Religion And Its Impact On Society

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.

In today's society, religion has had such an impact on the way we think, eat, act, see, believe and have been educated through the catholic schools and church in our everyday lives. Especially in the country we live in, Australia, which is known for our multicultural and diverseness. Research has shown that religion can have positive effects on both our physical and mental health, our self-esteem, anxiety, stress and can have good influences to protect against depression and the reduced risk of suicide, use of alcohol, drugs and or tobacco.

Kaitlyn Ouellette November 22, 2016 Impact of Religion Assignment The Influence of Religion on Western Society Religion has significantly affected the development of western civilizations and societies. All throughout the history we have covered in class, religion has played a key and essential role in defining the types of cultures within a society – a belief or faith in a spiritual, also a divine ‘power’ can add significance and true meaning to many of the western people’s lives. Religion is essentially the force that binds a race or a religious group together, and comes with a sense of personal identity to a higher figure, - God. Three specific and most commonly known religions of Western Society we have focused on in class have been Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

Observing the daily lifestyles of the individuals from different time periods show a great deal of how the religion changes the societal behavior of the followers of each religion. The religion’s form of worshipping a God is a reputable indicator of the era’s culture. While looking into The Iliad, we find that the culture of that time highlights warfare and worshipping multiple Gods. This polytheistic culture differs greatly from the culture of The Torah, which was the first established religion that believed in teaching a monotheistic education, believing in one God. Furthermore, one can see in The New Testament that they also worship one God in addition to following the teachings of Jesus. This creates a difference in cultures as this changes the way people worship their God/Gods. The transition into the first millennium brought many changes as new religions appeared and there became a diversity in beliefs. Through looking at The Homeric Era, The Hellenic Era, and The Roman Era, the differences within these time periods are shown through the transformation of each religion 's form of worship as a ritual.

As the Baby Boomers slowly fade and the Founders, the generation of social media and risk takers born after 2000, grow into the modern world, numerous crowds are questioning religion in today’s prevailing society and if it should be taught in the home (Sanburn). In fact, the religious category of unaffiliated has risen from 16% in 2007 to 23% in 2014. However, this does not mean that the overall Christian religion is depleting as still seven of ten identify themselves as Christians. Parents play a vital role in their children’s lives, ultimately to create the foundation for later success in not only their learning but their beliefs. While it does not have to be denominational, parents should give their kids a sense of faith.

The extreme was found to be Christians, who were willing to forgive everything and almost required to from their religion’s rules. However, Judaism only forgives to a limit. Jews consider violent actions like murder unforgivable and therefore stand apart from Christians on this very issue. This then creates a different sort of belief system and culture within the two denominations.

From the early existence of humans, people have always questioned the true definition of religion but, if you was to research this query, you would discover there are many definitions to this word. This diverse explanation is due to various cultural differences which influence a word 's meaning greatly. In small, religion is about believing in something that makes sense to you. It also means to bind and come together. Additionally, a factor which plays a close relationship to religion is faith. To have faith in something, trust and confidence must be present. Significantly, faith intertwines with religion. In order to be religious, one must have trust in a higher being. As a result, the relationship between religion and naturalism will be discussed, further investigations will be present on of religion and slight critiquing will be made.

Over the course of the semester, various types of religions and practices have been discussed. Religion has proven to be one of the oldest of human customs and many a time is formed on supernatural basis. Yet various similarities emerge in its literary usage, customary practices and societal impact. I argue that although religion is generally regarded as a scared aspect of a group and is sometimes used for narrative, explanatory and preservation purposes within these texts; it has been manipulated to serve and cover up the ideologies and practices of its followers. These ideologies and practices would on the most part be regarded as wrong not only on a contemporary basis, but also to those at the opposite end of its effects.

This week was about religion impact on humans and world views, as matter of fact sometimes they are both closely connected. Many of collectivistic countries, especially in Africa, are also monotheistic. In class my professor said that many years ago, the big part of the world were collectivistic, people cared more about each other and they were more family oriented. Currently, both cultures individualistic and collectivistic are so distinct. One is family oriented, and the other is self oriented. Looking closer, individualistic people are obviously human doing because they are always busy trying to figure out what the future holds for them. They work tirelessly to achieve their goals which also take all time. In collectivistic culture also, people are no longer different from individualistic when it comes to time orientation. It is becoming more common that young people are leaving their family house early than it used to be for different reasons, education or work. This habit is becoming acceptable in our society because the education standards set on the labor market are higher. As my country’s government has set the masters degree, as the education level required to get a job in most of governmental institutions, people are working hard to get their masters degree and fit for the requirement.

