--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A society whose members are united by the…" description: "\"A society whose members are united by the fact that they think in the same way in regard to the sacred world and its relations with the profane world, ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48c/emile-durkheim-7413_church_a-society-whose-members-are-united-by-th_2879136.jpg" --- # A society whose members are united by the fact that they… ![“A society whose members are united by the fact that they think in the same way in regard to the sacred world and its relations with the profane world, and by the fact that they translate these common ideas into common practices, is what is called a Church. In all history, we do not find a single…” quote by Emile Durkheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48c/emile-durkheim-7413_church_a-society-whose-members-are-united-by-th_2879136.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48c/emile-durkheim-7413_church_a-society-whose-members-are-united-by-th_2879136.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48c/emile-durkheim-7413_church_a-society-whose-members-are-united-by-th_2879136.jpg) > “A society whose members are united by the fact that they think in the same way in regard to the sacred world and its relations with the profane world, and by the fact that they translate these common ideas into common practices, is what is called a Church. In all history, we do not find a single religion without a Church.” [Emile Durkheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-durkheim/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A Church is a unified group sharing sacred ideas and common practices; all religions have this structure. **In simple terms:** Churches unify belief and practice. Key Takeaway Foster shared values in communities. Themes community shared belief ritual social cohesion Mood analytical thoughtful Type academic inspirational When to use this quote - religious gatherings - civic groups - online forums Key Concepts sociology collective consciousness Questions to Reflect On - How can communities balance unity and diversity? - What role do rituals play in modern society? A Different Perspective Uniformity may suppress individuality. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Church](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/church/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideas/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Sacred](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sacred/) [Society](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/society/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [Every single religion that has ever been on the face of the Earth, ever, is a cult. That’s all they are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-rogan/every-single-religion-that-has-ever-been-on-the-face-of-the-earth/) [Joe Rogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-rogan/) > [If every trace of any single religion were wiped out and nothing were passed on, it would never be created exactly that way again.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/penn-jillette/if-every-trace-of-any-single-religion-were-wiped-out-and-nothing-were/) [Penn Jillette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/penn-jillette/) > [There is space in its philosophy for everyone which is one reason why India is a home to every single religion in the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/there-is-space-in-its-philosophy-for-everyone-which-is-one-reason-why/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) > [...it becomes clear that, given our diversity, no single religion satisfies all humanity. ... And since the majority does not practice religion, I am…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dalai-lama/it-becomes-clear-that-given-our-diversity-no-single-religion/) [Dalai Lama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dalai-lama/) > [The aggressive and quite illogical idea of a single religion for all mankind, a religion universal by the very force of its narrowness, one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sri-aurobindo/the-aggressive-and-quite-illogical-idea-of-a-single-religion-for-all/) [Sri Aurobindo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sri-aurobindo/) > [Truth does not contain in a single thought, in a single book, in a single religion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leeramtan/truth-does-not-contain-in-a-single-thought-in-a-single-book-in-a/) Leeramtan > [In England, we have a curious institution called the Church of England. Its strength has always been in the fact that on any moral…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/auberon-waugh/in-england-we-have-a-curious-institution-called-the-church-of-england/) [Auberon Waugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/auberon-waugh/) > [We are called to see that the Church does not adapt its thinking to the horizons that modernity prescribes for it but rather that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-f-wells/we-are-called-to-see-that-the-church-does-not-adapt-its-thinking-to/) [David F. