Religion's Effect On Society : Functions And Dysfunctions Of Religion

For centuries, religion has formed the backbone of society, perhaps even prior to the coining of the term. In many ways, religion influences the actions of its participants, however, it also forms their outlook on life and their worldview. Out of its several influences, the change principally affects their moral sense. Nonetheless, while religion influences its pious members, these individuals simultaneously go on to impact their neighbors. From the Christians’ zeal which initiated the Crusades, to the Buddhists’ radical introduction to peaceful protest, all have left their mark on history.

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.

Religion is meant to be a solid force, helping society to bond better and progress in a civilized manner. For the same purpose, religion, with its laws and codes of conduct, monitors peoples’ way of life to ensure that humanity remains

Religion plays a vital role in everyone’s life one way or another. Whether it be a small influence for major decisions or influence for even the most mundane tasks. Religion can be used as an excuse for certain actions, whether good or bad, and can spark hate amongst people who do not share their beliefs. Religion is a powerful thing. However, when left open to interpretation can cause a dangerous impact to everyone around.

During this semester I have learned that in essence, “free will” does not gear our decision making process, it is primarily society that influences all thoughts and behaviors in turn, impacting all aspects of our life. The evolutionary socialization process initiates at the moment of conception, in our mother’s womb, through childhood, carries on during adulthood and ends in our graves. The most important and influential agent of socialization is the family. On a global perspective, the primary teachers, our parents, educate us on language, beliefs, physical control, values and civilized behavior for public conduct. The greatest belief instilled is that of divinity and forming part of a religion.

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 the driving force in the lives of many people. It is what influences and sometimes determines a person’s values. Almost every law, tradition or societal trend can be traced back to its roots in religion. In some cases, predominantly in the Middle East, religion becomes a way of life for many people. It is often an overlooked, yet very powerful, subject, with some people even willing to die in the name of it. It explains questions that philosophers and biologists have yet to find an answer to, such as the meaning of life and how the world was created. Some estimate that there are roughly 4,200 established religions and over 300 million worshipped gods. In America today, it seems as if there is a deterioration in the morals

Although there are many means by which social injustice may be encouraged in a society, religion is one of the most often ignored culprits. For fear of offense, few even dare to breach the subject of religion with peers, let alone attempt to understand how it

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.

Religion is something most people around the world have in common. Whether one holds religious beliefs or not, he can relate to others with similar beliefs. A belief in a higher power has a big impact on society today just as it has in the past, as illustrated in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Religion impacts all members of society, whether they believe in one or not.

Religion is held sacred to everyone in the world. Every possible identification someone could label themselves is, in a way, a religion. Throughout history, it can be seen that it has affected many decisions. Religion has been the cause of wars, massacres, murders, expansion of land, and more. Every religion has some sort of rules that it goes by, even if those rules are that there are no rules, and they each have some sort of head (god or gods or none). For Catholics, Pope Francis is the oracle for God. Hence, Catholics look to Pope Francis for guidance in many areas of their lives. The Pope is seen making many speeches on many occasions. For each speech, he has a certain agenda. He seems to speak for major events or sectors in the world. Pope Francis adds his input of what God believes in to be right and just. However, do the Pope’s words have actual meaning, or is he just trying to make Catholic followers feel better? In many of his speeches, it can be seen that he doesn’t provide a true answer to many things other than to love one another and to wait for a better life in the afterlife. Even if he does give some input that could be seen as valid information for politics or economy, should Catholics trust his word to make their decisions when he is not an expert in anything but Catholicism? Pope Francis is an example to Karl Marx’s theory of religion. “It is the opium of the people” (insert citation for Criticism of Hegel’s Philosophy).

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.

Throughout history, religion has proved to be the main source of social stability in different communities and cultural groups. Everything that is part of a societal system, including law, is influenced by religious beliefs and practices of that society. This being said, most religions are based on the theory that there is a single more powerful entity, that has control over aspects of which humans do not. For the longest time in history, sociologists have argued that peer group, political movements, schools and most importantly, the family to be agents of socialization. Because of this reason, they have ignored the role played by religion in the perpetuation of cultural as well as social

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.

The evaluation of functions and dysfunctions depends upon one’s criteria of what is positive and negative. Therefore, there are often conflicting assessments of the relative positive or negative effects of religion. In a way, functionalism stresses social stability and underemphasizing conflict and change, functionalists often believe that societies are quite well-integrated systems (Roberts, 1990). Structural-functionalists have frequently assessed social functions as being most essential, while considering individual dysfunctions as necessary ills. Functionalists have also been concerned mainly in the factors influencing and influenced by belief.