Religion : A Powerful Force

Freud illuminates with slight sarcasm how convenient religion is in it's ability to rectify all the trials and tribulations of life for us. "Everything that happens in this world is an expression of the intentions of an intelligence superior to us, which in the end, though its ways and byways are difficult to follow, orders everything for the best." (Freud, 23) The existence of this divine creature who creates justice for us ensures that the masses will not stray from the laws and beliefs of religion and society for fear of being judged by this entity. Religion is also valuable to civilization for it's ability to explain death. Thanks to religion, death became something other than simply the termination of a life. Death stopped being the end and was recasted into the role of a doorway to another existence. As though knowing that the continuation of life were not enough, religion furthers it's own appeal by promising that the afterlife will be better than life on Earth. The afterlife itself also serves a function as well. A desire to gain entry into this afterlife will cause many of the masses to renounce their instincts.

Religion in the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia played a significant role in developing and organizing the society. Based on the common belief of the world’s divine creation, both civilizations had regular rituals and ceremonies to honor the supernatural beings. In rituals and ceremonies, the cult was expressed as the manifestation of components that symbolized the divine such as the cult images, temples, and shrines. Since religion was an important aspect in the people’s daily lives, it also had an impact on the ruling system in the two civilizations. Even though Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia have similar foundational beliefs about the cult, different cultic practices imply the difference in the structure and the scope of

There were many ways that the Ancient Egyptian society and the Mesopotamian society were similar yet at the same time they were very different. Egyptians and Sumerians agreed on religion in a sense that both cultures were polytheistic. However, the relationships between the gods and goddesses were different between the Sumerians and Egyptians. This essay will discuss those differences in culture, religion and the viewpoints on death and afterlife.

Mesopotamian and Egyptian religions shared two key similarities: polytheism and priestly authority. The religions in Mesopotamia and

Religion is one of the greatest creations of mankind. Human beings are different from any other animals because of their ability to think and to create. When man evolved to form societies or countries, when they need to understand better the world around them, religions were created naturally.

Almost all religions around the world are based on a belief. Almost every religion have certain rules and principles that order together within a society: Many people misunderstand and misinterpret the holy texts the Bible, Quran, Torah, and others fabricate. Religion is defined as faith to a higher being who one believes has created us. It has also been used as laws through history to stop the committing of crimes. In many religions, the consequences of breaking rules and regulations of the religion are burning in the pit of hell. Religion is man-made and was created for many reasons but mainly to keep peace and justice in the world. But the words can be manipulated and used as an excuse to start wars on this planet. This caused many to believe that the world would be a better place without religion.

Religion provides modern day with a moral code. It’s used to explain things to children that they might not necessarily understand like death. Religion is used as hope, as a way to keep your hopes alive and not give up. Religion today is used as a support system. If you’re going through a rough time you can go talk to your pastor or if you need financial or social support your church and the people who share the same faith as you will be able to help you in any way they can. Religion today is used as a way to bring together communities and people. On the flip side though religion can cause people to be close minded and be set in there ways. I think that’s why atheism has been on the rise. People who don’t have a need to believe in something they can’t see or don’t believe in the afterlife are called atheists.

societies usually desire the perfect reflection of them .As time passes and life changes so do religions ,however the bases of the religion remain. Each religion has different dominations, each to fit certain societies . some of the reasons why one may be religious could include social and psychological aspects. Religion could help cope with stress, give hope and peace of mind .It could give a sense of community , along with a support group , It also gives a worldview , purpose , and a system of ethics . Because religion fulfills human needs it has not extinct

Joy Ogbonna Two ancient civilization Mesopotamia and Egypt created unique and complex civilizations with distinct political, social, and religious characteristics. Egypt and Mesopotamian civilizations are different in gender roles, but similar in religion and political structure. Each civilization viewed the world very different, and these differences led to the instability of Mesopotamia, and protection of the civilization. The historical evidence would indicate that the two civilizations, Mesopotamia and Egypt had some subtle differences but for the most part they were very alike.

Religion which has been around since the earliest of settlements served not only as a sense of hope and reason during gruesome events throughout history, but as a way of adding meaning and significance to the lives of people and civilizations, thus shaping them not only as individuals but as a society. Although, a great desire to generate wealth was a main aspect in the development of civilizations (considering that they were told that "financial support for their efforts would end"), without religion there would've been nothing to fall back on when all hope was lost, proving that religious devotion had the strongest impact in shaping most of the early settlements.

“Religion is simply an ideal. It is an ideal force that tends to free the human being from material bonds. ” (Nikola Tesla) Religion has played a leading role in the development of the human race, providing people with the motivation and purpose that they needed to survive and thrive in more barbaric times. Living in fear of being slaughtered by your neighboring countries is something that we have the fortune of not worrying about, but we do deal with more sophisticated issues. With developments in government, technology, medicine, we live in an age of scientific enlightenment and creativity. In this new era of intelligence, the ideal of religion is being put on the backburner. Religion has become an archaic system that people use to reject proven

Religion can invade, conquer, and rule masses of people far more effectively and efficiently than any empire or conqueror. This is not to spark a heated discussion about religions. Its purpose is, to say that, even though it is highly debatable whether religions are false or true, most of them serve a very basic purpose of establishing morals and values. Early religions were used as a source of power and economic growth. Even if one doesn’t believe in or agree with the teachings of any religion, history shows proof that it creates a sense of order. There are many religions in the past that have brought order and civilized conduct to large numbers of people, not through military conquest, but through the promise of reward or the fear of punishment. Religion is the glue that binds local communities into nationhood and creates common understandings and shared values that are essential to the growth of a civilization. No religion is fully formed at its start, so why did some religion play such a big role in growth of the Ancient Civilizations.

In the earliest civilizations of the West, the influence of religion was crucial in establishing key elements of government and developing distinct cultures. Sacred texts showed rules and stipulations to abide by, just to keep the god’s wrath at bay. The world’s greatest temples were built in homage to those gods as thanks from the early peoples, for having shone them the way of righteous living. A god could also dictate where an army waged war and what lands a civilization should conquer in their holy name. The conquests of such wars built strong empires, which allowed the spread and adaptation of the same driving force that made the civilization what it was: religion.

Throughout history, religion has proved to be the main source of social stability in different communities and cultural groups. Everything that is part of a societal system, including law, is influenced by religious beliefs and practices of that society. This being said, most religions are based on the theory that there is a single more powerful entity, that has control over aspects of which humans do not. For the longest time in history, sociologists have argued that peer group, political movements, schools and most importantly, the family to be agents of socialization. Because of this reason, they have ignored the role played by religion in the perpetuation of cultural as well as social

They became the cornerstone of many earlier and later civilizations. Even today many countries, especially those in the Middle East, have religious leaders who work with the government to enact laws and “guide” the spiritual aspect of the lives of their citizens. Unfortunately, with such strong beliefs and convictions can come conflict. This conflict can be on a small scale, such as discrimination against those who don’t share the same beliefs to full-scale war which was the case in the first Crusades. In more recent times we have seen mass genocides of people based in part on religious beliefs such as the annihilation of the Jews during the Second World War. Today we see it played out in acts of terrorism, jihads. Religion is a powerful tool that can be used both to help and enrich the lives of people or used as justification for intolerance against others.