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-f-wells/) > [Just as God's will is creation and is called 'the world' so His intention is the salvation of men, and it is called 'the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-of-alexandria/just-as-god-s-will-is-creation-and-is-called-the-world-so-his/) [Clement of Alexandria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-of-alexandria/) > [The church is in trouble-that's what they say anyways. The problem is most of what they call the church is not the church, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-washer/the-church-is-in-trouble-that-s-what-they-say-anyways-the-problem-is/) [Paul Washer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-washer/) > [“Martin Luther called the church building the “Mundhaus” (lit. “mouth house” or "speech house”) because he believed that the Graeco-Roman “pagan lecture” of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-patton/martin-luther-called-the-church-building-the-mundhaus-lit-mouth-house/) [Gary Patton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-patton/) > [We who were formerly no people at all, and who knew of no peace, are now called to be...a church...of peace. True Christians do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/menno-simons/we-who-were-formerly-no-people-at-all-and-who-knew-of-no-peace-are/) [Menno Simons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/menno-simons/) > [Edden called the church first,” she said by way of greeting, her thin eyebrows high as she spotted Ford’s arm linked in mine. “Hi,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-harrison/edden-called-the-church-first-she-said-by-way-of-greeting-her-thin/) [Kim Harrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kim-harrison/) > [It's not about religion and church, it's about your relationship with God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-s-not-about-religion-and-church-it-s-about-your-relationship-with/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Music truely has to all other arts the same relation as religion to the church.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-wagner/music-truely-has-to-all-other-arts-the-same-relation-as-religion-to/) [Richard Wagner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-wagner/) ## More by Emile Durkheim > [Man seeks to learn, and man kills himself because of the loss of cohesion in his religious society; he does not kill himself because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-durkheim/man-seeks-to-learn-and-man-kills-himself-because-of-the-loss-of/) [Emile Durkheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-durkheim/) > [Irrespective of any external, regulatory force, our capacity for feeling is in itself an insatiable and bottomless abyss.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-durkheim/irrespective-of-any-external-regulatory-force-our-capacity-for/) [Emile Durkheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-durkheim/) > [Man's characteristic privilege is that the bond he accepts is not physical but moral; that is, social. He is governed not by a material…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-durkheim/man-s-characteristic-privilege-is-that-the-bond-he-accepts-is-not/) [Emile Durkheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-durkheim/) > [It is only by historical analysis that we can discover what makes up man, since it is only in the course of history that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-durkheim/it-is-only-by-historical-analysis-that-we-can-discover-what-makes-up/) [Emile Durkheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-durkheim/) > [There is no sociology worthy of the name which does not possess a historical character.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-durkheim/there-is-no-sociology-worthy-of-the-name-which-does-not-possess-a/) [Emile Durkheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-durkheim/) > [The liberal professions, and in a wider sense the well-to-do classes, are certainly those with the liveliest taste for knowledge and the most active…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-durkheim/the-liberal-professions-and-in-a-wider-sense-the-well-to-do-classes/) [Emile Durkheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-durkheim/) > [If religion has given birth to all that is essential in society, it is because the idea of society is the soul of religion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-durkheim/if-religion-has-given-birth-to-all-that-is-essential-in-society-it-is/) [Emile Durkheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-durkheim/) > [The man whose whole activity is diverted to inner meditation becomes insensible to all his surroundings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-durkheim/the-man-whose-whole-activity-is-diverted-to-inner-meditation-becomes/) [Emile Durkheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-durkheim/) > [Man is a moral being, only because he lives in society. Let all social life disappear and morality will disappear with it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-durkheim/man-is-a-moral-being-only-because-he-lives-in-society-let-all-social/) [Emile Durkheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-durkheim/) > [One does not advance when one walks toward no goal, or - which is the same thing - when his goal is infinity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-durkheim/one-does-not-advance-when-one-walks-toward-no-goal-or-which-is-the/) [Emile Durkheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-durkheim/) > [The roles of art, morality, religion, political faith, science itself are not to repair organic exhaustion nor to provide sound functioning of the organs.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-durkheim/the-roles-of-art-morality-religion-political-faith-science-itself-are/) [Emile Durkheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-durkheim/) > [One cannot long remain so absorbed in contemplation of emptiness without being increasingly attracted to it. In vain, one bestows on it the name…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-durkheim/one-cannot-long-remain-so-absorbed-in-contemplation-of-emptiness/) [Emile Durkheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-durkheim/) > [The man whose whole activity is diverted to inner meditation becomes insensible to all his surroundings. His passions are mere appearances, being sterile. