“Either God can do nothing to stop catastrophes, he does not care to, or he does not exist. God is either impotent, evil or imaginary. Take your pick, and choose wisely.” –Sam Harris
Written by: Emily Hjertaas
A world without religion would result in a much more peaceful world. I hope that by the time I die, more people will realise the fact that religion brings more grief than well. Just think about it. How many wars fought on this planet, are not due to religion? Furthermore, why do you think we have countries and borderlines? Let us for example look at India. After the Second World War, the British Empire decided to decolonize British India. The enormous country was split up into three parts because of conflicts due to religion. The Hindus, Muslims, and Buddhists did not manage to agree, and live together as one nation in peace. The majority of the former colony became The Union of India (later The Republic of India), a state for the Hindus. Meanwhile on the west side of the new India, the Dominion of Pakistan was established, a state for the Muslim part of the population. In the eastern part of British India, Burma (now Myanmar) gained independence a few years later, a country
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The human race has always been looking for answers and the truth about life. “What is the real meaning of life?” is a question as old as the human race itself. Our ancestors looked for a logical explanation, but when they could not find one, they made up their one stories to explain them. Thousand years ago, when the Vikings plundered Europe, they could not explain the thunder and lighting. Therefore they made up and explanation. The God Thor, banged with his hammer, and that caused the thunder. Today we now that thunder and lightning are due to positive and negative ions striking against each other. (Of course, it is a bit more intricate than that, but in short, that is what creates
“Religion Gives Meaning to Life” outlines how life is given meaning through theistic religion in Louis Pojman’s opinion. In this short reading, autonomy is described as in the meaning of freedom or self-governing and argues how it is necessary for ideal existence. By being honest and faithful with ourselves shows how we can increase our autonomy. “I think most of us would be willing to give up a few autonotoms for an enormous increase in happiness” (553) shows our willingness to practice good purpose.
There is no society without religion. James has also states that religion is “personal destiny”, which means that it existence is infinite in human life. Human lifestyle has been influence by the religion, so religion is a principal factor in universe. Religion is based on different believes and practices of humans which is totally understandable, despite of difference in religion people have same shared belief of putting their God above the others and shows the love and affection toward it. God has created this universe, the specious around us is the sign of his existence.
want to achieve a perfect society with one solid societal structure. Having multiple religions creates conflict, wherever you are in the world. People can not agree to disagree, or in other words, keep their business’s separate. The conflict between religions, can create a larger conflict between other groups of people that follow or support these conflicting religions. When this happens, a country can erupt into a massive power struggle, much like how WWII began.
In the novel "Brave New World" civilized society lives in a world of science and technology. Major changes have occurred during the future; Utopia now revolves a religion of drugs and sex. God and the cross have been replaced by Ford and the symbol T, the founder of the age of machines. Instead of Sunday church, members now attend solidarity services where morals and tradition are not learned, but rather faith is taught in the belief of hallucinations produced by a substance known as "soma." Soma has effectively replaced the belief in a higher being by its elimination of problems and stress resulting in a lack of imagination , creativity, or "soul." Yet religion can still be found in today's society because of man's continuing need for answers to questions that cannot be solved by science or technology.
Religion has always played a major role in the development of human society. This is the main reason why it has so often been used for unjust purposes. The concept of war is in complete opposition to what Islam and Christianity teach their followers. Still, by different means, religion was and is often brought into play to cater for the interests of powerful people.
The necessity of religion is a topic that has been widely debated by many people for many years. The vast majority of the 7 and a half billion people on this earth practice some sort of religion but for what purpose? Whether it’s too give people hope for an afterlife or too fuel their need for contact with others people can list hundreds of different reasons why they rely on religion but is religion actually essential to our wellbeing and and life quality on this planet?
Religion is a symbolic representation of society. The sociological approach to religious belief looks at how society behaves on a whole, to answer the question, “Why are people religious?” We express our participation in religious events through plays, acts of confession, religious dances, etc. To begin to understand why we have such term, let’s understand the common elements of religion. There are different types in which people believe in or follow and that is: animatism, animism, ancestral spirits, god and goddesses, and minor supernatural beings. Beyond these different elements, such one is to have religious leaders to follow.