Religion can be one of the most controversial topics in conversation due to difference of opinion not to mention beliefs. People have individualism, free will, and culture that determines the way to live life as well as perspectives about the afterlife. Wars have continued through centuries over religious perspectives and dissimilar beliefs even though there are many similar traits within major religions worldwide. Time continues to move although lives are lost over mistrust, hate and divide of faith. The number of people that observe religion is astounding ranking in the billions worldwide. This shows that mankind has and will always seek answers about our origins, life and where we go from here. Western societies versus Eastern contrast greatly from traditions, to rituals and daily life. Humans look for answers to questions naturally instilled in our minds and one can hope to gap the divide of differences by thinking we are all here together at the same time. Religions of the world have similarities in their belief systems like peace with respect of other religions, however they celebrate different rituals and practice contrasting customs in daily life leading to inaccurate stereotypes especially in Christianity and Hinduism.

Religion. Such a short and simple term, although it signifies more than the mind could comprehend. Religion brings communities together but has the potential to tear them apart. Should we educate our nation’s young minds on religion, or is it a thing of the past? Should we, as future educators, try to incorporate faith and morals into everyday lessons? These are all questions in which we must ask ourselves in order to efficiently answer the question of ‘Does Religious Education remain relevant in Contemporary Society?’

Religions have both positive and negative effects in the world. In regards to everything in the world, religions too have consequences. Who says there is only one true religion and if there is, which religion is the true religion? There is not an easy way or correct way to answer to question number 1 and 7. The answer will vary depending on who you ask.

One major reason is that with knowledge, comes understanding and hopefully appreciation as well. If you were to ask me about how we handle religion in our world today I would say we are very ignorant and uninformed, leading to stereotyping and seeing one as intrinsically superior to all others, which can possibly be avoided by simply taking time to learn. Studies have shown that bullying and teasing about religion typically starts at a young age, which is completely unacceptable. For these reasons, I believe it is essential for students to learn about the various religions around us each and every day, considering our world is more diverse than ever before. In 1970, a little less than 5 percent of the U.S. population was born outside of the United States. Most of them were Christian Europeans whose lifestyle and religious practices blended into the ordinary. By 2010, our foreign-born citizens have nearly tripled, and the portion of Latin America (54%) and Asia (28%) greatly exceeded the portion from Europe (13%). (EducationWeek) No, children at this age most likely won’t understand the complexity of religion, but it is a small step forward in the right direction.

Throughout history, anthropologists have explored religion in great depth and have explained in various ways how they believe religion should be thought of ethologically. In lecture, when asked what comes to mind when I think of religion, I thought of my church, and the traditions that my family and I have been doing for my entire life. The way of thinking about religion described in the passage Religion: Ritual and Belief by authors Robert L. Welsch and Luis A. Vivanco is shaped by an accumulation of many different anthropologist’s theories produced throughout history. In 1871, British anthropologist Sir Edward Tylor explained how religion was formed by the “fundamental error” of primitive peoples thinking, and how they confused their dreams with reality, formulating their belief in spirts with their “religion” (Welsch 204). Anthropologist Anthony F.C. Wallace argued that people should think of religion as not only the act of believing but the rituals dealing with the “supernatural” (Welsch 204). Anthropologist Clifford Geertz built off of Wallace’s definition and argued that religion must be thought of as a “system of symbols” that helped give a sense of “moral purpose” and “meaning” to people’s lives and a sense of “world view” (Welsch 205). In lecture, Professor Perez stressed the characteristics of religion with the importance of sacred stories, rituals and traditions that helped to form the social structure of a particular region and culture. In Religion: Ritual and

Religion changes throughout time as people change their minds about what they read on scripts. It was once defined by anthropologist E.B. Taylor in 1871 as the “belief in spiritual beings.” But, essentially over the years many religions have came into this world and left just as fast as they were created. Therefore, I believe that religion is more of a behavior that is acted upon by certain groups and communities. It is more of a ritual that people take part of, rather than a belief in a spiritual being. In other words, religion was created by man to fulfill a purpose, not only to unify people through a symbol or a holist being but also to install fear in the hearts of those who blindly believe and follow.