But the whole family may be root out in this way. To prevent extinction, the Azande set another rule: the witchcraft can only be inherited from the parents to their kids but not to everyone in the same bloodline. What is more, a witch will be completely unaware that he or she is doing harm; it is simply unconscious. So once anyone is considered being hurt by witchcraft, the people will think the one who does not get along with the victim should be the witch. I think the belief of witchcraft makes the Azande act very carefully in their social activities; otherwise he/she may considered as a witch if someone they don't get along with get sick or die. For the political process, the Azande believe that oracles can actually make political arbitrament. The poison oracle is not unscientific but considered as reliable. Sometimes the oracles may go wrong. For the one question, the oracle may answer "yes" at the first time and "no" at the second time because the chance that the chicken die or survive is half and half. But the Azande always find different explanations for it since everything of their culture is based on these supernatural beliefs. For the economic process, the Azande engage in hunting and fishing as part of their economic activities. It seems there is no relation between their belief and their economic system. But I think the supernatural belief and economic system are effected by both ways. The supernatural belief behaves how people live in the Azande society. The economic process points to the food and reality directly; thus, it shapes the supernatural belief and makes it more appropriate for society. We should say supernatural belief and economic progress is influenced by each other..

Compare to the large-scale society, the power of supernatural belief is relatively weaker than it in the small-scale society. In large-scale society, supernatural belief can form as a kind of religion.

In my country, China., the Chinese government assert atheism. They claim that Chinese citizens enjoy the freedom to believe in religion and the freedom not to believe in it and to propagate atheism. In Chinese society,

However, dozens of religions presence in China. Over a hundred million of people believe in different religions. Since the power of religion is huge, the govement

But the Azande does not think in that way, they think witchcraft is not a permanent part of identity. It is only inherited from the father to his own sons. It seems really strange to us. The rule they set who is witch or not is conflict. But I think it should be understandable. Since they are small-scale society, when all males or females in a witch bloodline are considered as witches, the whole family will be executed, that can be a big threaten of the whole society. To protect their society, they have to set up this rule to avoid the depopulation.

Benge, the poison oracle, is not unscientific but considered as reliable.When the Azande try to judge something, they feed a poison call benge to a baby chicken, the chick’s death or survival tells the result. The chance that an innocent person may be executed while crimials are able to walk away free of harm due to the constitution of a chicken is the result of the Azande’s belief that “oracles” can actually determine whether a person is guilty or not. In this way, the Azande’s supernatural belief acts as a value system that effects the political process.

For the Azande is a horticulture

Among the Azande, witchcraft is considered to be a dangerous power.

In large-scale society, supernatural belief can function as religion.

Compare to the large-scale society, the religion’s power is not as strong as the small-scale society, especially in my country China. The Chinese government assert antitheism,

The Azande always give itself some explainations to pursue its own system.

It is also often unintentional which means a witch will have no idea that he or she is doing harm to others.

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they say the one who is considered as a witch only passes own son

Explain supernatural belief

How it connect to social political and economic

http://genealogyreligion.net/the-many-functions-of-religions