POSITIVE EFFECTS OF RELIGION

1. Religion Promotes Social Harmony

— Religion believes in supernatural beings and powers. It practices a
set of rituals and ceremonious rites of passage and rites of
intensification. It also regards religious leaders such as priests,
priestesses and shamans in high esteem. These characteristics help
advance social harmony by assimilating and stabilizing cultures and
nations.
— Xiao, or filial piety, on the other hand, is a significant aspect of
Confucianism which promotes social harmony. Filial piety refers to the
attitude of obedience, devotion, and care of one’s parents and elder
family members. Children are expected not only to obey but defer to
parents’ judgments, as well as to perform the proper rituals for them.
In this way, social harmony is achieved since conflicts are avoided.
— Jainism also has a key concept which helps promotes social
solidarity, which is called ahimsa, or the concept of non-violence. The
killing and consumption of animals is strictly prohibited, for it is central
to the idea of ahimsa that they must minimize their violent impact on
the environment. Treating other people with respect is also a way of
practicing ahimsa.
2. Religion Provides Moral Values
— Religion encourages moral values and provides a systematic model
of the universe, which in effect determines organized human behavior.
By providing moral values, one is able to distinguish right from wrong,
good from evil. It also provides a system of reward and punishment
that administers and standardizes people’s behavior in society.

3. Religion Provides Social Change

— Since religion is a source of moral values, religion provides social
change. It can be very effective in lobbying and campaigning for certain
social issues using its own moral teachings as the basis of argument. For
example, the Church in the US has been active in the campaign for civil
liberties as well as the antislavery movement.
—In the Philippines, much credit has been given to the Catholic Church
for the success of the People Power Revolution in 1986 when
Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin urged the people to join the protest rally
to oust the dictator, former president Ferdinand Marcos.
— Another example would be Gandhi’s satyagraha, or passive
resistance, which paved the way for India’s independence from the
British in the 20th century. Satyagraha advocates the belief that
nonviolence of the mind can lead to the realization of the real nature of
an evil situation and that by refusing to cooperate with evil, truth can
be asserted. This concept employed by Gandhi in the early 20th century
became instrumental in the Indian struggle against the British and
became a model for other protest actions in other countries.

4. Religion Reduces Fear of the Unknown

— Religion was developed from man’s need to have a sense of origin
and destination; to discover where they came from and where they are
bound to go to when they die. Religion provides answers for
phenomena and questions that science or reason cannot explain. More
importantly, religion has provided assurances as to where spirits will go
when people die, reducing people’s fear of death as something
undesirable. Explanations provided by religions have reduced fears and
anxieties among individuals and some religions have even made death
a better alternative to living in uncertainty.
— For the Hindus, for example, how they follow their dharma (moral
and social obligation) determines what will happen to them in the
afterlife: as long as they follow their dharma, they will reap good karma
(karma refers to moral consequences of one’s act) which will eventually
liberate their souls from bad karma, leading them to attain moksha, or
the reunion of Brahman or universal soul and atman or individual soul.
— Among the Christians, obeying the Ten Commandments and being
good to others will earn a reward of eternal life in heaven; doing the
opposite will lead to eternal damnation in hell.
— Among the Muslims, there are certain circumstances which will
guarantee them a place in heaven, like dying in jihad (a struggle against
unbelievers) or performing the hajj (Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca).
5. Religion Gives Positive Goals in Life
— People were inspired by the stories of different prophets from their
own religious affiliations, like that of Moses, Siddharta Gautama, and
Muhammad. These people showed how ordinary people like them
were given important missions in life, and how they struggled to carry
out their respective missions.
— Moses was ordered to liberate the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt
and lead them back to the promised land.
— Mohammed was chosen to challenge the supremacy of the ruling
class in the desert by preaching equality and founding the Islamic
religion— Siddharta Gautama gave up his wealth and power to find the
solution for sickness, poverty, old age, and death.
6. Religion Gives People a Sense of Belonging
— Just as family, ethnicity, or nationality give people a sense of
belonging, so does religion. For some, religion provides people with
personal identity as part of a group with similar worldviews, beliefs,
values, practices, and lifestyles. It provides communities with prospects
to recognize and offer vital action and service to provide the needs of
the larger community.
— Belonging to a particular religion gives individuals a sense of being in
the right place with the right people. It also provides them with a sense
of security because other people who belong to the same religious
group will tend to support and help each other in times of crisis.
— A good example of religion giving people a sense of belonging is the
Sikh principle of Seva, also known as Sewa, from the word Karseva
which means “selfless service.” Sikhs are expected to perform work or
service without expecting anything in return. They are encouraged by
their Guru (Guru Granth Saib) to perform selfless service with the belief
that by so doing, they are not only promoting good community
relations but also paving the way for the moral uplifting of a person,
thus strengthening his or her sense of belonging to the community.
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF RELIGION

