Organized Religion - Case Study Example

Does Organized Religion Have A Future? Introduction Before I could begin to asses whether organized religion could have a future, the first thing that I did was find a conceivable definition of religion. One article I read stated that “religion is a difficult word to define (Jones, 2008, p.1).” Jones (2008) stated that religious scholars have their own definitions of what religion is and each definition is in part a piece of the whole meaning of religion. Further, to my reading of Joness (2008) article he relayed that religion could be categorized as: a) theological; b) philosophical; 3) anthropological; 4) sociological and 5) psychological phenomenon. And to limit the meaning of religion to one of these categories loses the complete definition of what religion really is. In congruence to the the preceding statements, I likewise perused an article of Austin Cline (n.d.) as to what religion is. He said religion is very had to define because it is created by humans and could “vary as widely as human imagination allows.” Going further into my research, I came across an article of Winston Rogers (2001), who claims to have a strong faith. He remarked that the word is a better place to live in because religion is present within our midst. However, he observes that religion has been deluded by church leaders and often used for ones own personal needs that is why there is a “decline in Western Religions.” All the above statements regarding religions definition is quite abstract and unclear from my point of view, so I decided to search for a more definite and concrete meaning. Hence, I came upon a definition from an online article, which states the following (All About Religion, 2002): religion is a set of beliefs and practices that are agreed on by a group of people. This set of beliefs are in tangent with the “cause, nature and purpose of the universe which involves devotional and ritual observances.” I think that from all the definitions of religion I have found, the last one from All About Religion is a better one because it gives concrete parameters or boundaries as to what religion might be and I could understand it better than the rest. Main Body Having had a definition that religion is a set of beliefs which serves as a guideline on how we conduct ourselves with others and the world at large, I begin to wonder why religion exist? And why we need to have some sort of beliefs in order to have some purpose in our lives? According to a book I have read, it says that it is common among men and women to crave for happiness (Desmet, 1987., p. 7). Often, a lot of our energy and resources are spent in trying to acquire things that will make us happy (Desmet, 1987., p.7). Thus, man is always in search for something that could satisfy his longings. However, there may be times where such humanly wants and cravings are not fulfilled and this brings forth dissatisfaction. Further to my readings on the book of Fr. John Desmet (1987), if we live for the leisures of the flesh alone, the probability of missing out on the real joys and contentment of life is great. And as the desire for pleasure increases, the satisfaction we derive decreases (Desmet, 1988, p.2). Moreover, we should learn to understand that certain pleasures this world has to offer have some exclusiveness about them. And we should likewise be aware that our pursuit of personal happiness has limits due to our limited functions and capabilities (Desmet, 1988). The fact that an imperfection exist maintains that there might be a perfection somewhere (Desmet, 1988, p. 3). And because we feel some self-inadequacies, the search for perfection goes on for us, in order to fill our emptiness and needs (Desmet, 1988, p.3). As such, I listed and the needs of man in a general context so I could relate it somewhat to religion. According to Desmet (1989), man in all actuality is a social being who needs: 1) To Live – in order to survive, man needs others. We co-exist with one another in a way that we are indirectly dependent on one another. 2) To Belong – we need to establish social relationships where we are accepted and understood as we are for our own differences. 3) To Become - we grow physically and mature emotionally and intellectually in order to fulfill our roles during our own lifetime. 4) To Learn - as an imperfect being we usually strive to gain knowledge and understanding. While satisfaction may be gained in the acquisition of knowledge, “learning is necessarily a two-way feature” where another persons presence is required for interaction. 5) To Believe – believing is not easy since it requires having faith where at certain instances we are required to believe that certain things exists even if such things are intangible. Faith is something that we should feel strongly within us and should make us feel secure though no scientific explanations could provide satisfactory answers for it. 6) To Love – to love and be loved is the most basic need within us. In order for us to feel contentment and happiness, love must be a catalytic factor which binds us with each other. Without love, we are lonely since it is the very essence of our existence. While we are social beings with different needs we are also moral beings (May, 1983). Meaning, that we are concerned with our relationship with others, about the way we live our lives, about the future. We are concerned about all of these because these things are our responsibilities. In light of the foregoing, we cannot escape the question of God. I have come across people who turn to God when they find life meaningless and empty. Others revel in the fact that a “superior being”, who is God, created the universe and gives life to all living things (Cooke, n.d.). Hence, people are either agnostics or atheists. An agnostic in the simplest sense believe that there is no God or if there was one – cannot influence the lives of people. The atheist on the other hand, denies the existence of God and prefers to believe that there is no spiritual reality but only material reality of what we could, see, touch, taste, smell or hear. Hence the atheists and agnostics