Religion - The Opiate of the People Essay

“Sara may be well-intentioned, but she and St. Gregory’s are going about things the wrong way. You’re not supposed to let just anyone who wants to, take communion, much less pray the words of consecration over toast when your friend and former lover is dying, you don’t baptize people after they take communion, you don’t baptize children just because they ask, you don’t ‘marry’ a person of the same sex and you don’t ‘lay hands’ on people and pray for them without having received the authority to do so. And the pantry is not ‘church’; you need a valid liturgy and authorized clerics for that. Sara has simply allowed her leftist politics, concern for outcasts, and the ‘liberation theology’ of Jesuits like Martin-Baro to overcome her good

Religion and spirituality have been complex issues in the United States of America. This is especially true when it comes to Native Americans. Since the 16th century, contact between Native Americans and Europeans has been filled with both good and bad. In this paper, the issue of religion and spirituality and how they figure into the story of Indian-European contact between the 16th and 21st centuries will be discussed.

          Ever since man has chosen to write down his history, organized religion has been a prominent topic and has influenced and shaped all people’s lives. There have always been believers and non-believers. Since the beginning, non-believers have been persecuted by inquisitions, prosecuted by witch trials, and murdered by stoning and crucifying for even questioning the “truth” about a supreme being and supposed crimes against that being. Religion had a purpose in earlier times to explain life, but today science provides more concrete answers. Religious beliefs are old and outdated and people should trust the scientific facts that have been proven, not what has been

Pakistan, May 2007 around 8:00 pm, I existed the local madrasa (religious school), completing the 5th daily prayer and recitation of the Quran, and proceeded to head home wearing my light blue Kameez, White Salwar, and a Kufi on my head to offer a sign of humility before God. The reason I remember that warm windy night is because that day the mullah taught me that we humans are sent to earth by almighty god so he can test our loyalty to him. Those who follow his true path will ascend to the heavens upon death, and those who disobey him and his prophets will suffer in hell for eternity. I was 8 back then and life was good. Despite the Taliban decapitating captured soldiers and letting them rot in the intersections to

Religion is constructed on faith and belief of an individual even though it is the individual choice to follow it or not. It has stirred a lot of debates for years; those who are trying to prove that God exists throughout history and follow to modern day. While, those who are atheist are trying to prove their point of God does not exist. There are still more and more theories and debate over the subject of religious view. It is a matter of theism versus atheism; new and old philosophers have joined the debate and all with different sides to another philosopher’s theory or view on the matter. In this paper, I will attempt to illustrate the reasons given by Louis Pojman of why religion is good or bad, as well as evaluating Bertrand Russell argument about religion. This can define the meaning of life and the creation of life as we know it. It can change views or switch sides for there is always another explanation to exactly what religion is all about and having a superior ruler that created all.

He chose to view religion as a negative thing unlike Durkheim who viewed it in a positive way. Marx believed that “humanity makes religion; religion does not make humanity.” (Kessler. A, 2001). Karl Marx states that opium and religion can be an effect on human suffering by removing the incentive to do whatever is necessary to overcome it. Hamilton points out that “religion offers compensation for the hardship of this life in some future life, but it makes such compensation conditional upon acceptance of the injustices of this life.” Religion, to Marx, does not have the power to lead to social change. (Kessler. A, 2001). Max Webber attempted to demonstrate that religious beliefs were not mechanically connected to the economic structure of society, it shapes individuals behavior and actions in everyday life. Overall, it can be seen that the three main sociology writers differ greatly when it comes to ideas regarding religion.

From a Christian perspective, American culture is full of misleading ideas that undoubtedly derive from contentiously evil principles yet find voluminous supporters who continue to promote such exploits. Integrating the belief systems of Biblical principles and secular approaches has been a critical debate for years within American culture and continues to polarize with the changing healthcare laws permitting abortions, supreme courts legalizing gay marriage, the elimination of prayer from public schools in the 1960s and more recently the demand to remove the Ten Commandments from government facilities. All these political social endeavors continue to divide Christians from secularists in a substantial psychological manner (Clinton & Ohlschlager, p. 704).

