Religion Does More Harm than Good - Essay Example

Religion does more harm than good – against the Notion There are a number of religions in the world and each one has its own set of followers. These followers look forward to finding out more regarding what their religion teaches them on a regular basis. Even though these religions are being governed by people who adhere to their norms and routines, onus always lies on the followers as a whole. If one deduces that these religions create more distinctions amongst the people, it would be a viewpoint that is completely in the wrong. What could in fact be suggested as an alternative is the belief that religious harmony is the force that makes the world stand together as a whole. Giving respect to the followers of a religion and believing in one’s own religion is the basis of knowing how and where this harmony can be enacted in essence (Morgan, 2005). Even though religion is respected by its followers, the most significant notion regarding its existence is the manner under which people from another religion respect the other ones which are present in a society. This raises the discussion of tolerance and empathy for one another which remain very vital for understanding quite a few things. Faith is the edifice upon which lives are lived and times are spent. What this embodies is the basis that religion is a major force which asks of the people to understand not only their own lives but also of the people around them, as well as the other living and non-living beings. There is immense understanding and learning which can be easily found once religion is put into the equation. This forms the eventual essence of knowing how one can spend his life in a corrective fashion and what other aspects can be done to bring about a sense of sanity within the living standards (Shaw, 2008). Since faith is the ultimate belief in an entity, it would only be natural to call religion as a belief which culminates just about every other feeling that a human being might have in this day and age. It is the final reckoning upon which many structures can be built easily. These structures are metaphorically denoted and represented by a series of actions and steps, all of which are bent to achieve greater results for mankind (Hannabuss, 2007). As an example, the Christianity faith emphasizes a great deal on people to people contact within this religion. What this embodies is a focus on faith being the center stage of building relationships across the board and that too in a positive fashion. This is important because the religion of Christianity takes its roots from how its teachings have been imparted down towards its followers. If there is any element that seems like a missing link, there would certainly be immense discrepancies in understanding the Christianity religion, and hence faith tangent would not suffice properly. On the same footing, living conditions have a huge amount of say as to how religion is interpreted and manifested within the lives of the followers of one particular religion. This manifests how well people shape up their lives in accordance with the religion that they wish to follow and thus be a part of the teachings which have been central towards its understanding. This is the reason why living conditions document more about a religion than anything else. As an example, Muslims live in exactly different conditions as one would find Christians since these two religious elements have their separate sets of beliefs and customs (Keister, 2012). It would be sound to suggest that these living conditions come about as the marked differences amongst the religions and tell the people their intricate details which would be difficult to understand unless one emphasizes upon the teachings that are given out to the followers and the new ones who have just started following the religious dictum (Gerteis, 2011). The preachers have the simplest living conditions since they serve as the role models of a certain religion. They tell the people how to spend their lives in accordance with the religious beliefs and how actions and undertakings should be carried out in relation with the same. This is an important yardstick for knowing much more than one can think of as far as a religion is concerned. To conclude the discussion at hand, religion plays a fundamental role in the lives of the people and should be respected as such. This is because the followers have a responsibility to not only respect their own religion but allow others to respect their own as well. It is a good way of letting people live their lives as and how they wish to live it. This is a classic case of tolerance which is for the betterment of the society as a whole. It gives room to the people who are trying to make both ends meet with peace that is important at the end of the day (Woodman, 1998). Hence it would be correct to deduce that religion plays such an important role that there just cannot be any other substitute for the same. When religions around the world are bracketed as a singular aspect surrounding the viewpoint of tolerance and empathy, nearly each and every religion is given its due. However, the followers of a particular religion might just have a very negative response to this statement since they are either not in agreement of this suggestion or perhaps they think of their religion and its followers in a completely different way. All said and done, a religion is usually seen through the eyes of its followers and not viewed by the ones who see it from an external source. When religion is seen in a positive way, people generally like to associate with its followers and adopt it as their own religion in some point in time within their lives (Thorpe, 1989). When a religion is seen as a pessimistic basis of life, people start alienating from its followers which indeed is a sign of much destruction for religion’s eventual basis. References Gerteis, J. (2011). Civil Religion and the Politics of Belonging. Political Power and Social Theory, 22 Hannabuss, S. (2007). The Blackwell Companion to the Study of Religion. Reference Reviews, 21(6) Keister, L. (2012). Religion and Wealth Across Generations. Research in the Sociology of Work, 23 Morgan, J. (2005). Religion at Work: A Legal Quagmire. Managerial Law, 47(3/4) Shaw, I. (2008). Society and Mental Health: The Place of Religion. Mental Health Review Journal, 13(1) Thorpe, A. (1989). The Religious Opium of Liberation: Redemption Politicized? International Journal of Social Economics, 16(12) Woodman, G. (1998). Religion: A Cross-Cultural Encyclopedia. Reference Reviews, 12(7) Read More