The concept of religion - Essay Example

The Concept of ReligionA religion is a very private matter for everyone. There are instances when individuals have hidden their religious basis from just about everyone who came in contact with them. It is a basis of contact between God and the person under study. One should believe that indeed this is the right way of going about doing things in this world since every man and woman has to go in his or her own grave at the end of the day. As far as the positive functions of religion for the sake of society is concerned, one can fathom that it builds harmony between people of the same religious beliefs and brings them together on a single platform.

Another positive is in the form of making them understand each other better and hence the basis of economics, trade, law and order are improved as a result. Then there is a positive in the form of respecting each other’s opinions, boundaries and the work ethics and no one questions the motives. There is a lot of respect and tolerance for each other which are built all this while. The positive functions of religion for an individual include that he has a one-on-one relationship with God and hence he does not fall haywire at any point in time.

He has a relationship with God in which he trusts blindly which is a good thing. Then he understands that since he is close to his God, other people are similarly close to their respective Creators and thus he respects their religious beliefs and basis all said and done. Lastly, this individual starts taking life in a good and positive stead since he trusts in God and does not depend on anyone for getting his desires and wishes granted. He is more into God for his own good than anything else.

The dysfunction of a particular religion for a society’s basis is that people of one religion hold their own people in close harmony and do favors for their own clan while leave out the people who hail from other religions – living under the umbrella of the same society which is a negative thing in all earnest. Then there is the aspect of religious differences between people of different religions and they start treating each other in varied forms which really hurts the social fabric of a particular area.

Lastly, a particular religion might just overshadow the existence of other religions which are there in the same society – which is a definite point of disadvantage. The dysfunctions of religion for an individual include his basis of not respecting other individuals who belong to different schools of thought when it comes to religious differences and this is something that must be removed from an individual’s mind right from the very early ages. What this does is to build hatred for each other and this is a sure sign of frustration within each other and the society becomes an intolerant lot at the same time.

Lastly, an attachment to a religion for an individual could provide naivety to his thinking regimes and he would take nothing in the form of advice and/or opinion from a person who does not belong to his religion – thus accounting for a sure sign of dysfunction of this individual coming under the religious basis. BIBLIOGRAPHYPenalver, Eduardo. The Concept of Religion. Yale Law Journal, Vol. 107, 1997Word Count: 553