Durkheim Emile Durkheim was clearly a seminal figure in functionalist theory. He regarded religion as of vital importance in all societies, as it provided a key function in assisting social cohesion, he was concerned with what religion was and secondly the role it played in human society. This is the realm of routine experience, the secular , everyday world of work, toil and domestic duties. It is the sphere of adaptive behaviour, and is essentially utilitarian. It lays somewhere beyond the profane sphere, and evokes an attitude of awe and reverence.
Sacred things are both physical and moral, positive and negative, helpful and dangerous.
Durkheim never asked what lay behind religious ritual and worship, the attitudes of awe and reverence. The worship of God is the disguised worship of Society, the great entity upon which the individual depends.