Religion And Its Impact On Society

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.

“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ― Albert Einstein. According to the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary, religion could be defined as, “an interest, a belief, or an activity that is very important to a person or group”. In other word a religion could mean a belief in a supernatural controlling power. In todays society there are many well renowned religions such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam. The main thing that all of these above mentioned religions have in common is that they serve as guides on how one should live their life. On the other hand many people started to question religions and their stories. Which in turn led to many individuals becoming atheist. According to the Merriam Webster

Western scholars of religion have attempted to define the term religion for a long time. Often times, these definitions are too narrow and are based on the individual’s own background and

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 has been present in this world for thousands of years, providing ancient civilizations with answers to their questions and a moral code to abide by. Today, religion still serves that same purpose and more, forming and changing as time goes on. Though religions today may share some elements, they do share vastly different opinions on the soul, time, truth, and the senses, and provide answers and a way of life to those who desire it.

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 is difficult to describe, but for this article, it will be used interchangeably with “belief in, or worship of god”, “a collection of beliefs”, “an order of existence”, or “a cultural system.”

The word “religion” originated from the Latin roots as Religare, which meaning to bind together. This is one way to explain the power of religion, whereas it binds a person to a community, belief, culture, feelings, imaginings, and actions. It is a moral code believed to be empowered by the gods. It is mainly focused on a belief in something sacred. A specific social group is usually bound together to represent a religion. There are also many different forms of communications with those metaphysical figures. What most do not realize is that religion always begins in an experience.

Defining the world ‘religion’ is not an easy process, fraught with difficulties. Throughout the ages, many attempts have been made. Often time’s people tend to focus on a very narrow definition that matches the person’s own beliefs but not others. One of the reasons it’s notoriously difficult to define because it crosses so many different boundaries in human experience. According to the Miriam Webster dictionary, religion could be identified as ‘a set of ideas concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs’ . Some see religion as a belief, while some understand it as the interaction of belief, behavior

Religion has affected the human in many ways; rules, traditions, culture patterns, morality, etc. The most powerful and important role that religion plays is that how it controls the human. I believe that religion has created conflicts between people including whole countries. Religion has the societal effect of dividing people into "us" and "them". This unfortunately has the same characteristics as any other form of discrimination, such a as racialism. Then, it would come very easy to consider "us" as the righteous and "them" as unrighteous. Religion can also be used as a tool of suppression. It 's easy to maintain order and nullify dissent by citing religious grounds. An example of how society is influenced and impacted by religious

Religion is something that virtually all humans have in common. In all corners of the world and in all eras of history, people have wondered about the meaning of life, how to make the best of it, what happens afterwards and if there is anyone or anything "out there." The world of philosophy consists of so many unanswered questions. One such question is whether or not God exists. This is the very question that has grasped the imagination of humanity since the birth of reason, and the same question that has plagued scientists and philosophers without coming close to an accepted conclusion. God is a word that means different things to different people. The definition for God, according to most monotheistic religions is the creator and ruler

Religion and the influence it has on kingship has fascinated scholars in fields such as history and religious studies. Kingship has been influenced by the use of religion for the purpose of legitimizing power, keeping promises to its people, and finding reason for life. Religious influence on kingship seems to be an almost universal concept in human history. The acceptance of religion has changed many kings’ lives, for the better. All throughout history, religion has expressed the answer to our deepest questions that we ask. It has been dedicated to be centrally place in the lives of all civilizations and cultures. Religion had a great influence on how Ashoka, Clovis and Charlemagne ruled their people.

As scientific studies have increased dramatically over the past few decades, religious numbers have been down. Religion has been a major part of people’s lives since the beginning of human existence. What if religion died off? How would people live? This is an important topic because it shows how science has proved religion wrong. Multiple studies have been conducted over the years to see if science really has an effect on religion and how people that believe in science compare to the people that do not; such as surveying scientists and regular people on their beliefs or organizing brain studies on religious and nonreligious people. Also, studies have been conducted on the moral choices of religious people and how it compares to others. From these surveys, regular people tend to be more religious than scientists. Criminals were most likely not to believe in Hell. Religious people tended to be more morally correct than atheists. These results have shown that religion has kept people thinking correctly and it is not going anywhere anytime soon. However, religious numbers are dropping, mostly due to scientific influence. Some people today do not feel the need to go to church. Overall, religion has left the lives of many people all over the world because of scientific studies that have proven many of their beliefs wrong.

For many years we have defined religion as a system of believes particularly belief in a God or gods. The problem with this is that we categorize too much under the umbrella of religion that does not fit under this category; as Craig Martin argues in, A Critical Introduction to the Study of Religion, “The colloquial use groups together dissimilar things. All of those things we call ‘religions’ simply do not share a set of core properties”. We tend to define Catholicism when asked to define religion. Many very educated philosophers have tried to come up with a perfect definition of religion and failed. It is an important subject of study because it gives unimportant objects significant meaning. For example, it can turn wine into the blood of Christ. Religion is present in all of our lives in some form. Religion is not a term but rather a state of mind, an idea that cannot be grasped. We classify religion as a noun, but in actuality the name refers to the activity or function. Religion is more about the structure than the content. It does not need to be defined in order to adequately study or take part in it. Anthropologist, Talal Asad, argues, there is a flaw with every definition. This leads to the conclusion that religion simply cannot be defined.

First, the development of religion must be laid out. Religion, for the most part, began with animism. In this practice, inanimate objects are regarded as holy and subsequently worshiped. Herodotus provides a prime example of animism with Xerxes. “…he was travelling along this road Xerxes came across a plane-tree/ which was so beautiful that he presented it with golden decorations/ and appointed one of the Immortals a guardian to look after it.” Herodotus: (Book 4, paragraph 31). Xerxes comes upon a strange tree and judges it as holy and even calls on a god to protect it. This can lays the underlining basis for how animism can be explained: people associate objects to be of divine semblance and virtue due to properties they possess.