How Religious Beliefs and Values have the power to Address Problems of Social Injustice and inspire us in our Own Lives.
In the world that we live in today, nothing is more powerful than religious beliefs and values in society. Wars are fought and won over them, communities are brought closer because of them, and they transcend race, class and all social restraints. Religious beliefs and values have the power to address problems of social injustice and inspire us in our own lives. This can be seen though the analysis of great religious figures in the western and non western world, such as Marcellin Champagnat and Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi.
These people had amazing amounts of faith in their beliefs and values and they inspired them, and the many that would follow in their footsteps, for centuries to come.
Marcellin was a man of great religious faith. This immense value of religion was obtained in his early years of his life. Born on May 20, 1789, he was surrounded by a very religious Christian family of ten. His mother, Marie-Therese Chirat, was a woman of strong and robust faith and Marcellin obtained a strong religious value from her, and his aunt, who was a sister of St. Joseph. His mother often accompanied Marcellin to the shrine of her favourite saint, St Francis Regis when he was having difficulties with his seminary studies. This events and people in his early life would have shaped his values system enormously. As a child growing up, his values system was still developing; he was still learning what was wrong and what was right. Being exposed to his mother's values surely shaped his beliefs and values into that which was to be the founder of a great brotherhood such as the Marist Brothers.
Mahatma Gandhi's religious values came slightly later in life, and from a different kind of source. After beginning his studies as a lawyer at the age of 19, he visited Paris during school breaks. On his travel he studied the sacred book of the Hindus, the, Bhagavad-Gita, for the first time. Always a devout Hindu, having no alcohol or women, he was nevertheless influenced by what he read. On the same trip he also read books on western philosophy, the Bible and other religious works. These text would've no doubt influenced Gandhi's values, to be accepting of other religions as well as his own.
Religion is a part of society that is so closely bound to the rest of one’s life it becomes hard to distinguish what part of religion is actually being portrayed through themselves, or what is being portrayed through their culture and the rest of their society. In Holy Terrors, Bruce Lincoln states that religion is used as a justifiable mean of supporting violence and war throughout time (Lincoln 2). This becomes truly visible in times such as the practice of Jihad, the Reformation, and 9/11. The purpose of this essay is to show that as long as religion is bound to a political and cultural aspect of a community, religious war and destruction will always occur throughout the world. A historical methodology will be deployed in order to gain
A school gave its students the tools to learn about religious diversity. While they were also located in a homogenous, poor area, they were taught about other belief systems. Just as Eric Rudoph was easily led to the totalitarian side of the “faith line” young people in Whitewell, Tennessee came to understand the merits of the other side, religious pluralism. They learned about the rich history of Judaism, and visited a Holocaust museum. These opportunities to introduce religious diversity improve the chances that individuals will end up on the peaceful, inclusive side of the “faith line” rather than the violent and extreme
―"Religion in “Brave New World“." Religion in Brave New World. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 May 2014.
Phillips, A. (2009). “Religion: Ally, Threat or Just Religion?” A Debate on the Public Role of Religion and its Social and Gender Implications, Gender Development Programme Paper Number 5, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, pp 35-58. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/30954/ [Accessed 28 May. 2014].
On my personal opinion, Gandhi and Jesus are so similar on their nature that sometimes it is hard to ignore. Gandhi had the fortune to be born in a high caste, which allowed him to receive the private education he had. However, he was one of the humblest people in the world. Even born in a high caste, Gandhi believed that he had to live in the same conditions that the people he represented in order to gain respect. How could he talk about the difficulties of poverty if he had not experienced it? This is the reason why he decided to give everything away, including his law practice. One of Gandhi’s first fights was to allow women with brown skin to be treated the same way as everybody
Central Idea: Freedom of religion plays a huge factor in our society, causing individuals to test its limits.
History has frequently demonstrated that forces of religion, sometimes involving other factors which include war, economics or technology, all help bring about the ‘social transformation’ of the world we live in today. Religion, in many sense can be referred to as the celebration or even ‘self-worship’ of the human society, this is so the functions of religion can stabilize society and put a powerful effect on many people around the world over numerous generations.
