ABSTRACT
Meaning theories in synthesising the insights of intellectualist, emotionalist and sociological approaches have at least in part transcended the problems of each of them. Intellectualist approaches neglect the emotional dimension of religiosity. Emotionalist approaches throw out the baby with the bath water in dispensing with the explanatory role of religious belief. In providing meaning, religion is often said not simply to address existential questions relating to the individual but also to play a central social role. It provides justification for actions and legitimation of practices, customs and social arrangements. Sociological approaches to religion have usually stressed its role in upholding the social order. While one might acknowledge that religious beliefs become inevitably precarious in such conditions, religion is still essentially a social enterprise rather than a purely individual one as the study of sectarianism amply demonstrates. Religious diversity through history and across and within cultures is truly remarkable and testimony to the inventiveness of the human mind and imagination.