1) How does the "Realization of the divine within" lead followers of the Swadhyaya to begin the work of "social harmony and cooperation? It teaches them to see that the lord is with us and within us all. Which makes it each person's duty to contribute to to the community to carry out the will and prove the benevolence of God.

The functionality of America would not be as novel or ingenious without religion, a monumental influence in the building of the United States. If we trace back hundreds of years to colonial times, religion acted as the absolute driving force that convinced colonists that America was the new haven they had been looking for. It also contributed long lasting moral, social, and political impacts seen in countless movements reflecting the christian ideals of truth, life without sin, and altruism, or good works. Lastly, religious liberty is a major campaign so trite that one will find religious tolerance laws in every state as well as various religious tolerance groups with ease. Patently, the rudiments of religion are responsible for shaping

Generally, Marx’s position on religion is drawn up in an entirely negative manner. In his writings, he expresses his belief that religion is a set of doctrines intended to stabilize, while at the same time bring into servitude the working class people. In addition to that, he argues that the society’s inclination towards religious excitement serves to represent a reaction to disaffection. Also, Marx contends that, since religion causes human beings to feel delusive happiness it makes an erroneous mental representation in as well as of itself. Indeed to him, it is an instrument utilized to sustain cultural systems together with ideologies that in most cases encourages oppression in the society (Parsons 38-46).

There are several important ideas and most interesting thoughts that are poised by Smith that communicated to me directly. Some of the most important ideas that Smith depicted were a result of events that he experienced. He was able to observe traits from others who believed they “knew” a religion and he was actually able to explain to them the difference in sentences and phrases that one was able to understand and comprehend. It is important for one to not only study a religion and practice it but for one to be devoted to the religion. Religion is a part of life, and to live you must have religion in your life. In his article he continuously states that he is not defining the religion although he may not realize that he actually is. He is defining the religion as a concept in which an outside reader is able to understand. “The man of religious faith lives in this world. He is subject to its pressures, limited within its imperfections, particularized within one or another of its always-varying

Following the Industrial Revolution in 19th century Europe, change was in full swing and religion began to have different meanings for different people. The upper-class citizens used Religion, namely Christianity, and the power that it possessed in an attempt to keep their high status in society, while the lower class turned to faith so that their lives could possibly improve. Instead of religion being the cornerstone of faith and worship amongst all people, it was being used for power and money by the upper class. Even worse, religious leaders were using the upper class people as well, gaining money and authority from their endorsement. A man by the name of Karl Marx saw

We all have some experience with religion. Whether our parents are religious, our own religious views, or others who try and convert you to a religion, we have all come in contact with a religion. But what do sociology and religion have to do with each other? The answer to this question is that religion meets sociology in the affects that it has on an individual or society (Schaefer, Richard T, 2009, pg 323).

Throughout history religion has been used as means to justify actions and to control people. The two earliest examples are Zoroastrianism and Hinduism. The time frames that will be discussed will be the reign of Cyrus, 521 to 486 BCE, and India from 1500 to 500 BCE, before the Persians had a direct effect on India. The Persian religion is thought to be Zoroastrianism or a derivative of it, called Achaemenian. (For this paper the Persian’s religion will be referred to as Zoroastrianism.) However, Cyrus did not strive to spread his religion he introduced his self into other religions as a divine figure. Hinduism is a religion whose origins are unknown but are speculated to have been initiated by the Aryan people. The development of the

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of religion is as follows: “the belief in a god or in a group of gods, an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods, or an interest, a belief, or an activity that is very important to a person or group” (Merriam-Webster.) My personal definition of religion is that it is a set of beliefs and practices that generally pertain the worship of one or more than one spiritual beings or representations of a spiritual power. Religion can be personal belief or an organization or group of people who have similar beliefs and values. There are many different types of religions in the world and have been since the