The Importance Of Religion In Society

The other common feature in many religions is the distinction of sacred places, time, events or people from ordinary ways of life (Steinicke and Volkhard 17). Muslims, for instance, have set up Fridays as their holy day of worshipping Allah. Every member of the Muslim faith are expected to present themselves to the Mosques on Fridays in order to thank God for almost everything that had been done to them. Friday, therefore, is not like any other day in Muslim’s calendar. The Buddhists have built temples where they worship on specified days or time (McKim 28). The temple is also furnished with idols representing Buddha in order to separate such a place from any other building. Christians consider churches as the most holy grounds for worshipping God. The place that has been selected for worshipping or meeting to discuss matters related to religion is usually separated from other places in order to show the importance. Such a distinction makes it easier for people to notice the difference and strengthen their faith or belief in the supernatural being (Walter 79). A day that has been set a set for worshipping shows a recognition that the belief is real and people should focus on strengthening their faith.

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).

If we look back at the past, it seems obvious that religion plays a role in the formation of governments. The rulers of Europe were said to be ordained by God. The Catholic church played a massive role in determining the fates of the

Having a religion is an essential piece of life. There are many religions that a person can choose, whether it's Christianity, Buddhism, or even Judaism. It’s is found to boost happiness and evolve a person's overall well-being. Having a religion can help bring a vast community of people together. Some people come to find religion in early childhood or even as a grown adult. People who have found it at any point of their lives are studied to be happier than those who have not.

Religion is a spiritual system in which one can depict the sacred or divine through their own conceptions of consciousness and of what ultimately matters to them. A religion is more than a belief system, it can involve ritual practices, moral codes and various types of social organization (Lecture: 09/11). Religion does not strictly entail a god to worship upon, but often a sense of feeling one with the supernatural. Many people believe in god and do not practice regular prayer but still carry a devotion to this idea of a sacred being. Upon personal belief, I feel religion is up to each individual in their own journey of life to depict what spirituality brings to them with rules or not. Religion can bring freedom to ones life along with guidance making it up to the beholder.

Religion is a subject matter that we unexpectedly experience on a daily basis. Religion may affect us in a number of ways. It could have an impact on us because we follow a particular faith and the understood regulations or principles governing it, or because we live in a society where people assert their faith towards the religion boldly, or maybe because we know that it is a very sensitive and important subject of discussion in the social conversations (Ammerman, 2013). Sometimes it’s better to ask an individual about their health, health history, and current lifestyle, than to ask them anything about the religion they practice or about the ideology of religions practiced by others. I consider religion to be too personal and sensitive

Not a single person would define religion, in their own words, the same as anyone else. James Martineau, an English philosopher influential in the history of Unitarianism, once said “Religion is the belief in an ever living God, that is, in a Divine Mind and Will ruling the Universe and holding moral relations with mankind.” Many different people see religion in many different ways. Religion has been an important place in the history of civilization. It gives a meaning and purpose to human life and satisfies man’s longing for peace and salvation. “The essence of religion is a belief in the persistency of value in the world” said Harald Hoffding. Danish philosopher and theologian, of the early 1900’s. Eighty-four percent of the earth’s population believes in some type of religion. Although many people would argue that there is no God, religion was created based on the idea of a greater existence, in the early colonial times, many different religions have thus been formed, and all of these religions still effect our society today.

For millions of years, billions of humans have existed and every single one of their lives will end with death. Over these years, many humans have founded multiple religions that explain that which cannot be explained. While the majority of people devote their lives to these religions, these religions come across as fear mongering campaign against the evils they are creating. The honest answer of what happens after death is still not proven in today, leaving millions of people to decide to either believe in a religion where they find closure, of the complete opposite. When it comes to religion, many humans lost their lives standing up for their cause in hopes of not being forsaken by their God. Christianity alone is responsible for many outburst of violence in the world, such as the Thirty Years War and the Crusades. While these wars do not disprove religion in any means, they do prove that people will fight others for having slightly different beliefs that themselves. In other words, religion can be used an excuse in order to fight for superiority amongst the Earth population. Humans genetically want to be involved in modern life and change, which all ends once death rears its ugly head, so is it possible that a religious afterlife after death is a man-made?

While religion plays a big role in the lives of many throughout the world, there are some people who are non-religious. In fact, a study conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (2015) reported that 23% of people claimed no religious affiliation in 2014. Those who are unaffiliated with any religious group often identify as an atheist, someone who does not believe in God, or as an agnostic, someone who is unsure if there is a God (Gallup 2014; Kosmin and Keysar 2009; Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life 2012; Hirsbrunner, Loeffler, & Rompf, 2012). Surveys show that most non-religious people do not start out this way; instead they choose to become non-religious as adults (Manning, 2013). The non-religious people who choose to reject the dominant beliefs and practices of their culture may sometimes face negative reactions from those around them, including those within their own families (Kalkan, Layman, & Uslaner, 2009; Zimmerman, Smith, Simonson, & Myers, 2015).