Granted the people seek religion for means of peace and conflict resolution, it is widely believed that misinterpretation of religion is one of the fundamental reasons for evolution of war all around the world. History proves this by innumerable war and evolution incidents, one of them occurring in what we call now Spain.
There are many social institutions that have major impacts on society. One of the trickiest social institutions would have to be, religion. Religion seems to have a huge impact on a society even if it’s directly or indirectly. Why is that? Do we need it? Does it let us live a more fulfilled life? What effects does it have on society? Is it necessary for a functioning society? According to Dalton Conley (2013:611) sociology defines religion as being a unified system of beliefs traditions, and practices around sacred things; a set of shared “stories” that guide belief and action. Religion is a way for people to make sense of the world, it keeps society in line with expected behaviors. Without religion people would subside to create their own rules and would deem to follow a path that could harm a society and come to an end. Religion is necessary for a society to function, prosper, and for someone to learn how to be a well moral contributor to society.
The Society Religion as a Social Glue The view in the title is a functionalist’s view. Durkheim claims that religion is to do with the sacred and certain things, people and places are perceived to be sacred for example Jesus Christ, totem and the Tajmahal. He claims that what people perceive to be sacred are actually symbols of a collective consciousness. By worshipping these sacred things etc. they are actually reinforcing the beliefs, values, norms and tradition which make social life possible.
Others even maintain that we use religion as an excuse or as an answer to why we create so much violence. My own view on this topic is that taking away religion would make the world a more peaceful place. that the wars and violence are simply done by human nature to kill. and we just use religion as an excuse or a reason to cover up the truth. The authors Greg Austin, Todd Kranock and Thom Oommen of God & War: Religious War Audit agree that religion does not affect the peace in the world.
Has it ever crossed your mind why we have a religion? Can you imagine the world without rules or a world without the disciplines of faith, where no one or nothing can stops you of doing whatever you want? The world where only can live the strong people and the weak dies everywhere. No friendship, no love, no relationship value, no respect even to family members. People cannot go to street because of fear. No truth, only lie and liars everywhere, you do not know whom to believe or with whom share your secrets. No indicator of humanity and love, no evidence of world familiar to us. If there were not any rules that prevents you of doing these bad things, the world would like the same as you read a few seconds ago. As we do not have that bad world
Religion helps establish mankind’s place in the order of the universe. As civilization began to be established through the domestication of animals, the irrigation and cultivation of agricultural crops, and life became more complex (moving from mainly a hunter/gather existence to one that could settle down and have more time to consider advanced ideas) people began to consider questions such as, where life comes from, is there a creator or creators who helped make the world, and what happens after we die. Religion helped answer some of these questions. It gave people purpose, meaning, and perspective. Religion helped establish nations in the case of religious theocratic governments. In many of the ancient civilizations, such as the Egyptians, the Mayans, and even Mesopotamia, the priests and other religious leaders played prominent roles in help shaping the laws and government of these civilizations. As his...
So many of our principals and morals are based off of our religions that I’m not sure if people would be able to live without a religion. Going back to the idea I keep bringing up, people want an answer to those big questions and I am just not quite sure if people are just able to sit back and not give any thought to it. If there were no religions I believe the world would be sort of similar to today. It might be more violent and hostile with more differing views as there would be another thing that a person could not connect with others. There would be many disagreements, as every person believes their own thing. Religion just seems to be such an important part in lives today and factors into so many decisions that I just couldn’t see the world without
Religion has screwed us up for a long time and we'd be better off without it. By "us" I mean Americans living in the 21st century. Without religions we would have fewer labels separating us from each other and we wouldn't hate Jews or Catholics or Muslims. If we didn't have religions, we wouldn't have to convert anyone or "save" anyone. If we didn't have religions, people could no longer get caught up in the fine lines of religious rightousness or be trapped in a double-standard morality. And most importantly, we would be truly free of religious engendered guilt that never quite goes away.