The
sacred–profane dichotomy is an idea posited by
French sociologist Émile Durkheim, who considered it to be the central characteristic of
religion: "religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to
sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden." In Durkheim's theory, the
sacred represented the interests of the group, especially unity, which were embodied in sacred group symbols, or
totems. The
profane, on the other hand, involved mundane individual concerns. Durkheim explicitly stated that the sacred/profane dichotomy was not equivalent to
good/evil. The sacred could be good or evil, and the profane could be either as well.