1. Religion Affirms Social Hierarchy

— Some religions affirm social hierarchy often favoring men and as a
result, perpetuate the notions of class or gender discrimination and
oppression.
— Another example of religion reflecting the hierarchy of political
structures would be the Confucian emphasis on the relations between
the ruler and the subject, with the former exercising authority over the
latter.
— The traditional caste system in India would also reflect how religion
reflects political and social structures since it propagated the idea that
people had to be subdivided into certain social classes with particular
social roles and that the attainment of moksha (union of universal soul
and individual soul) would depend on how they performed their duties
based on their designated class.
2. Religion Causes Discrimination
— There are some who say that religion, after turning people against
themselves, turn people against each other. This happens when people
do not tolerate religious ideologies different from the one they follow.
Religious fanaticism can lead to feelings of hatred, which could lead to
racism, and eventually violence.
— Religion can also be a source of discrimination, or the prejudicial
treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the
basis of race, religion, age, or sex.
— In Islam, the practice of wearing the hijab (a head covering worn in
public by Muslim women) is considered by many critics as a form of
suppression against Muslim women. Women have to cover their body,
from head to toe, so as not to attract the attention of men—
perpetuating the notion that women are temptations that men should
avoid.
— There are also religions which discriminate against other religions on
the basis of claiming to be the “right religion” and that only their
followers will be saved in the afterlife.
3. Religion Triggers Conflicts and Fights
— Religion also has some aspects which make it susceptible to be a
source of conflict and war. History witnessed numerous lives sacrificed
and lost in the name of religion. Wars have been fought in the name of
religion, and this phenomenon continues up to the present time.
— In Palestine, the Jews are in conflict with the Muslims; in Kashmir, it
is the Muslims against Hindus; in Sudan, it is the Muslims opposite
Christians and animists; in Sri Lanka, it is the Sinhalese Buddhists
against the Tamil Hindus; in Indonesia, it is Muslims contra Timorese
Christians.

4. Religion As An Economic Tool for Exploiting the Masses

— According to the German philosopher Karl Marx, “religion is the
opium of the masses.” This is in relation to his critical approach to
religion in which he proposed that the bourgeoisie keeps the proletariat
in control through religion.
— According to Marx, it maintains social inequality by propagating a
worldview that justifies oppression. He believed that religion can be
effectively used by the ruling class to maintain a social order that is
more favorable to them.
5. Religion Impedes Scientific Success and Development
— Throughout history, religion has proven to impede scientific
development. For example, it has often been said that the Catholic
Church used to teach that the world is flat and warned people against
going to faraway places if they do not wish to fall off the edge of the
earth.
— Another example would be the claim that the earth is the center of
the solar system, also known as the Ptolemaic theory. Aristarchus, and
later on, Nicolas Copernicus, proved that the sun is the center of the
solar system and all other planets move around it, hence advancing the
heliocentric model.

6. Religion Obstructs the Use of Reason

— In order to put these dogma to practice, religion should, therefore,
evolve and learn to adapt to the ever changing world. Ancient religious
beliefs and practices which have proven to be inhuman should be
replaced with sensible ones.
— Take the case of the trepanning, or the ancient practice of boring
holes in the human skull, a surgical procedure performed on epileptics
and the mentally ill, with the belief that through the hole the evil spirit
will leave the person. During those days they regard it as an attempt at
exorcism, but at present the procedure is just unthinkable.

