Religion and Faith, the Meaning and Purpose of Life - Essay Example

Religion and Faith al Affiliation) Introduction Religion is a structured collection of beliefs, rituals and cultural systems that associate humanity to existence. Most religions are associated with different symbols and myths of sacred intense wording that purpose to explain the origin of life. Among the oldest institutes, religion is ranked second after family. Globally, different cultures have unique beliefs from which they develop their decency, ethics, religious governing structures and lifestyles. For instance, some cultures kneel before a statue or painting, some light candles, others cover their heads as a sign of respect and others chant and sway while worshiping. These differences in the religious practices of different communities is strongly linked to their beliefs. As different as the ceremonies may be, the bottom-line is that their religious expressions desire to determine the origin of life, its meaning, purpose and the ultimate nature of humanity. In short, religion is the activity that relates to the unpredictability of human life. It transcends the monotony of ordinary life through the creation of sacredness (Perry & Perry, 2011). Life is uncertain everywhere and this uncertainty is believed to be the obvious reason for the origin of religion. There is a lot suffering and death that people do not understand how they came to reside in a given area or what comes after death (Perry & Perry, 2011). The curiosity ascribed to the meaning of life has stimulated considerable interest among social scientists and other philosophers. Social scientists and philosophers have tried to understand the meaning of life, its purpose and the resignation to accept things as they are. Religion of the world. The universality of religion conforms to humans’ quest for a spiritual facet that seems to be lacking in people’s daily lives. However, societies express their beliefs differently. Predominantly, each society emphasizes on different cultural aspects that it believes are important. Religion clearly reflects these traits in that different individuals worship either gods or goddesses. For instance, farmers worship female fertility gods. Patriarchal societies worship male divinities and Worship societies worship vengeful gods among others (Murphy, 2011). On a global level, religion has a link with ethnicity. Hinduism dominates India, Islam predominates the Middle East, Confucianism influences Chinese culture and Christianity and Judaism relatively spread across the world (Perry & Perry, 2011). Different cultural practices around the world have culminated into different beliefs and religions. There are different global categories of religion. To begin with are Monotheists- they believe in one god; faithful include Muslims, Christians, and Judaists, with Christians dominating this class with approximately 1/3 of the global populace. The other category is Polytheism- here, believers base their faith on several gods. Polytheism is mostly represented by Hinduism, mostly practiced in India, Pakistan and some parts of South Africa. Ethical religions, on the other hand, do not concern themselves with a personalized god but rely on specific principles that define the order of the day. These principles help them find peace within themselves and their surrounding communities. Shintoism involves individuals worshiping their ancestors. Individuals that practice Shintoism commonly reside in China, India and Japan. In summary, Christians account for 33%, Muslims 19.6%, Hindus 13.4%, Non-religious individuals, 12.7% Chinese folks 6.4% Buddhists 5.9%, ethno religionists 1.7% and the rest 4% of the global populace (Rosser, 2010). . Religion in social science In the past, religion has faced different criticism from social sciences. Social scientists have different opinions on religion. Some of these common opinions include the notion that religion was an attempt by primitive individuals to explain life, some believe that it was a universal problem that accrued from the mistaken interpretations of dreams and deaths by primitive people and the view of religion as an artifact of an era when humanity existed in arrogance. Religion can be defined differently from different perspectives of life (Harris, 2012). For instance, as a social integration element- religion deals with scared issues as opposed to profane issues. The sacred notion is separated from the daily experiences and is considered as the unusual, powerful mysterious and unexplainable experiences and the contrary is true for profane issues. From a functionalist point of view, religion has existed in all societies because of the important functions it performs for people. Functionalists believe that individuals have two fundamental needs: to adopt, control and master the physical environment to survive. And the expression of need that helps individuals to express their feelings, for instance, a relationship with others (Rosser 2010). Common features of religion. The most common feature of religion are beliefs, organizations and rituals. Beliefs are primarily based on myths and theology. Myths are parabolic stories that communicate plainly but with emotionally charged words that represent the basic idea of a divine being. The power of myths lies in their ability to blind individuals in to a pool of faithful (Harris, 2012). On the other hand, theology is the rational system of ideas that explains a religious notion or when a priestly class is differentiated from the other members of a religious group mostly defined in articles and doctrines. For instance Christians and Jewish faithful’s believe in the bible and Muslims in the Koran. Another religious feature are rituals. Rituals are important practices in that they portray the actual behaviors of individuals towards the sacred. It is a way of maintaining sacredness and any kind of behavior that can be ritualized, for instance, dancing in a given sport, drinking from a special container and gathering in a given spot. Rituals are designed to achieve a spiritual state in which one is thought to be more likely to be accepted by the sacred. The most common example of rituals in nearly all religions is prayer (Rosser, 2010). Religious Organizations is yet another feature of religion. Most religions have a structured clergy, behaviors, holy places, and scripture definitions that confirm their devotion or membership to a certain religion. This organized structure is most common in western communities largely dominated by Christianity. Religion is dynamic in nature, for instance, it has undergone several changes. It began as a group of Judaists and was followed by the Protestants breaking away into Baptists, Presbyterians and Methodists (Perry & Perry, 2011). An additional feature of religion is the Church. A church is a religious organization that is institutionalized, well integrated and accepted by society. Most rituals are performed according to different denominations in a church. Examples are the United Methodists, the Baptists and the Church of Jesus Christ among others. Lastly, religion is characterized by sects and cults. A sect is a break away movement denoting a disagreement with the conservatism of a newly established church. It starts by a small group of people gathering voluntarily and eventually forming a new denomination formed. Cults, on the other side, are the list institutionalized forms of religious organizations. Both cults and sects reject the status quo, and are small, voluntary and exclusive religious groups (Perry J & Perry, E. 2011). Religious affiliation and social correlates Religion and faith have an impact on individuals’ social lives. An individual’s religion can be associated with their social class, economic and professional standings, education levels and political views among others. For instance, religious influence appears to relate to political persuasion. Catholics and Jews are more expected to be democrats as opposed to Protestants. Likewise, Jews tend to be more liberal than Catholics who tend to be more liberal than Protestants. In addition, Baptists tend to be reasonably poor while Anglicans, Jews and Catholics, tend to be rich (Murphy, 2011). In conclusion, religion has existed in every society because of the human desires to understand the meaning and purpose of life. However, socialists study religion as a manifestation of culture purposely to uncover effects, relationships and behavior. The main religions in the world can be categorized into; monotheistic polytheistic ancestral and ethical notions. Christianity, Islam and Judaism form the monotheistic religions. Hinduism is the largest part of polytheistic religions. Shintoism is a perfect example of ancestral religions mostly practiced by the Japanese. Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism are ethical religions. People around the globe have tried to live by diversifying rituals and rites as a means of communicating with forces outside their daily lives. According to social scientists, early religion was an attempt by primitive individuals to explain occurrences beyond their understanding. They concluded that faith was sacred and the issues accompanying it were societal. These viewpoints have been incorporated into the concept of functionalism. Religion functions as a relief of frustration, gives support to societal values and is a means of repentance. References Harris, S. (2012). The end of faith: religion, terror, and the future of reason. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. Murphy, A. R. (2011). Religion, Civil Religion, And Civil War: Faith And Foreign Affairs In The Lincoln Presidency. The Review of Faith & International Affairs, 9(4), 21-28. Perry, J. A., & Perry, E. (2011). Contemporary society: an introduction to social science (13th ed.). Boston, Mass.: Allyn and Bacon. Rosser, S. V. (2010). Women, science, and myth: gender beliefs from antiquity to the present. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. Read More