Religion And Its Impact On Society

Religion played a huge influence in the development of western civilization so a good place to start is the medieval times. Charles Martel, mayor of the franks stopped the Muslim invasion from much of Europe at the battle of tours so there was little Muslim influence to the western civilization. This allowed a very powerful Christian Church to emerge and religion to flourish. Religion was very important for the middle ages and in reality it became the most powerful force in Europe. The teachings and practices played a major part in reshaping the lives of the European Christians. One of the most important achievements of the Church was to Christianize the diverse people in Western Europe. Religion influenced the development of western civilization through Monks and Nuns, power, reforming to change the church, and corruption against other nations.

Religion provides answers, evokes a sense of comfort in the unknown, and designs a moral code; however controversy now surrounds this subject regarding whether religion’s impact is more detrimental or beneficial to a society as a whole. Mark Twain’s narrator, Hank Morgan, travels back in time and attempts to accelerate the advancement of these people through the creation of technology and more importantly the destruction of the Church. Religion is a driving force in Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, as both the benefits and consequences are analyzed in order to address religion 's impact on society.

From the start of civilization, religion has played a crucial role in the development of most societies. The proof of its influence is evident in the way daily life was carried out. Religion had the power to affect everything from social status to common law, thus dominating a large portion of the culture. In ancient Egyptian, Islamic, and Indian society, religion had the capacity to establish how the average person would conduct their daily life.

Religions affect the lives of its followers greatly because if you're a Muslim you have to pray five times a day, if you're a Jew you can't have any other gods, and if you believe in Buddhism you have to follow the middle path to stop suffering. All these rules you have to follow can take away time from you and can make you give up stuff you have, even make you leave money behind.

Religion has shaped and played a big part of America since colonial times. In colonial times there was religious event and groups that affected the American’s society we know today. A religious event that made an impact was The Great Awakening, the revival of Christianity. Two religious groups were the Puritans and the Quakers. The Puritans came to the country to reform the Church of England and they tried to establish a temporary government in the new country until an official government arrived.

Through out history religion has played a major role in history. For many people who settled in Northern New England came for religious freedom and the colonies were spread because of that. Believing in religion is often the spiritual thing that they lead their life with. Robert Putnam, in his book, American Grace; How Religion Divides and Unites Us claims that religion, when taken in high doses is toxic to civil life, this is true to an extent. Although many people can agree with his claim he isn’t completely right because religion can still be beneficial for people who truly believe in it. Its true religion has set back society a few steps with the prosecution of many innocent people and the deaths of thousands of people but, religion has also helped many people get through hardships they face.

The religious text of almost any religion promotes peace, love and equality. Religion is meant to increase morality and righteousness, but the misinterpretations of the religious texts promotes violence and dispute. It is evident that the most influential events of history had occurred because of the blood thirst wars - provoked due to religion. The multiple components of various religions has become the primary cause for war. The mere difference of religion culminated to the Crusades, the Holocaust and gave rise to terrorist militant groups such as ISIS.

The discovery of the new world was a huge impact towards a massive majority of individuals in need, an impact in which many of them viewed the new land as a place of hope and prosperity. The main objective for why an individual migrated towards the so-called “Utopia” was because of religion. Many seek refuge from prosecution back home, but many also arrive to practice their own religion, the individual's desired freedom of religion. Throughout the establishments of the colonies, the strive for independence, and the construction of government laws; religion has always been a tremendous influence towards the people and the nation during these eras and much more. The individuals and the nation were either influence positively or negatively in three specific categories; politics, society, and economics. The effect of these three categories would subsequently have a huge impact towards everything in the whole nation causing a tremendous modification on any influences.

Religion is one of the most important components of culture which has been used in understanding the universe, natural phenomena, what to die for and how to dwell among other people. Religion can be considered as culture by itself because it provides the set of values, beliefs and guidelines for specific behavior (Samovar, Porter, McDaniel & Roy, 2013, p.40). Religion helps to control the social behavior, maintains conflict, supports emotions and gives explanations to unexplainable.

Since the the rising of humans there has always been religion to a certain level, whether that is Christianity in comparatively recent times or whether is goes farther back in history with Judaism and Hinduism along with many other religious beliefs. Since we can recall there has always been large battles and wars fought between civilizations and countries. The question is what is the cause of these wars? Many argue it is due to larger issues such as Politics, Power or the need for material goods is the cause to so many battles and wars, where as other claim and argue it is due to religion that is the main cause. While it could be argued that religion has a large influence on many conflicts is the past and present, it could also be argued that

Historically, religion has caused more bad than good. For example, the longest struggle of religious war I have ever studied, the crusades was a fanatical war. The crusades was not just aimed to retake the holy land from the

Praying is an important aspect of all religions as well as Christianity. To observe this specific religious phenomenon, I went to the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer. I attended to see one of their prayers. What they were practicing was not an individual action. They were praying with other Christians not by themselves. Also they were praying out loud. The Priest was saying the prayer and the others were either repeating after him or saying “Amen” when he finished his prayer. After praying, most of the Christians light up candles at specific part of the church. A famous sociologist Emile Durkheim discusses about religion in the perspective of sociology in his book, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. He mentions in his book that society creates the religion to live with moral rules. Since I observe the atmosphere of that holy place, I came up with several questions. What are the forces to make them go to the Church and pray together? And how do they use the symbols to become a motivated person?

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.

Eighty-four percent of the world’s population identifies with a religion; that is more than eight-in-ten people (Harper). But as an increasing number of young individuals are beginning to turn away from organized religion, important questions need to be addressed. What are the benefits of religion and what are the drawbacks? What aspects of organized religion do millennials find undesirable? In order to properly analyze and form answers for these questions, it is necessary to acknowledge and recognize the opinions of the religious and non religious perspectives. Religion has, historically, been the cause of much strife and bloodshed throughout the world, and it has inflicted impediments on societal development as well; religion does, however, possess certain positive qualities which provide a raison d’êtra for many individuals, and if this were to be ripped away, there would be an immense amount of uncertainty regarding the future and stability of society. It is necessary to pragmatically scrutinize the many negative aspects of religion, such as the division (hatred), violence, ignorance, and oppression that are all results of the enormous effect religion has on society; it is also necessary to evaluate the positive impact religion has on individuals and humanity as a whole, such as being an inspiration for good deeds and moral responsibility, being an excellent policing mechanism, encouraging principled adolescent behaviour, and providing a sense of meaning and purpose.

Religion kills. It seems like such a disgusting sentence. It seems to turn up the noses of any creed, and uttering the phrase itself can lead to some intense, spiteful fears. Why is this? Perhaps the reason is the statement truly is a heinous word because everyone should follow the same faith. That solution provides no satisfaction. People that detest anyone who strays from the true way, or at least is perceived so, are an overwhelming problem. One needs to keep an open mind, even though they might not agree, they should at least remain receptive to new ideas. Obviously, anyone could argue against this, but religion does not help as people believe. It is an ancient study of parapsychology to assume religion provides true help. Help that cannot be attributed to the placebo effect. Though common sense should suffice, extensive studies have regarded whether religion does more right or wrong. Whether people 's prayers are heard, whether it can be used to ease conflict, whether it does unify people or not.