HISTORICAL EVENTS CAUSED BY RELIGION

1. Self-Immolation of a Buddhist Monk in Vietnam

— Self-immolation, or the killing of oneself as a form of sacrifice,
originally referred to as the act of setting oneself on fire. But now it
refers to a much wider range of suicidal choices such as leaping off a
cliff, starvation, or ritual removing of the guts (also known as seppuku).
It is used as a form of political protest or martyrdom.
— The case of self-immolation was first performed by Buddhist monk
named Thich Quang Duc in Vietnam in 1963, who set himself on fire in
the middle of a street in South Vietnam. This was done in protest
against the religious discrimination being experienced by the Buddhists
in Vietnam by the Roman Catholic regime of Ngo Dinh Diem. When
Thich Quang Duc failed to achieve reforms for the Buddhist population,
he set himself on fire.
— According to the Buddhists, after this incident and even after his
cremation his heart remained intact, which they interpreted as a sign of
his great compassion. This event served as an important catalyst in
overthrowing Diem’s government and the assassination of Diem
and his brother.
2. Widow Burning Among the Hindus in India
— Sati, or the practice of self-immolation of a widow on her husband’s
funeral pyre, is said to have originated 700 years ago in India. It is
believed to have started among the ruling class or rajputs in India,
when the rajput women burnt themselves to death after their men
were defeated in battles to avoid being taken by the conquerors. Later
on, it has become a manifestation of wifely devotion.

3. The Inquisition
— Inquisition refers to the Roman Catholic Church groups charged with
subduing heresy from around 1184, which includes the Episcopal
Inquisition (1184-1230s) and the Papal Inquisition (1230s). The
Inquisition was a response to large popular movements in Europe
considered heretical or profane to Christianity, particularly Catharism (a
Christian dualist movement which espoused the idea of two gods, one
being good and the other evil) and Waldensians (a Protestant Christian
movement which advocated that apostolic poverty is the way to
perfection) in southern France and southern Italy.
— The word “inquisition,” has somehow become associated with the
word “torture.” This is because after 1252, torture was used to punish
the heretics (people who spread fake news or a make-up news from the
Bible).

4. THE GODHRA TRAIN INCIDENT IN 2002

— In February 2002, a train was set on fire in which 59 people,
including 25 women and 15 children, were killed. The fire happened
inside the Sabarmati Express train near the Godhra railway station in
the Indian state of Gujarat.
— Those who died inside the train were mostly Hindu pilgrims and
activists returning from the holy city of Ayodhya after a religious
ceremony at the disputed Babri Masjid site.
— Hindus accuse the Muslims of demolishing a previous Hindu temple
on the site to create the Babri mosque, which was destroyed by radical
Hindu activists during a political rally that turned into a riot on
December 6, 1992. The Godhra train incident in 2002 was seen as a
Muslim retaliation for the demolition of the Babri mosque.
Questions that might get included in Essay:

1. Can you think of other cases of religious conflicts aside from the ones
mentioned?
— Another example of religious conflict is the Crusades. It is a series of
military expeditions that were started by European Christians as a
response to Muslim wars of expansion. Their main objective is to
hindrance the spread of Islam, retake control of the Holy Land, to
conquer pagan areas and reclaim formerly Christian territories.

2. Do you agree that sometimes religious conflicts are being used for
political reasons? Why or why not?
— I agree that sometimes, religious conflicts are indeed being used for
political reasons. Politicians have the tendency to take advantage of
religious conflicts to satiate their hidden political agendas. This can be
seen in times that politicians need people as supporters. For instance,
in elections, politicians significantly need people for support in order to
secure their win and position after the elections. Another is that people
may not know if a terrorist group wants to do something religious,
political, or both. This makes religion a perfect cover to keep any
political agendas out of sight.

3. In your own opinion, can religious conflicts be avoided? If yes, how?

— Personally speaking, religious conflicts can be avoided if we would
only teach ourselves to respect other religions. Another is the use of
communication and negotiation. I'm sure that there's no dispute that
can't be fixed simply by communication.

4. Do you think religious groups should have a say in political affairs?

Why or why not?
— I don't think that religious group should have a say in political affairs
because they hold on to different and opposing beliefs. An example of
this is their thoughts regarding the "death penalty" granted upon a
criminal who committed a heavy and gruesome crime. For the religious
group, they would prefer life over death. They believed that no matter
how sinful a person might be, they all deserve to get a second chance.
However, in politics, they would let the guilty taste his or her
consequences of her action. Therefore, these opposing ideas sparks
conflict between the two, that's why religious group would rather not
interfere to avoid further conflict.
5. Can you say that religion is a double-edged sword? Why or why not?
— As everyone is well aware, religion is a double-edged sword. On the
one side lies the succor, self‐regulation, social support, meaning, and
spirituality. On the other side, however, lies the struggles and violence.
This could also mean that religion can cause conflict or can be the
solution to abate it.

6. How does religion encourage moral values?

— Religion encourages moral values by helping the people find the
goodness in them, teaching the people of the consequences of doing
and not doing the right thing and most importantly, introduces the
higher being who has the power over everything.