By definition, morals are a person’s standards of behavior concerning what is and is not acceptable for them to do. By this definition alone, morals have to be relative. Morals are based on what people believe, and it is impossible to think that every person in the world believes the same thing. A person’s morals can be based off of their geographical location, religion, political party, upbringing, or even the time period in which they lived. Each of these factors can greatly impact what people think is right and wrong.

Organized religion has a huge influence in today’s world, we have seen religion have power and control over people in many types of ways in different religions, it is the only easy way to convince people in how to live in today’s society, government also has been involved to manipulate people enforcing laws and making you obey them, creating churches saying to make "donations" for the better cause of the church when they are just spending money on themselves right in front of the general public noises without them knowing, making themselves look foolish, another thing would make them believe they will be in hell for eternal life if they don’t follow the laws of their organized religion, making religion control people in what to do then how to do it themselves like creating their own customs or ideas about life, this all leads to wars making religion one the worst things in the world by manipulating them.

Religion has created major turmoil in America. Every night on the news, specialists elaborate more and more about the candidates and their ideas. Many of the most controversial issues are refugees, terrorism, and abortion; all of which all have aspects dealing with religion. This is a sharp contrast to the supposed “separation” of church and state in America, since citizens are electing the next president based on his religion-based opinions. These opinions are often altered through the instantaneous spread of information. This leads to incorrect accusations that threaten the Candidates reputations and campaigns. This situation is more relevant now than ever before due to the abundance of social media and news outlets. While observing the dynamic relationship between religion and politics, it becomes crystal clear that they are closely intertwined. Interactions in today’s society involves social aspects and a religious aspects. These two combined create a basis for political persuasion. It poses the question, if there is any separation between church and state in America today. The answer is simple: no. Today in America, all of the political decisions, elections, and debates are rooted in religion, especially while looking in-depth at social aspects such as interaction, imitation, and demographics.

As religion heads closer to extinction shown by the steady global increase of those claiming no religious affiliation, the question of whether religion is crucial to a harmonious and progressive civilization is posed. With the implementation of basic human rights, religion’s fundamental use as a form of societal control to pacify populations becomes ever redundant. There is no longer the necessity of religion to be the basis of a moral code. Nations categorized by low degrees of social and economical security have the lowest prevalence of atheism and vise versa (high security = highest prevalence of atheism). Due to the correlation between prosperity and lack of religion, more secularly prosperous nations are moving away from sectarianism to secularism. Socio- economic well-being generally results in a decline in the social significance of religion as it’s function as a social safety- net becomes unnecessary. However, no culture has been without religion in one form of another (myths, gods etc.) as a result of our biological craving to justify the unexplained. Nonetheless, religion arguably hinders growth of modern society by its tendency to ignore factual based findings and replacing doubt with a false, unsubstantiated surety. More than half the people under the age of 50 stated that religion was not important. Furthermore, recent findings demonstrate that the shift of religious importance by generation will persist unless religion does not tolerate society’s values. This

Even before there were millions of copies of bibles in circulation religion has been a part of society that has always been there. But is this idea of rules and regulations enforced by a belief system really helpful to society? In a world without religion would there be less wars, hatred, and discrimination? With so many people involved or affiliated with religion it is important to explore deeper into the negative impact that religion has on society and try to make the world a better place with information that will help all. At a personal level religion fulfills the role of accounting for a lack of knowledge and offering hope in the face of difficulties while also offering a sense of belonging. To identify with a religious ideology, and call it the only truth and way, leads to the tremendously negative consequences of hatred, racism, and all kinds of violence. These consequences of a world in disarray due to religion far outweigh the small personal fulfillments. As Steven Weinberg, an American physicist and Nobel laureate states, “With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.” Although religion claims to lead people towards truth, light, and happiness, in reality it actually leads them in the opposite direction.

Before I begin to talk about my personal calling, allow me to share some wisdom I heard at my first SEND Conference in the Fall of 2014. Christians make such a major ordeal of “their call”. In churches across the country, people ask others “what’s your call” or use a lack of a “Macedonian Call” as an excuse to not be evangelistic. I came to Holmes with that mindset. I knew I was “called” to missions. I had gone to Honduras in September 2011. Before that, I had heard Isaiah 6:8 while Steve Harrelson was trying to recruit people for the trip. I knew that I had always loved history, geography, and anything involving other cultures. My favorite channel was the Travel Channel; my favorite program was “Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern”. So I