makes us questions our beliefs. And I now wonder, is there really a God (Schneider, 1989)? And if so, where is He? Conclusion Having pondered on all the foregoing, I am able to pinpoint the following: First, religion is an expression of our beliefs, and is the basis of our principles in life. Second, we are social and moral beings who continuously seek fulfillment as to what is the purpose of our lives. Third, our faith requires us to believe in intangible things and it is often our faith that makes us steadfast when life becomes difficult to surmount. Therefore, in relation to my primary question “does organized religion have a future?” My opinion would be it all depends upon the religion and how deep the faith of each member is. Basically, the survival of a religion is entrenched in the foundation of their doctrines and beliefs. To believe in the teachings and scriptures of ones own religion requires unwavering faith. Although there may be some who follow their beliefs to a fault, the existence of an organization is usually based on leadership and management. Moreover, the strength of any organize religion is subject to the solace it provides to the members who are assisted in the enrichment of their lives through the doctrines and scriptures they uphold (Pearlstein, 2004). References All About Religion. (2002). Meaning of Religion. Retrieved July 25, 2008 from http:www.allaboutreligion.org/meaning_of_religion_faq.htm Cline, Austin (n.d.). Agnostism/Atheism. Retrieved on July 25, 2008 from http://atheiism.about.com/library/FAQs/religion/blrel_def.htm Cooke, Bernard. (n.d.). Christian Sacraments and Christian Personality. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. Desmet, James. (1987). World Religions: Institute of Religious Education, St. Louis University, 1987. Desmet, James. (1988). The Christian Community and its Life (Psychology of Religion): Institute of Religious Education, St. Louis University, 1988. Desmet, James. (1989). Religious Sociology: Institute of Religious Education, St. Louis University, 1989. Jones, Kile. (08 July 2007). Defining Religion: Religious Tolerance.Org. Retrieved July 24, 2008 from http://www.religioustolerance.org/jones01.htm May, Rollo. (1983) “Mans Search for Himself.” New York: W.W. Norton, 1983. p.281. Pearlstein, Edgar. (2004). Religion: Good or Evil? Retrieved on July 26, 2008 from http://mwillett.org/atheism/religion-good-or-evil.htm Rogers, Winston. (5 July 2001). Organized Religion. Retrieved July 24, 2008 from http://home.alltel.net/winlyn/religion.html Schneider, Del Byron. (1989) “No God But God.” Minnesota: Ausburg Publishing House, 1989. Research Log Research Question #1: Does organize religion have a future? Search #1 from the search engine Yahoo #1 Search Strategies & Source Evaluation: - Had to find out the meaning or definition of religion from various articles on line and from different authors to have an idea of what Im looking for. Narrowing to Research Question #2: Why does religion exist? - Question #1 is quite a broad overview of religion and I wanted to go a little deeper as to the presence of religion. - Browsing through the Internet, using Yahoo as my search engine, I came upon various reasons why religion existed and I likewise did more reading of available books on topics of World Religions, Psychology of Religion and Religious Sociology. #1 Search Strategies & Source Evaluation: -Yahoo search yielded many possible results that were quite broad. - Look over possible journals and on-line interviews from theology experts in order to expand my perspective of religion and its existence. Narrowing to Research Question #3: What are the different needs of man? - Research Questions #1 and #2 are quite general. - I prefer to narrow down my search as to why man needs religion and how his various human needs are related to having a religion. #1 Search Strategies & Source Evaluation: I found online sources about the meaning of religion from the following Internet links: http://home.alltel.net/winlyn/religion.html; http://www.religioustolerance.org/jones01.htm; http://atheiism.about.com/library/FAQs/religion/blrel_def.htm - The above website links gave me quite a vague idea of religion so I decided to type in again “definition of religion” on the address field and I found All About Religion site that gave me a more concrete idea of what religion is all about. Search #2 from religion related books #2 Search Strategies & Source Evaluation: - After having gone through the internet sources, I decided to read some books about religion by Father James Desmet. - His three (3) books: World Religion; Psychology of Religion pertaining to The Christian Community and Its Life and Religious Sociology gave me a deeper view on the needs of man as a social and moral being. - I now interrelated this with my previous findings and tried to make a connection between religion and mans needs for fulfillment. Narrowing to Research Question #4: Is there a God? -My research on question number 1, 2 and 3 provided me with another question as to the existence of a “superior being” or a question of whether there really is a God. The books of May Rollo and Bernard Cooke provided me with an insight as to Gods existence - Del Byron Schneiders book: “No God But God” gave me a deeper perception of why there are people who believe or does not believe in God. It also gave me an idea why there are times when people live their lives as they want without any regard for reprimand from a “higher being”. Alternative Database Search: Religion: Good or Evil -Since my research was focus on the various aspects of religion, I had to go back to my original question of “Does Organized Religion Have a Future?”. -So I keyed in the words “survival of religion” on the address field of my Yahoo browser. I came across an article by Edgar Pearlstein on the link: http://mwillett.org/atheism/religion-good-or-evil.htm, which gave me the idea that the an organized religion may have a future since it provides comfort for its followers. However, all depends on how a certain organization is ran by its leaders and how strong the faith of its respective followers are. Read More