Report on the religious life of planet earth - Essay Example

Report on the religious life of the planet Earth Introduction Religion refers to the belief in a supernatural power to which people look up. The power is centered one focus, such as God. This paper seeks to offer a report on the religious life of the planet earth. The paper will explore the nature of religion, religious behaviors, and some of the functions of religion.The nature of religionThe nature of religion as practiced on earth is more complex that it may be assumed. While religion maybe perceived to comprise of going to church and performing or submitting to church procedures, its scope is far much extensive and affects almost every aspect of people’s lives on earth.

Contemporary issues that affect the society such as abortion are for example defined by religious beliefs among members of the society. Similarly, major wars and conflicts that are experienced on the global scope are religiously motivated. Religion specifically embeds practices among people and defines cultural values and practices with focus on general principles of life. Further, religion is ‘cross-cultural’ and exhibits a general trend across cultures. This means that regardless of differences among religious beliefs, they are guided by similar fundamental principles (Nye, 2008).

Major religious beliefsHinduism is one of the religious beliefs that are widely practices across the globe. It believes in unity that is under one supernatural power with people hope to be united after the life on earth. In order to achieve this, Hindus believe in cycles of life in which a person’s next life is determined by the deeds in their current life. Another major belief is found in Judaism. Having originated among Jews, Judaism believes in the existence of one supreme God who controls the whole universe.

God is believed to monitor everything that takes place on earth and punishes those who do evil but rewards the righteous. Determination of righteousness is defined by a set of rules that God is believed to have delivered to his people through his prophet Moses and other prophets. Life after death, through resurrection is one of the fundamental hopes of Judaism belief. Similarly, Islamic belief is centered on a sole supernatural power, in Allah. Islam also believes in existence of sin and the promise of eternal punishment for sinners and an ultimate reward of the righteous by Allah.

The three religious beliefs are therefore centered on the fundamental principles of existence of a supernatural being who punisher evil and rewards righteousness among people (Omsakthi, 2010). Functions of religionThe scope of religion that includes cultural orientation and judgment by the supernatural being has established important roles of religion in the society. One of the functions of religion is maintenance of social order. Regardless of cultural orientations, religion either promotes or discourages particular behaviors in order to maintain a social balance.

Religion also facilitates conflict resolutions in societies through promotion of unity under spiritual control. Similarly, religion plays an informative role through education as well as promoting emotional stability (Ferraro and Andreatta, 2009).ConclusionThe earth is a religious planet with different religious beliefs. The beliefs are however centered on similar principles and positively contribute to coexistence in societies.ReferencesFerraro, G. and Andreatta, S. (2009). Cultural Anthropology: An Applied Perspective.

Belmont, CA: Cengage LearningNye, M. (2008). Religion: The Basics. New York, NY: RoutledgeOmsakthi. (2010). “The major world religions.” Retrieved from: http://www.omsakthi.org/religions.html