Religion can cause severe physical and mental health problems. Certain religions keep individuals from seeking medical help for mental illnesses and physical ailments. Religion can cause extended stress, refusal of conventional medical attention, and avoidant coping. Groups of psychologists have concluded that religious beliefs are congregated into the pathological category. Defining religious beliefs as pathological beliefs is due to it being seen as “a social force that encourages irrational thoughts and ritualistic behaviors” (Azar, 2010). Psychologists’ findings have not derailed religion and the hold it has on the individuals that follow it. Religion has endured time and cultural changes and grown in following over the 100,000 years …show more content…
Shariff debates that that religion was formed originally as a social tool that allowed group coordination and nurtured collaboration between strangers (Gloss, 2009). I do not doubt that religion has fostered the relationship between individuals, after all in history religious cultures often outlast nonreligious cultures (Gloss, 2009).
The effect religion has moves beyond attendance and nonattendance in any set following, but specifically religion makes a direct impact on social values (Gloss, 2009). In one of Shariff’s studies, he used students to find what their individual description of God was. One set of findings was that the individuals that described God as harsh, unforgiving or severe, were less likely to cheat at any given task than those who described their God as forgiving or loving (Gloss,
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RTS is defined as a function of both the chronic abuses of harmful religion and the impact of severing one 's connection with one 's faith and faith community (RELIGIOUS TRAUMA SYNDROME, 2016). The causes of RTS include: the suppression of normal child development, damage to normal thinking and feeling abilities, external locus of control, physical and sexual abuse, or an experience with extreme patriarchal power (Winell, n.d.). Stress is most often related to the doctrines of “original sin and eternal damnation” (Winell, n.d.). The doctrines are responsible for causing the most psychological distress by creating a double bind. This provides an inability to do anything about the fact that the individual is guilty and responsible, thus requiring the individual to face eternal punishment. Even for the most genuine believer, the doctrines can result in what described as an unending cycle of shame and relief (Winell, n.d.). One believer testified to this cycle,
I expected the meetings with my bishop to be compassionate and reassuring. It was more like an IRS audit. I prayed endlessly to be delivered from those temptations. I beat my fists into my pillow in agony. I used every ounce of faith I could muster to overcome this problem. “Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil” just didn’t seem to be working with me. Of course, I blamed it on myself and thought there was something
The start of this article focuses on a Christian client named George who is plagued with feelings of worthlessness, depression, low self-esteem, and suicide. His mother had also battled depression, and his father had an abusive relationship with alcohol, which caused his father to have verbally and physically abusive altercations with George and his mother. The abusive experiences that George was exposed to as a child paved the way for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as an adult (Garzon, 2005). With all of these factors present in this client’s life, a treatment plan was created that involved scripture interventions. The author made sure to touch on the fact that every client is unique in the hopes that counselors would be aware that one type of scripture intervention might work for one client and not work for another. The article highlights three guiding values when considering these types of interventions; “respect for the client’s autonomy/freedom, sensitivity to and empathy for the client’s religious and spiritual beliefs, and flexibility and responsiveness to the client’s religious and spiritual beliefs.”(Garzon, 2005). ...
Obsessive Compulsive Disorders have been found to have many causal factors. Many of these are cultural and one possibility is that religion plays a part in severity of symptoms, like obsessive thoughts. Because of Darien’s past history and heavy involvement...
Religion can be defined in many ways and has different meanings for different people; some say religion is a belief in a god or gods. According to (Religion, 2015) religion is defined as faith in a divinely created order of the world. Places of worship vary from churches, temples, and mosques to list a few. For many, religion is turned to in times of distress and confusion. Many seek assistance through religion similar to how client seeks assistance from therapy. In the past religion has been used to heal, which begs the question does religion belong in therapy? In this essay I will discuss religion in therapy.
The sociology of religion is the study of the beliefs, practices and organizational forms of religion using the tools and methods of the discipline of sociology. Thus, the purpose of this comprehensive exam is to give me an opportunity to demonstrate mastery over relevant theories, methods, and empirical findings in major subfields of the sociology of religion. This reading list also provides a strong foundation in the central theoretical perspectives, main classic and current debates, and prominent published empirical studies in the field. Hence, this reading list includes a core set of readings to which we most often refer in our studies and enables comprehensive analyses about the
Throughout history, religion has impacted the lives of millions whether at school, work, with friends, or by some tragedy. Religion can change the way people view their existence. Religion also plays a big role in the infiltration of values into the loves of many young people today. In a recent pole printed in the USA Weekend Paper, “34% of respondents [said] Religion plays a powerful role in their everyday lives.” These student respondents “cited religion as the second-strongest influence in their lives outranked only by parents.” Religion also surpassed the world-renounced media as an influence in their lives (Lerman. 1).
