Sociology helps people answer a lot of questions about the specifics of their interactions and the development of their community. Religion reflects the people’s visions typical for this or that social group. From this point, religion becomes the object of the sociologists’ study in order to explain the characteristics of the people’s interactions in relation to their religious beliefs and attitudes to the sacred. That is why, religion should be discussed as the social phenomenon which is typical for the definite religious group because religious groups differ in their visions and beliefs, and this fact influences the development of society significantly. Thus, the sociology of religion studies religion in its connection with the society and the people’s dependence on the definite religious beliefs and attitudes to form and develop their community. From this perspective, the sociology of religion is the specific sphere of knowledge in relation to which sociologists examine people’s religious beliefs, their sacred practices and attitudes in their connection with the social development. Sociology of religion is studied with the help of the methodological framework used in sociology that is why researchers are interested in the empirical information associated with the religious issues, people’s religious visions and practices. Thus, Johnstone determines the characteristic feature of this filed of knowledge which is in the fact that “the sociology of religion is conducted according to the scientific method” (Johnstone 6). The next important feature of sociology of religion is the discussion of religion as the social phenomenon in spite of the fact people are inclined to discuss the religious beliefs as the part of their personal life (Putnam and Campbell). It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that both visions are relevant because according to Johnstone, “religion is a response to both individual and group needs” (Johnstone 38). Religion can be discussed as the reflection of the individual’s attitudes to the sacred, but the subject matter of studying sociology of religion as the sphere of knowledge is religion within the society. Moreover, religion cannot exist without its connection with society because it emerges as the result of the people’s interactions with each other. The subject of the sociology of religion is important because it is impossible to discuss religion without its references to society and to study society without concentrating on the people’s religious beliefs. To develop successfully, religion should be based on the patterns and principles which are typical for the evolution of the society, on the particular features of the social interactions. Thus, “society precedes religion. Before religion can develop, there must first exist general patterns of social interaction – that is, a society – that can serve as a model” (Johnstone 30). This statement can be discussed as the reason to support the idea that this subject is really important. Furthermore, sociologists study religion as the key aspect of the people’s development because religion exists within the society during a long period of time, and there are few situations when societies could reject their religious views even when the necessity of such rejection was imposed on them with the help of the political strat