Organized Religion: A Bane to Humanity - Research Paper Example

?Organized Religion: A Bane To Humanity Introduction Since the ancient times, religion has been an essential part of human life. Importance of religion in human life can be seen through emotional and psychological attachment to the religious beliefs that people show in their lives. According to Nelson et al. (1993), the presence of religion in virtually every human society and civilization has been found through archaeological discoveries and anthropological observations made in recent times (Shepard 408). The beliefs of Romans in different forms of Gods, the practice of burying human beings after their death, Hebrew belief in religious texts etc., are the evidences that show that religion related beliefs (like existence of God and ‘life after death’) and practices were followed even before 50,000 B.C. (Shepard 408). This shows that religion is deeply rooted in core of human lives. Hence, it is no surprise that even in the today’s modern world, religion and spirituality is one of the most important aspects of people’s lives. According to German philosopher George Hegel, the nature and the structure of social life are determined by the religious ideas and beliefs and hence, religion is the core of society (Shepard 410). However, religion is not just ‘social’ in its nature. Religion has a very special place on ‘individual’ level also. Every human being has his own unique way of relating with God and hence, develops an intimate relation with Him. It has been observed that religion helps human beings to find meaning and essence in life which is beyond their mundane life (Shepard 410). The religious beliefs provide them with the idea of ‘higher’ self and drive them to achieve higher ideals and beliefs in life. This shows that religion has been a driving force for evolution of human beings and hence, is essential and good for human life. However, history of humanity has shown a different picture. Unfortunately, instead of keeping religion as an intimate and personal practice, people have made it a social phenomenon. This has caused serious problem as religious beliefs and practices have become an issue of acceptance in the society. Selfish and power hungry people used religion as a weapon to dominate other people and enslave them in the name of religious superiority. Religion in itself is good and essential for healthy human life. Religious system and beliefs bring happiness, essence and meaning to the lives of individuals. However, it has caused more harm than good to humanity by becoming ‘organized’ and ‘social’. Hence, if humanity is to benefit from religion and its essence, then people should practice it as a ‘personal’ aspect of life rather than practicing it in ‘organized’ way, because when practiced in ‘social’ and ‘organized’ way, religion becomes a weapon of destruction and dominance in the hands of power hungry people and causes more harm than good. Nature of Religion With the developments and progress in the field of science, it was believed that people will become more ‘practical’ and lose their faith and interest in religion. However, it did not happen. This is because many scientific studies have found that different religious practices like prayers, rituals, meditation, yoga etc., have scientific basis and have great positive effect on the body, mind and soul of human beings. Religion plays a major role in keeping human beings rooted in their ‘being’ and gives them strength to survive the uncertainties, challenges and fears that are the day-to-day part of their life (Shepard 410). Hence, religion is rational in nature. Even science has accepted the benefits of being spiritual and religious in nature. However, to understand the importance and the role of religion in people’s lives, it is necessary to know the essence of religion. Religion is a vast topic and has many physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual dimensions to it. Hence, it is not easy to define religion. American psychologist and philosopher William James defines religion as “ the feelings, acts and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine” (James 31). The definition throws a light on an important aspect of religious experience and that is ‘solitude.’ It means that a genuine experience of religion or God is possible only when a person practices religion on intimate level. However, with the formation of societies, religion became one of the important aspects of identity of people. People began to form societies on the basis of their culture, religion and ethnicity. This led religion to become an ‘organized institution’. Hence, sociologists Johnstone (1992) defines religion as “an institutionalized system of symbols, beliefs, values, and practices by which group of people interprets and responds to what they feel is sacred and that provides answers to questions of ultimate meaning” (Andersen and Taylor 331). This shows that human beings depend on religion to get answers to the fundamental questions about life. The importance of Religion Religion is a way for human beings get a guidance regarding the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ in life. Through religion, people find answers to fundamental questions about purpose of life, reincarnation, life after death etc (Shepard 406). Science is incapable of answering these questions because it studies only those things which are observable and measurable in some way (Shepard 406). Science remains handicap as it does not have any explanations for miracles, healings, power of prayers and spiritual experiences that people experience through different religious practices. Hence, science cannot replace the importance of religion in human being’s life because human beings depend on religion for their deeper and higher quests in life (Shepard 406). It is the faith in God and religion that helps people to survive many difficult challenges and problems in life, for which science does not have any solution. Moreover, the