Religion Is A Cornerstone Of Civilization

In ancient times, when humans are in the infant stage of development of human history, humans’ understandings of nature are just only based in their imagination. While facing the powerful forces of nature, people are aware of their own strength is pretty small, and their fate is controlled by an invisible power-- they called this unknown force “god”. With the passage of time, people seem to foresee the possibility of overcoming nature, and they begin to look forward to their own peers, a powerful figure, to complete the great cause of beating nature. The emergence of priests shows the beginning of religion.

Altemeyer, Bob. "The Decline of Organized Religion in Western Civilization." International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, vol. 14, no. 2, Apr. 2004, pp. 77-89. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com

David Chidester defines religion as the ways of being a human person in a human place. He further goes on to describe it as “the practices and discourses that negotiate what it is to be human in person in relation to the superhuman or in relation to whatever might be treated as subhuman” (Chidester). As such religion can be said to encompass the beliefs customs and even the cultures of the people. It defines and shapes the human out view to life and how they relate to each other based on the morals and ethical guidelines outlined in the various doctrines governing the religions. Over the years, religion has been interpreted from different perspectives. Over time in history, religion was directly intertwined with the activities and the lives of the people. For instance, where the people practiced farming, they had deities or gods which were thought to control and protect the seasons which were an integral part of the farming activities. The same case applied to those who practiced pastoralism activities. In all aspects, the religion was in tandem with their activities.

Since the dawn of the human race, men and women have traveled the world for a myriad of reasons. The need for more food, a better living environment, religious or ethnic persecution, or even curiosity have driven humankind to search out new lands and new territories. In the ancient world, people traveled for different reasons including to spread their religion or to escape religious persecution. The desire for wealth and power fueled by curiosity, caused others to pick up their bags and move to new lands. There were certain select people from various people groups intentionally did not or could not travel due to their gender, their socioeconomic status, or even their culture.

Religion played a huge influence in the development of western civilization so a good place to start is the medieval times. Charles Martel, mayor of the franks stopped the Muslim invasion from much of Europe at the battle of tours so there was little Muslim influence to the western civilization. This allowed a very powerful Christian Church to emerge and religion to flourish. Religion was very important for the middle ages and in reality it became the most powerful force in Europe. The teachings and practices played a major part in reshaping the lives of the European Christians. One of the most important achievements of the Church was to Christianize the diverse people in Western Europe. Religion influenced the development of western civilization through Monks and Nuns, power, reforming to change the church, and corruption against other nations.

The accomplishments and success of civilizations are closely linked to their religious outlook and the role of religion in their governments and society. Throughout history rulers have used the influence of religions to control their populations and provide the justification for their power. A society with a greater degree of separation between religion and government promotes a superior level of liberty and creativity amongst its people. By the time of the decline of the Roman Empire in the west, however, the world had come full circle to a return to theocratic dictatorship.

Religion has been around since the early civilizations and as time went on, more religions progressed, and people have followed different religions. Throughout time there has been many great religious leaders, particularly Jesus, Moses, and Muhammad. Of these three pronounced leaders, all will be in attendance for a dinner party in which questions and thoughts about religion will be discussed openly. Religion is defined as a “cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith” (Merriam-Webster). The main questions today will be on religion and how their people have followed their religion. I will discuss today with Jesus, Moses, and Muhammad about religion to get a better understanding of their beliefs. I understand that

Religion is a cultural system of behaviors, practices, world views, ethics, and social organization that relate humanity to an order of existence (Dictionary). With more than 84% of the world affiliating with religion, religion permeates the fabric of our existence by it’s influence on legal systems, nation’s policies, and moral standards (Religion stats). Making up 23% of the world population, the Muslim religion is divided into two sects: Sunni and Shi’a. The separation of the Muslim religion is the longest and largest division in the history of Islam (BBC). Furthermore, the split of religions is exemplified through the characters in The Kite Runner. Amir, the main character and narrator, describes religion as a part of every day life in

As long as humans have walked the Earth, we have sought out answers. Answers for questions like: "Why are we here? Where do we go when we die? Where did we come from? and What's that?" How different people answered these questions is important to study because it shows us the spiritual side of human nature. Especially now, a time of conflict between Islam and Western Civilization, it is important to look back and trace the evolution of religion. To see where we started and perhaps, gain some perspective into what is happening now and what may happen in the future.

The belief in Gods has always existed throughout human’s recored history. Whether it be the Greek Gods: Apollo, and Zeus, or the Judeo-Christian God, believed by Christians in modern day society. The belief of God has always existed among humans, however, assuming God does not exist, what explains the cultural evolution of such a false belief, namely religion? I shall argue that the reason this false belief is successful is because it manipulates human nature better than any other belief by these three points: an avoidance of death (the soul), a sense of worth (knowledge), and a sense, or need of belief (faith).

One of the fundamental questions that religions seek to answer is that of origin. How was man put on earth? Why and from what was he created? Who created him? What does his creation imply about the status of human beings? Some or all of these questions are answered by a religion’s creation stories. Every religion’s creation myths attempt to give solutions to problems present to that religious society. Because of this, each religion may have one or more creation stories, each of those different from one another in the questions they ask and the answers they give.

Religion tends to derive preferred lifestyles, ethics and morality from the ideas of human nature. Scholars have studied religions and categorized them into three main categories. These categories include the indigenous religions, transcultural as well as the international faiths.

Religion has been a powerful force in human history. Mankind has longed and searched for the answers to its purpose, the reason for being and the possibility of life after physical death. They reasoned that an afterlife would be a place of accounting and reckoning for the life they lived on earth. Religious belief systems seemed to give the answers as to how to prepare for the afterlife. Religion became the means of giving answers to those basic yet deep-seated questions of both life and death. Religion provided a format of rules and laws for conduct and treatment toward others based on the desires and wishes of a god or gods that people envisioned, imagined or invented. Religious belief systems have been a powerful force for good and bad...good in the sense that it provided a measure of individual behavior and order in society for the wellbeing of the whole, but bad in the sense that men of ambition who craved power and control over others would often use religion as a tool of manipulation and fear. A casual glance of history tells us that complete civilizations have been built, grown and maintained around elaborate religious systems, ancient Egypt being a prime example.

As a student of religion I have learnt that religion is an indispensable part of human life. History shows that every religion, it may be revealed or not, has risen in the crucial moment of the human history. According to the Semitic tradition human history has began with Adam and Eve, first prophet in Abrahamic tradition. In Indian tradition, though God is omnipresent but he directly intervened into this world, what we called Avatara, to make a clear distinction between right and wrong. In primitive society also people’s lives were highly motivated with religious affiliation.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of religion is as follows: “the belief in a god or in a group of gods, an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods, or an interest, a belief, or an activity that is very important to a person or group” (Merriam-Webster.) My personal definition of religion is that it is a set of beliefs and practices that generally pertain the worship of one or more than one spiritual beings or representations of a spiritual power. Religion can be personal belief or an organization or group of people who have similar beliefs and values. There are many different types of religions in the world and have been since the