This document outlines some of the positive and negative effects of religion. Among the potential positive effects are charitable giving, promoting ethics in politics, bringing people together in community, and providing inner strength. However, religion can also potentially fill people with fear, turn people against each other, and be used to seek power. While religion gives meaning and community to some, it can also encourage harmful policies and magical thinking.
This document outlines some of the positive and negative effects of religion. Among the potential positive effects are charitable giving, promoting ethics in politics, bringing people together in community, and providing inner strength. However, religion can also potentially fill people with fear, turn people against each other, and be used to seek power. While religion gives meaning and community to some, it can also encourage harmful policies and magical thinking.
This document outlines some of the positive and negative effects of religion. Among the potential positive effects are charitable giving, promoting ethics in politics, bringing people together in community, and providing inner strength. However, religion can also potentially fill people with fear, turn people against each other, and be used to seek power. While religion gives meaning and community to some, it can also encourage harmful policies and magical thinking.
This document outlines some of the positive and negative effects of religion. Among the potential positive effects are charitable giving, promoting ethics in politics, bringing people together in community, and providing inner strength. However, religion can also potentially fill people with fear, turn people against each other, and be used to seek power. While religion gives meaning and community to some, it can also encourage harmful policies and magical thinking.
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POSITIVE AND
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF RELIGION Positive Effects
Charitable giving
Promote ethics in political life
Religion brings people together in a community
Religion provides inner strength
NEGATIVE EFFECTS Religion is filling people with fear
Religion is turning people against each other
Religions seek power
POSITIVE EFFECTS Charitable giving People are fairly good at making an effort to be casually kind to those who are in need. Many religions teaches the value of sharing in order to receive plentiful of blessings. Religion teachings emphasize the need for serving our fellow man. POSITIVE EFFECTS Charitable giving People are fairly good at making an effort to be casually kind to those who are in need. Many religions teaches the value of sharing in order to receive plentiful of blessings. Religion teachings emphasize the need for serving our fellow man. Promote ethics in political life A high message of religion is that man is equal before God. This principle has inspired some religious reformers to campaign against injustice. For example, many of the opponents of slavery in the 19th century were motivated by a belief that racism and slavery were incompatible with religious teachings on the inherent divinity of all men. Religion brings people together in a community
It allows people to share a
common goal of the religion and will make them feel united. Religion provides inner strength
Religious faith has often been a
source of courageous action and can be a source of courage to fight oppression. Religion is filling people with fear by SOFO ARCHON
The fear of hell is continuously in one’s
mind, filling them with worry and anxiety, and this does not allow them to live spontaneously. As a result, most so-called religious people become neurotic and in some cases even schizophrenic. To identify with a religious ideology, and call it the only truth and way, leads to tremendously negative consequences – hatred, racism, and all kinds of violence. Just think of how many wars have been carried out throughout history in the name of God and religion. Religions are man-made institutions, just like for-profit corporations are. And like any corporation, to survive and grow a religion must find a way to build power and wealth and compete for market share Religion can provide the following 1. Meaning, purpose & hope, based on the beliefs & values, often expressed in myths & stories 2. Community gathering for rituals of worship & symbolic celebrations of religious holidays 3. Personal identity as part of a group with similar world views, beliefs, values, practices & lifestyles, relationships of commitment to giving support & caring critique to one another 4. Opportunities in community to identity & provide needed action & service to meet needs of the wider community & the world. 5. Rituals & practices experienced in community for life transitions of birth, commitment, forgiveness & death. 6. Private rituals that support identity, calmness, stability & hope 7. Educational opportunities providing history & understanding of religious & cultural traditions & beliefs, translation of religious symbols, metaphors & language into contemporary experience & language 8. Guidance for living in “right relationship” *with other persons (respect & caring for the “out group” as well as the “in group”) *with the natural world identification of personal, cultural & environmental needs which inspire concern & motivate responses of outreach & service. Harmful Outcomes of Religion 1. Promotes backward & harmful policies 2. Dissuades societal improvement 3. Magical thinking 4. Mythology 5. Teaches conformity 6. Participation in Religion supports harmful regimes & institutions 7. False authority figures 8. Resource consumption 9. Rituals 10.Reinforces segregation 11.Creates negative peer groups 12.Teaches judgmental ideas 13.Teaches postponement of enjoyment Conclusion Finally, with an understanding of the positive and negative effects of religion, it is easier to realize why religion stands out throughout all history as an undeniable power and force. It is also now possible to see how religion has had a great influence on everything from government to social order and family relationships.