Religion and the Development of the Western World

Secularisation theory has argued that modernisation has undermined religion. The importance of science and technology on economic development and rational worldview on which they depend on are seen as destroying the belief in supernatural. However religion can contribute to development, but most recently sociologists have examined what role religion may play in development in today’s globalising world.

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.

This work investigates the implications of theories of global change for the study of religion generally and, through a series of case studies, applications of those theories to specific religious movements. In particular, Beyer is interested in the seeming contradiction of the persistence of conflict between social units within a globalizing world that is more and more becoming a "single place." The first half of his book, the introduction and four chapters, is taken up with theoretical definitions of religion as a social system and the position of that social system with regard to other systems. The second half of the book, five chapters, explores applications of Beyer’s theorizing to a wide range of world religious particularities.

During the 17th to 18th century, The Roman Empire had gone through a cultural and religious metamorphous. Throughout this time, the roles of religion in the Islamic, Byzantine and Western European worlds altered the period of 600-750 with their similarities adhering to monotheism for one, and differences in regards to perspectives. These three cultures were all pretty diverse but they also shared some of the same roots and became heritors of the Roman Empire, built on different ideologies. The different ideologies of the Islamic, Byzantine and Western European worlds, consisted of different founders, places, and elements of worship, thus portraying how religion was indeed prominently central to governmental and social structures because of the large impact towards political laws.

This declaration was a precursor to the manipulation of religion as a means to acquire wealth, enhance social and political power, and as a method of societal control; a manipulation that would only grow and continue in coming centuries. Constantine understood that by getting people to believe that there was only one true and worthy God to worship and obey, convincing them to obey and worship only one worthy and true earthly leader, was entirely feasible. Implementing this religion upon his people was a self-serving attempt at coming to be an all-powerful, rightful and ruling God on earth: a concept later defined as “divine right” by successive emperors (Lundskow, 2008, 72). Abrupt social changes occurred under the rule of Constantine, and this aided with the people’s ready reception of and conversion to the Christianity. Pagan practices, although still in existence, were becoming out-dated and society was open to the idea of a religion that was a more accurate reflection of their current lifestyle; Christianity responded accordingly to this desire. Similarly, to the Emperor, not every individual was particularly overcome by everlasting faith in Christianity. Rather, its social advantages and opportunity for economic advancement proved to be the deciding factors for most. The people’s acceptance of Christianity is attributable to Constantine’s political ascension to power, which in turn is attributable to a multitude of subsequent worldly leaders embracing the Christian faith to push their own personal

There were many new forms of governance that had emerged in the post-classical age, which included the formation of new empires that were centered around the major religions of the time. Religion affected the standards of the central government and also served as a combining force among the people. Such as with the Muslims in the Muslim world they were unified under the caliph, and Christianity in the Byzantine Empire, and also Buddhism in China.

For instance, in rome, any religion that did not consider the ruler a perfect god was outlawed.This incorporated the abuse of numerous Jews and Christians. This was on account of any differences between gatherings of individuals on religion might prompt common war and destabilize the locale. The polytheistic religions that urged individuals to trust that the Roman pioneers were divine beings gave a tremendous measure of political control over the general population. Incidentally, Christianity additionally turned into a binding together component under the rule of the Roman head Constantine. The way that a considerable lot of the general population in the Roman realm were Christian gave Constantine tremendous political control as individuals looked to him as a religious ruler too. At long last in the Han realm, Confucianism was a huge component in each part of the domain. Everything from social classes to basic cordiality was gotten from this philosophy. Moreover, the command of paradise that was initiated amid the Zhou administration gave the pioneers massive political control as the prominent belief system of the time gave them the validity to run the show. With no contradiction or dispute.

Religion played a role in establishing political control in the Han Dynasty of China and Imperial Rome. Both had an emperor or central figure that was in charge, but that is where the similarities stop. Roman emperors joined the pantheon as gods. Religious cults were established to give more power to the current rulers. This would cause problems for the followers of Christianity later on. Because they refused to take part in this cult, Christians were heavily persecuted by Roman authorities and emperors such as Nero, Domitian, and Trajan. There was something like this in Ancient Egypt as well. The Ancient Egyptians believed that when their pharaohs died, they became divine. On the other hand, China linked their rulers to Heaven, an invisible realm that regulated the universe. The Chinese emperors were called the Son of Heaven and they governed by the Mandate of Heaven as long as they

Religion has also played a major role in Mesopotamian culture throughout history. Early religion in Mesopotamia was polytheistic for the majority. They believed that different gods controlled the various forces of nature. Ancient mesopotamia consisted over 2100 different deities that were associated with different city-states within. Ancient sumerian culture believed that afterlife was a land below our world that everyone went to regardless of social status or the actions performed during life. Around the 1st century CE,

The Sumerian, Egyptian, Hebrew, and Hellenistic religions all have one concept in common. Religion is central to their lives. In Sumerian religion, it was believed humans were created to serve and provide for the gods. The Sumerian people spent their days accommodating the gods because of this belief. . The Jews lived by their God’s commandments in their day-to-day life. The Greek polis was notably tied to their religion. The people’s daily lives depended greatly on following their gods.

First of all, one of the most important results of this is that the Christianisation and Orientalisation of the Roman Empire (Brown, 2008). As an empire, the Roman empire had been a republic since Augustus Octavian. Its manage system was so-called principatus, the primary or first citizen until emperor Diocletian. After the Diocletian, this system was turned over dominatus like traditional eastern state government system. However, with Constantine I, this separation became a rule. The Eastern Roman empire increasingly resembled oriental states. Moreover, the empire was getting Christianized instantly due to the certain acts of Constantine I. In 381, Christianity was declared as an official religion of this empire by the emperor Theodosius (Gibbon,

The functions of the emperors were then separated. No longer was one ruler in charge of all matters involving life within the empire. It is easy to see that the two branches had become separate and distinct from one another as depicted by the statement “…so separated the functions of the two authorities, giving each its own proper activities and distinct honours”. The idea of the separation of church and state is even more drawn out with the phrase “…Christian emperors should have need of the pontiffs with regard to eternal life, while the pontiffs should make sure of the emperor’s laws with regard to the course of temporal affairs, and these alone so that the activity of the spirit might be set free from carnal interruptions”. (Papal Supremacy Declared, 865 at p.

Religions played an important role in both Egyptian and Sumerian civilizations. It allowed people to worship Gods who they believed to ensure good lives. However, both civilizations did not use judge morality. Sumerians believed that Gods give them good living condition rather than judge it. Sumerian religion was created from myths and ritual prayers. Sumerians were “literal servants” and obey to the Gods. They offered prayers, gifts to the gods and Gods blessed people with good condition. Gods of Sumerians were Heaven creating of day and night, The Great Above making up of the space between the sky and the earth, and The Great Below where people go after death. Like Sumerian, Egypt religion was also created from myths along with traditions.

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.

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