Religion is an ever-growing idea that has no set date of origin. Throughout history religion has served as an answer to the questions that man could not resolve. The word religion is derived from the Latin word “religio” meaning restraint in collaboration with the Greek word “relegere” which means to repeat or to read again. Religion is currently defined as an organized system of beliefs and practices revolving around, or leading to, a transcendent spiritual experience. Throughout time, there has yet to be a culture that lacks a religion of some form, whether it is a branch of paganism, a mythological based religion or mono/polytheistic religion. Many religions have been forgotten due to the fact that they were ethnic religions and globalizing religions were fighting to be recognized, annihilating these ancient and ethnic religions. Some of these faiths include: Finnish Paganism, Atenism, Minoan Religion, Mithraism, Manichaeism, Vedism, Zoroastrianism, Asatru, and the Olmec Religion. Religion is an imperative part of our contemporary world but mod...
This paper is from a catholic feminist’s perceptive that the church, as an institution, is structured as a pyramid modeled on the patriarchal family with the custom of father-right. The patriarchal decision-maker has the power to shape, form and control the “poor of the world” (McCormick, pg. 240) mirroring the aspect of the conflict theory. The poor of the world are the people who work for the institution of the Church controlled by the patriarchal power elite. These established masses of people feel no control, which cause anxiety and they continue to perform their means of production as a formed unit. The power elite’s fear of being overthrown by the poor of the world is fueled with sheer determination and consistency to stay on top. In the article “Sociology and Sexuality” women and women’s sexuality is stated to be oppressed with the poor of the people and is examined through human rights, religious desacralization, religious sacralization, women’s human rights and social conditioning.
Religion is an organized collection of beliefs and cultural systems that entail the worship of a supernatural and metaphysical being. “Religion just like other belief systems, when held onto so much, can stop one from making significant progress in life”. Together with religion come traditions that provide the people with ways to tackle life’s complexities. A subscription to the school of thought of great scholars
Religion has the power to bind one to others as well as the aptitude to alienate people with conflicting beliefs. Throughout history, cultures have created several different belief systems, each with its own ideals, to satisfy the typical human curiosity and explain the unclarified events that occur in nature. Inspecting the role of religion from the earliest civilizations to the present, its tendency to divide rather than unify groups becomes apparent.
Humans desire to have control over the many things which affect them. Being unable to control something, especially something which can cause damage and suffering, instigates feelings of helplessness and fear but also a strong curiosity to understand what super power is behind this uncontainable and unpredictable force. To repress these feeling of powerlessness, civilization humanized the force of nature and at the same time, reintroduced it as manipulable, by establishing religious ideas. Not only did religion dismiss the threatening wickedness of nature but it also protected against Fate and atoned for the suffering endured on Earth. It has been surmised that without the conviction that a powerful, benevolent being is offering protection, people would find life unbearable. Interestingly, Freud connects this strong desire for protection to a child’s vulnerability and dependence, calling this concept the father-complex. He uses psychological analysis and reasoning to explain a knowledgeable and very believable reason for why religion was created in the first place. Religion was structured in response to adults “longing for a father... and their ...
Religion plays an enormous role in the history of mankind. Wars have been fought over it, lives have been surrounded by it, and it has directly or indirectly shaped the lives of many individuals. Culture and religion play a large role in developing each other. People’s religion is decided by their culture. The prominence or the lack of religion will develop someone’s religious identity have play a core role in determining what that person believes.
Religion has made people blind, dumb and deaf to the reality. They have faith without reasoning which is blind. On the contrary, it has often made people to become bigots and fanatics. Bigotry and fanaticism have led to persecution, inhuman treatment and misery in the past.
Ever since the birth of psychoanalysis, religion and psychology have experienced conflict. This is due to many early psychologists rejecting religion as psychologically healthy, yet it is evident that their opinions were based off of non-validated assumption. As psychology developed as a science, therapists and psychologists began to accept religion for the psychological benefits that many people experience. Because of development in research and study of religion’s effect on humans, the branch of psychology called Psychology of Religion was born and paved the way from the ignorant view of religion that early psychologists such as Freud held, to the more tolerant and supportive approach to religion that is now accepted by psychologists and
When someone mentions religion, words such as God, church, and purity most commonly come to mind. One must ask just how far religion affects the purity of its adherents. To put it in sociological terms, how far does religion go in reducing and eradicating deviance in those who practice? Sociologist William Sims Bainbridge, who is well-known for his work in the sociology of religion, has researched this theory in his essay “The Religious Ecology of Deviance” published by the American Sociological Association.
Religion is the foundation for all societies and cultures. Religion makes people who they are. Because the United States was founded on the principles of religion, the citizens of this country can practice whatever religion they like without being persecuted. The liberties provided under the Constitution allow individuals to practice their religious beliefs openly and without judgment. These beliefs provide guidance and structure in the lives of these individuals. Religion influence many aspects of day to day issues such as life choices, dress, and education. Religion is an important entity in the lives of many. Religious freedom includes the right to assemble for private and public worship, determine the conditions of membership, give religious instructions, preach its message publically, and publish and circulate religious material (Religious Freedom).