A sociologist named Durkheim wondered whether, by comparing religion to society, he could argue that God is society, when people worship God they are worshipping society and when they question God they are questioning society and social morality. The easiest way for Durkheim to prove his theory was to study a primitive society. Durkheim studied Aborigines of Australia. These Aborigines had divided into clans and interestingly each clan had a name for itself. Each clan had adopted a totem pole and on the totem was an emblem, usually an animal or plant that represented the clan. Over time the emblem became sacred. They sang and danced and had rituals to worship the totem. Ironically they were worshipping themselves, their culture and their own society.
