Annotated Bibliography: Why Do We Need Religion?

Parsons says that religion helps people to deal with things that are unforeseen and have outcomes that cannot be changed. There are essential functions of religion in society it creates and legitimates society’s values. It achieves this by sacralising core values such as individualism, meritocracy and self-discipline which promotes value consensus. Religion also provides a primary source of meaning answering ultimate questions about life which helps people to adjust to adverse events and maintain stability.

This will be based on the chapter 4 Religion as "Truth-Claims", posted on Blackboard. First of all, Dianne L. Oliver makes a preface about her writings saying that religions claim to get the truth, and followers of diverse religions say that their truth is the only one true, and cannot be compare with any other. Also, she remarks that many of those religion followers use violence to uphold their own version of truth. Moreover, she let us know that she is going to consider the "True-Claims" of different religions, and show how those claims can influence the practices, behaviors, and ideas of religion followers. Next to the introduction, she considers that religion is very essential for understanding the fundamental questions in our daily lives.

During the course of this analytical paper, we will look at the impact of warfare on world societies and people's consciousness, during the period of the 1500s in world history, called the Early Modern Period; also, we will discuss the consequences of the Great War. Additionally, apart from studying the altering methods of warfare and their magnitude, we will look up to different motivations of statesmen and peoples who declare wars or engage in several types of violent actions towards certain societies. Throughout the paper, we will stretch any pertinent evidence at appropriate points of what war leaders, intellectuals and common citizens view war and violence, which they experience during their life. Some of the examples include the Arabs that vastly expanded the world of Islam, yet were traditionally predatory in nature, which benefited more from the taxation of the conquered than from their conversion. There are also examples like the Mongol Empire, which was too, predatory, but differently from the Arab

In the world we live in today, religion is an extremely vibrant factor, not only in the environment surrounding us but with the people we interact with as well. In Ernest J. Gaines' novel, A Lesson Before Dying, it is easy to see how religion impacts the community. In a small community such as this novel depicts, religion is the driving force behind nearly every decision made in the story and can be justified solely on the individual's values.

Society has long debated the direction of the effect religion has on people, and in Elie Wiesel’s Night, a book where Eliezer is torn from his home into a ghetto then liquidated into multiple concentration camps, all, while his father, himself and the other jews are tortured, beaten, and worked to death by Nazis and their partners, Elie Wiesel uses Eliezer’s faith to show the resilient nature of religion through anything, even hardship. Elie Wiesel shows that maintaining religion is so important, it is impossible to permanently undo.

historiography studies, and classic literature to prove that war was about religion, caused by men

What has once been an important role in society, is now uncommon due to outside forces such as education, peers’ beliefs, and the natural evolution of religion, in which all of the above causlessened need or want for religion over time. The underlying question is; do we actually need religion?

Throughout history, society has always had different beliefs regarding the origin of life and the existence of its creator. (Atheism 13). God has been viewed as a paternal figure and the missing link in some people’s lives (argyle 9). On the other hand, there are individuals that do not believe in anything and live their lives day by day. As the world ages, claims stating that religion has had a negative impact on humanity has become a subject of discussion. These claims are mostly supported by the mistakes of the Christian crusaders in early Europe history. Realistically, religion has not brought war and violence, the Crusaders could not accept others' views and became driven by greed, which ultimately influenced them to abandon

Religion has impacted the world since the beginning of time. For many years, religion controlled how the world was run. Countries were led by the churches, and the citizens followed that religion and that religion alone. Many wars have been fought throughout history simply because of religious beliefs. One event that had a tremendous religious impact on the world was the French Wars of Religion that occurred from 1562-1598.

In this essay we will discuss the importance of religion in society. We will attempt to explain why societies have religions and what functions their belief system has for them. We will also ask if these functions are now out-dated and if religions have any meaningful function in today's world or are they just stained glass windows into a bygone era? 'Religion' can be defined by two main groupings. 'The inclusive definition' covers all topics and subjects of a persons life including, not only, their belief in a deity but also their belief and belongingness to music, sport and any other interests the person may hold. 'The exclusive definition' refers to just their belief system regarding a 'supra-human' (Browne 2005, p. 311). It is mainly

Religion emerges from the human susceptibility for protection and use it as a tool for liberation from the bitter realities and perplexities of the world. “Religious ideas are teachings and pronouncements about facts and states of external (or internal) reality that convey something one has not discovered for oneself and which assert the right to be believed” (Freud 88). We must object to religious claims because there is no proof to substantiate them and merely ideas we follow for generations. Religious ideas are beyond the control of reasoning, as if we don’t validate our beliefs and behave that our beliefs have a substantial basis of support. Religious ideas are teachings, not the thought that

Religion can be defined as a pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance. It contains a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices that allow its followers to live their life a certain way. The world consists of 19 major religions, which are further subdivided into 270 larger groups. According to David Barrett et al, editor of the “World Christian Encyclopedia,” there are 34,000 separate Christian groups around the world. Just from those numbers alone, we can conclude that religion has a prevalent effect on people and society. Religion is viewed as a positive influence on an individual both psychologically and physically. Throughout history we can study the various effects that religion has on society. Studies generally provide great evidence in favor of religion having a positive effect on individuals and society as a whole.

Religion was discovered back in 2000 BC and is considered to be a trait common to cultures worldwide to this day. Some use religion as a way to cope, to connect, but few could use religion as a weapon against others. Since religion began, over 195,035,000 lives have been lost in tragedies brought on in the name of faith. Regardless of the brutality religion has created, it has also caused others to come together in order to speak out. As a result of religions regression in society, humans are able to progress for the sake of defending human rights.

The debate between whether religion cause war or not based on their impression of religion; furthermore, it is unreasonably clear about what does and does not permit like a religion. Countries such as Islam are fated while certain others, like nationalism, are subjectively ignored. Authors used different theories such as absolutist, divisive, and absurd to explain why religion is so predisposed to violence. Sometimes authors combine these arguments to make their case.

Religion has been a powerful force in human history. Mankind has longed and searched for the answers to its purpose, the reason for being and the possibility of life after physical death. They reasoned that an afterlife would be a place of accounting and reckoning for the life they lived on earth. Religious belief systems seemed to give the answers as to how to prepare for the afterlife. Religion became the means of giving answers to those basic yet deep-seated questions of both life and death. Religion provided a format of rules and laws for conduct and treatment toward others based on the desires and wishes of a god or gods that people envisioned, imagined or invented. Religious belief systems have been a powerful force for good and bad...good in the sense that it provided a measure of individual behavior and order in society for the wellbeing of the whole, but bad in the sense that men of ambition who craved power and control over others would often use religion as a tool of manipulation and fear. A casual glance of history tells us that complete civilizations have been built, grown and maintained around elaborate religious systems, ancient Egypt being a prime example.