Religion and its Effect on Society and Individuals

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Over the years, society has come to evolve and progressively become more efficient as society’s viewpoints and perspectives on various aspects of life have also changed. However, the one aspect of life that has stayed constant has been religion. The impact of a constant religious opinion on a changing society has detrimental and benign effects on the populace of such a society. Religion was partly created in an effort to answer the questions that couldn’t be answered in any other way; to provide an explanation for the unexplainable. Each religion in turn has it’s own version of a higher being in which to believe. Giving this higher being a name or title such as “God” implies that it is a person rather an entity. Bhikhu Parekh (2001) states how “for Gandhi, Truth and cosmic spirit was beyond all qualities including moral. As he put it…‘beyond the personal God there is a Formless Essence which our reason cannot comprehend’. Although the cosmic power was without qualities including personality, Gandhi argued that human beings often found it difficult to avoid personalizing it” (p. 36). This personalization makes it easier for people to depend on the entity they believe in for everything. Parekh (2001) also declares that Gandhi believed that if “the individual were to shed the illusion of particularity and selfhood and become a transparent medium of cosmic spirit, he would be able to mobilize enormous spiritual energy within himself and exercise great moral and spiritual power over his fellow men” (p. 56). In order to find peace and become a moral compass one had to find the peaceful and calm energy that is said to have surrounded the gods. As time has progressed, a divide has been created between scientists and those who strongly... ... middle of paper ... ...Religion & Public Life Project. Religion and Religious Freedom in Iran under Shi'ite Islam | 222 Ministries International. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.222ministries.org/iran/iran-today/religion-and-religious-freedom/ Ream, G. L. (n.d.). Religion's Role in the Development of Youth. Retrieved from http://demoiselle2femme.org/wp-content/uploads/Religions-Role-in-the-Development-of-Youth.pdf Religion and Religious Freedom in Iran under Shi'ite Islam | 222 Ministries International. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.222ministries.org/iran/iran-today/religion-and-religious-freedom/ Singham, M. (2010, May 9). The New War Between Science and Religion - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education. Spain :: Castilian -- Encyclopedia Britannica. (2014, January 21). Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/557573/Spain/70275/Castilian

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