Final answer:
French sociologist Émile Durkheim is the scholar who described the distinction between the sacred and the secular in his work 'The Elementary Forms of Religious Life.' He views religion as a system of beliefs and practices related to sacred things that unite adherents into a moral community.
Step-by-step explanation:
The important scholar who discussed the distinction between the sacred and the secular in his work, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, is French sociologist Émile Durkheim. In this seminal work, originally published in 1915, Durkheim defines religion as a "unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things" and explores the dichotomy between the sacred—elements that inspire awe and are seen as connected to the divine—and the profane, which pertains to ordinary life. He provides profound insights into how objects or ideas can be transformed into something sacred or remain profane based on their use and social context, such as a rock becoming a headstone or being used in landscaping.
Durkheim's exploration of religion through an anthropological lens led him to study totemism in Indigenous Australian cultures, offering a broader understanding of the structure and function of belief systems. By arguing that "religion happens" when society delineates the sacred from the profane, Durkheim's work underlines the power of collective beliefs in forming religious practices and the social organization known as the Church.