rationality of religion is proved by the fact that religion has survived and in fact, has become stronger, even with so many advancements in science and technology. It is a human tendency to stop doing something if he does not get expected result from it. If people had gained nothing from their religious beliefs, rituals, practices and faith, then they would have stopped following their religion. However, it can be seen that the intensity and strength of religion has not diminished in any way and it is being followed as strongly as it was followed in ancient times. People have experienced miracles, unexpected turns in life, healings, spiritual encounter etc., for which science has no answer. Many people, who have experienced the presence of spirit around them, but which is intangible in usual way, have recorded their experiences (James 31). Hence, religion is a rational thing as it provides a meaningful existence to human beings, drives them to achieve their ideal ‘higher self’, gives them an identity and provides them with a belief and behavior system to follow (Andersen and Taylor 331). Sadly, the socialization of religion has become a reason for destruction and chaos in human life. With the formation of ‘organized’ religion, religion has become a cause of harm than good to humanity. The negative side of Religion Religion has become an aspect of identity of a person. From the religion of a person, it is possible to know the belief system and faith that the person is following. People living in today’s modern world believe in secular society and interact with people from different cultural background and religions on a daily basis. They are open in their attitude and accept people from other religion unconditionally. However, the open attitude towards people from other religion is not displayed by everyone. There are some people who are so highly attached and influenced by beliefs of their own religion that their actions show religious intolerance and extreme thinking (Andersen and Taylor 338). Hence, the behavior that denotes extreme intolerance of other religions is called as religious extremism (Andersen and Taylor 338). People who practice religious extremism are called as extremists. Religious extremists have a tendency to divide people on the basis of extreme category of ‘either’ and ‘or’, where they consider people either as their friends or their enemies (Andersen and Taylor 338). They think that those who do not believe in their values system and religion are their enemies and hence, not to be tolerated. This kind of extreme thinking leads to hatred, conflict and violent behavior which cause loss to human life and society (Andersen and Taylor 338). According to Anthony et al. (2002), religious extremists divide the people in two categories of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ where they consider people belonging to their religion as ‘good’ and people belonging to all other religion as ‘bad’ and hence, their enemies (Andersen and Taylor 338). This division leads them to nurture misunderstandings and hatred about other people and drive them to violence and bloodshed. If one looks at the history of humanity, one can find numerous examples of vast amount of human loss and bloodshed in the name of religion. Some of the examples of religious extremism are the terrorist organizations like Ku Klux Klan, Islamic organization of Al-Quaeda, Hitler’s Nazi Party etc. Many violent incidents and killings have taken place in the name of violence. On 7th July 2005, 4 bomb explosions resulted in development of fear and insecurity in mind of British people (Bascio 17). According to BBC, the explosion killed more than 56 people and injured more than 700 people (Lieberman and Cheloukhine 233). The bombs were planted by trained suicide bombers belonging to terrorist organization of Al Qaeda and it was said that they were seeking revenge (Lieberman and Cheloukhine 233). This is just one example of violence and harm to human life, in name of religion. It was found that people responsible for bombing were Islamic fundamentalists who resorted to violence in name of ‘Jihad’, the holy war (Lieberman and Cheloukhine 233). Similarly, the 9/11 attacks on World Trade Center in New York City and Pentagon were also an example of Islamic fundamentalism where terrorists destroyed the human lives in name of revenge and jihad (Bascio 17). Similarly, in 1950’s and 1960’s, the members of Ku Klus Klan carried out nearly 138 bombings to show their anger and hatred towards people belonging to Black community (Bullard 25). This shows that religious extremism can lead people to terrorism which destroys the lives of human beings and spread hatred, anger and hostility among people of different religion. Conclusion The discussion above shows that even though religion is rational and is a good thing, it has proved to be more harmful to human beings than good because instead of keeping religion limited to personal and intimate life, people have made it a social and organized system. Hence, if human beings are to benefit from the essence and power of religion, then they should practice religion on a personal level and refuse to make it an ‘organized’ thing. Works Cited Andersen, Margaret, and Howard F.Taylor. Sociology: The Essentials. 6th ed. Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011. Print. Bascio, Patrick. Defeating Islamic Terrorism: The Wahhabi Factor. Wellesley: Branden Books, 2007. Print. Bullard, Sara. The Ku Klux Klan: A History of Racism and Violence. 5th ed. Montgomery: The Southern Poverty Law Centre, 1997. Print. James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature. Rockville: Manor, 2008. Print. Lieberman, Charles, and Serguei Cheloukhine. A New Understanding of Terrorism: Case Studies, Trajectories and Lessons Learned. Ed. M.R. Haberfeld and Agostino Hassell. London: Springer, 2009. Print. Shepard, John, M. Sociology. 10th ed. Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010. Print. Read More