From a sociological perspective, should religion be used to define standards, values, and laws in any society?
Whose religion? The problem is that this question would have to be assessed from a given society. In a closed society, where the members are homogenous – of the same culture and belief system – it can be a secure, stabilizing force for everyone. People in such a society know what to expect, and rebellion is quickly quashed. In a diverse society, however, trying to set up standards, values, and laws based upon any one religion, even the dominant religion, tends to disenfranchis others who do not adhere to that religion. Animosity, prejudice, rebellion, and even anarchy has arisen from such oppression. In fact, the United States was somewhat founded on just such a situation. Later, many indigenous cultures were destroyed on the same premise.
In most normal societies, there are laws against rape, murder, theft, etc. These values are included in most religions. For example, whether you are Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, or Shinto, wanton killing is wrong. Likewise, the majority of countries share these sentiments. So, In my opinion, in situations like this, religion does not guide society. Rather it reflects pre-existing values and opinions. Even a government that does not acknowledge any religion would have moralistic laws. Basic human instinct dictates morals. Religion might help to refine the conscience, but every society has some concept of right and wrong.
You ask ‘should religion be used to define standards, values and laws in any society?’. The truth is that already societies throughout the world are based on religious values. For example, historically Muslim or Christian countries will have their laws reflecting it’s religious belief. In my opinion, based on a Weberian perspective, religion is a part of an inbuilt capitalist system. Let me explain, the influence of certain religious ideas (such as offerings and having to commit good deeds in order to be accepted into heaven after death) encourage the economic spirit. This idea is known as the Protestant Ethic or the Spirit of Capitalism. However, this applies to primarily Western religions. Even though early sociologists predicted the death of religion and the corresponding rise of science and rationality, there has been a massive resurgence of fundamentalist religion in the past few years. Religion has become more important to society than ever before. Another idea is from Ninian Sma