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-durkheim/the-man-whose-whole-activity-is-diverted-to-inner-meditation-becomes-2/) [Emile Durkheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-durkheim/) > [By definition, sacred beings are separated beings. That which characterizes them is that there is a break of continuity between them and the profane…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-durkheim/by-definition-sacred-beings-are-separated-beings-that-which/) [Emile Durkheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-durkheim/) > [For a long time it has been known that the first systems of representations with which men have pictured to themselves the world and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-durkheim/for-a-long-time-it-has-been-known-that-the-first-systems-of/) [Emile Durkheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-durkheim/) [Explore all 87 Emile Durkheim quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-durkheim/) ## More Church quotes > [While the 1963 Birmingham church bombing is the most historic, there also was a series of church burnings in the 1990s. Recognition of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthea-butler/while-the-1963-birmingham-church-bombing-is-the-most-historic-there/) [Anthea Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthea-butler/) > [If I had my brothers I think with just a little bit of the correct marketing, I'd like to be almost exclusively in small…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-bozzio/if-i-had-my-brothers-i-think-with-just-a-little-bit-of-the-correct/) [Terry Bozzio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-bozzio/) > [Turn over the pages of history and read the damning record of the church's opposition to every advance in every field of science. . . .](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/upton-sinclair/turn-over-the-pages-of-history-and-read-the-damning-record-of-the/) [Upton Sinclair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/upton-sinclair/) > [Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/believing-with-you-that-religion-is-a-matter-which-lies-solely/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Jeff Chu's pilgrimage across America to discover his own place as a gay man in the Christian church as well as attitudes about being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-freitas/jeff-chu-s-pilgrimage-across-america-to-discover-his-own-place-as-a/) [Donna Freitas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-freitas/) > [God is not calling us to go to church; he is calling us to be his church, the hope of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-groeschel/god-is-not-calling-us-to-go-to-church-he-is-calling-us-to-be-his/) [Craig Groeschel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-groeschel/) > [The emerging church movement has come to believe that the ultimate context of the spiritual aspirations of a follower of Jesus Christ is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samir-selmanovic/the-emerging-church-movement-has-come-to-believe-that-the-ultimate/) [Samir Selmanovic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samir-selmanovic/) > [ T\]he church is not a place. It's not a building. It's not a preaching point. It's not a spiritual service provider. It's a people… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-dever/t-he-church-is-not-a-place-it-s-not-a-building-it-s-not-a-preaching/) [Mark Dever](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-dever/) > [There could be no more powerful argument against mixing religion and government than the success of independent African American churches in placing racial segregation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-jacoby/there-could-be-no-more-powerful-argument-against-mixing-religion-and/) [Susan Jacoby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-jacoby/) > [Worship is not about personality, temperament, personal limitations, church background, or comfort. It is about God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-wimber/worship-is-not-about-personality-temperament-personal-limitations/) [John Wimber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-wimber/) > [A beggarly people, A church and no steeple.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-b-macaulay/a-beggarly-people-a-church-and-no-steeple/) [Thomas B. Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-b-macaulay/) > [Pound St. Paul's Church into atoms, and consider any single atom; it is to be sure, good for nothing; but put all these atoms…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/pound-st-paul-s-church-into-atoms-and-consider-any-single-atom-it-is/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [The religion of art, like the religion of politics, was born from the ruins of Christianity. Art inherited from the old religion the power…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/the-religion-of-art-like-the-religion-of-politics-was-born-from-the/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [The minute you walk outside of your church on Sunday you're in mission territory.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-barron/the-minute-you-walk-outside-of-your-church-on-sunday-you-re-in/) [Robert Barron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-barron/) > [I'm not ashamed of the things I believe and why I believe them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-huckabee/i-m-not-ashamed-of-the-things-i-believe-and-why-i-believe-them/) [Mike Huckabee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-huckabee/) [Browse all 9,430 Church quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/church/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "A society whose members are united by the fact that they think in the same way in regard to the sacred world and its relations with the profane world, and by the fact that they translate these common ideas into common practices, is what is called a Church. 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