Religion has the core principle of universal freedom. Religious faith is the exercise of everyone’s natural rights. I find that religion is slowly fading away but at the same time, it will never vanish. Religion is vital in human-rights. Religion lets people decide what is wrong or rights. It has given people something that they can believe in. Religion provides mental peace and promotes social virtues. It is religion that guides lives and gives mental peace amidst the uncertainties. The social virtues provided from religion is truth, love, and non-violence. Religion is the basis in the life of civilization. It enables us to provide basic value and ethics. Every society needs religion in order to survive. Laws that were created touch basis on some religious morals. As Alexis de Tocqueville said “when any religion whatsoever has cast deep roots within a democracy … preserve it carefully as the most precious inheritance” . Properly preserving inheritance will lead to religious liberty. In conclusion, both religion and freedom make a society more stable and peaceful. Also, religion plays a vital role in social control and welfare. We strive to help out people in need and it’s the act of kindness that is promoted from religion. The large majority of the United States claims to be
Robespierre wanted to change religion and get rid of it altogether, as Gandhi wanted everyone to be able to express and believe in their own religions. Although Gandhi was a firm believer in Hinduism, he still believed in free religious expression.
Because of the colossal impact of religion in the countries surveyed the only accurate way to peek at how these people understanding themselves and their place in the world is to first have an understanding of the major religion or religions that are at work within a given society. But that statement demands the question, how is it that through religion we define ourselves? My research relies heavily on the inte...
In placing all importance in religious symbols, Geertz does not account for any social, historical, political or economical factors which may influences one’s life, world-view and belief system. Geertz essentially argues that religious symbols create belief, but Asad denies this, arguing instead that religious symbols only serve as a catalyst for belief. Thus, because social conditions will differ from culture to culture, Asad believes it is pointless to try and find common ground between all religions. Instead he insists that looking at historical facts, which may gives us an insight into the kind of institutions and ideologies were present at the time to allow a certain way of belief to become prominent, is the preferable way of studying
For thousands of years, religion has exerted a great influence over economic and political life. Even today religion is called upon to support rulers, contacts and other legal procedures.
Discrimination based on or derived from religion has been a cause of significant suffering. Prejudice directed against people based on their religious beliefs, practice, identification or association has resulted in a wide range of discriminatory practices. Prejudice and discrimination based on religion continue to be problems even in countries that otherwise has achieved a high level of religious diversity. Prejudice based on religion has been used to justify discrimination against those with different religious beliefs, individuals of various ethnicities, those who are not exclus...
The role of religion in politics is a topic that has long been argued, and has contributed to the start of wars, schisms (both political and religious), and other forms of inter and intra-state conflict. This topic, as a result of its checkered past, has become quite controversial, with many different viewpoints. One argument, put forth by many people throughout history, is that religion and the government should remain separate to avoid any conflicting interests. This view also typically suggests that there is one, or several, large and organized religions like the Roman Catholic Church, which would be able to use their “divine” authority to sway the politics of a given state by promising or threatening some form of godly approval or disapproval. By leveraging their divine power, individual figures within a religion, as well as the religion as a whole, could gain secular power for themselves, or over others. A second view, which was developed by many theologians through history, suggests that that without religion there would be a general lack of morality in the people and leaders of a given state, which would give way to poor political decisions that would not be in the interest of the people and perhaps even God (or the gods). This argument, however, does not address the fact that morality can exist without religion. In sociology, it is commonly accepted that social norms, which include morality, can result from any number of things. Religion, laws, or the basic desire of survival can all create these norms, so it suffices to say that as a society, our morals reflect our desire to live in relative peace through the creation of laws that serve to help us to survive. The argument of whether or not religion and politics should mix...
Mahatma Gandhi's Influence and Ideas Mahatma Gandhi was a man of faith and great conviction. He was born into an average Hindu family in India. Like most teenagers he had a rebellious stage when he smoked, spent time with girls and ate meat (forbidden to strict Hindus). The young Gandhi changed as a person while earning a living as a lawyer in South Africa. He came in contact with the apartheid and the future Mahatma began to emerge, one who championed the truth through non-violent resistance.