宗教社會學(xué)是運用社會學(xué)的工具和方法研究宗教的信仰、實踐和組織形式。這種客觀調(diào)查可能包括使用定量方法(調(diào)查、民意調(diào)查、人口統(tǒng)計和人口普查分析)和定性方法，如參與者觀察、訪談和分析檔案、歷史和文獻(xiàn)資料現(xiàn)代學(xué)術(shù)社會學(xué)始于1897年埃米爾?迪爾凱姆(Emile Durkheim)對天主教和新教人群自殺率的研究中對宗教的分析。迪爾凱姆的研究是社會研究的基礎(chǔ)性工作，旨在將社會學(xué)與心理學(xué)等其他學(xué)科區(qū)分開來。馬克思和韋伯的著作強(qiáng)調(diào)宗教與社會經(jīng)濟(jì)或社會結(jié)構(gòu)之間的關(guān)系。當(dāng)代的辯論集中在世俗化、公民宗教以及宗教在全球化和多元文化背景下的凝聚力等問題上。當(dāng)代宗教社會學(xué)也可以包括非宗教社會學(xué)(如對世俗人文主義信仰體系的分析)。宗教社會學(xué)與宗教哲學(xué)的不同之處在于，它不著手評估宗教信仰的有效性。比較多種相互沖突的教條的過程可能需要彼得·l·伯杰(Peter L. Berger)所描述的內(nèi)在的“方法論無神論”。雖然宗教社會學(xué)與神學(xué)在假定對超自然現(xiàn)象漠不關(guān)心方面有著廣泛的不同，但理論家們傾向于承認(rèn)宗教實踐的社會文化具體化。

Sociology of religion is the study of the beliefs, practices and organizational forms of religion using the tools and methods of the discipline of sociology. This objective investigation may include the use of both quantitative methods (surveys, polls, demographic and census analysis) and qualitative approaches such as participant observation, interviewing, and analysis of archival, historical and documentary materials.[1]Modern academic sociology began with the analysis of religion in ?mile Durkheim's 1897 study of suicide rates among Catholic and Protestant populations, a foundational work of social research which served to distinguish sociology from other disciplines, such as psychology. The works of Karl Marx and Max Weber emphasized the relationship between religion and the economic or social structure of society. Contemporary debates have centered on issues such as secularization, civil religion, and the cohesiveness of religion in the context of globalization and multiculturalism. The contemporary sociology of religion may also encompass the sociology of irreligion (for instance, in the analysis of secular humanist belief systems).Sociology of religion is distinguished from the philosophy of religion in that it does not set out to assess the validity of religious beliefs. The process of comparing multiple conflicting dogmas may require what Peter L. Berger has described as inherent "methodological atheism".[2] Whereas the sociology of religion broadly differs from theology in assuming indifference to the supernatural, theorists tend to acknowledge socio-cultural reification of religious practice.