India Phills
Ms. Park
Humanities
Nov 27, 2017
A World Without Organized Religion?
Religion is defined as “the service and worship of God or the supernatural.” (Merriam Webster) Estimates say there are some 4,200 religions practiced around the world today; the oldest of which is Hinduism dating back 4,000 plus years. Religion has developed and grown over time and has been part of society for so long that it has become ingrained in the way we live. Because believing in a faith or religion pushes people to act ethically and churches, mosques, and temples provide social benefits to the community, religion is necessary to our society today and to remove it would be detrimental.
Whether it is out of fear of supernatural punishment, or out of love for a higher power, religion pushes people to have good morals and ethics. Almost every religious scripture condemns violence and immoral acts of its followers. In communities with high levels of regular church attendance, there are decreased levels of “domestic violence among both men and women” as well as “assault, burglary, and larceny.” (Lewis) While people participate in less immoral acts out of love for a God, people also participate in less immoral acts out of fear of a God. When people are being observed, they are less likely to steal or cheat out of fear of being caught as was show by a study lead by Jesse Bering in 2010. Bering did a study on children where he gave them a game and set of rules not to break. When the first group of children were left alone to complete the task they cheated almost immediately. However with the second group of children Bering told them that in a chair on the other side of the room sat the invisible Princess Alice. When the researchers left the room all the children played the game exactly as specified; no cheating. (Reynolds) Even though there was no evidence that Princess Alice existed, the children still acted morally in fear of being caught. The reaction to Princess Alice directly relates to the reaction of a presence of a God and how a God is the reason for ethical behavior. In the hopes of receiving enlightenment, moksha, or acceptance into heaven after death, religious followers adhere to their supreme deity’s word to be moral whether they know it or not. Religion and religious institutions also have great societal benefits in addition to individual benefits. Many religious centers provide food and shelter to those in need and provide a community for those who have lost their way. During the winter time many of the churches, mosques, and temples in San Francisco open their doors every night to SF’s rapidly increasing homeless population. (Johnson) They provide meals, beds, and numerous hygiene products to the short term residents. The Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco also offers services such as blood tests and information on HIV and HIV and Hepatitis C and legal clinic drop in days where those in need of legal help can be advised by lawyers. (Glide Memorial Church) If these services weren't provided by the church, they would be too costly for those who need it the most. The religious centers provide just as much of a benefit in society as the religion itself provides for the people.
Some say that you don't need to be a follower of religion to have a strong sense of morals. A sense of ethics can be gained through experiences that one may have and these experiences are not always tied to religion. While religion does promote some sense of morality, many people believe this is outweighed by the immoral beliefs that various religions preach and many of their followers hold to be true. For example, many religions preach homosexuality to be a sin and that those who engage in such ‘behaviors’ are of the devil. The impact of this has been that there are between 320,000 and 400,000 homeless LGBT youths in the United States at any given moment. (Cray) Homelessness among LGBT youth often occurs because they choose to leave their homes out of fear of rejection, abuse, or being physically thrown out. Thus these children and teens are left out on the streets to fend for themselves, because of religious values held by their families. This creates huge rates of homelessness that many religious centers then try to support by providing shelters. For those out on the streets, however, there are increasing numbers of alternatives other than churches for support. Women’s shelters and homeless shelters provide the same resources without the religious component. Organizations that don't have a religious component can provide resources and acceptance that religious institutions can not because of their teachings. An example of this is that most religions preach abstinence until marriage and because of this, many institutions are unlikely to provide support for a teenage mother.
Many of the non religious centers provide one specific type of service or support. Religious institutions can help large numbers of people at one time and often provide many different services to them. Since churches don't need to pay taxes in America, they don't need to take funds from people for services and thus provide their services for free. Secular organizations require the funds of their patrons. Religious institutions’ work is inspired by their beliefs and not for material benefits or money proving the strength of morality in religion. While religion today is not always seen as being directly related to morality, many of the things that are seen as moral today were determined by religious teachings from the past. Almost every country was built on a foundation of religion in their government and it still has ties to government today. Phrases like “In God we trust” will forever be ingrained into American history and without the religious foundation that grew as our country grew, the influence of religion would not be the same. The ties between morality and religion, as well as the clear benefits that religious institutions provide to our so show the necessity of religion in our society today.
Works Cited
Briggs, David. "No Time For Crime: Study Finds More Religious Communities Have Lower Rates Of Black, White and Latino Violence." Huffpost Religion . Huffington Post, 4 Dec. 2013. .
Califano, Joseph. “Religion, Science and Substance Abuse.” America Magazine, 3 Aug. 2015,
CD124, Hawthorne NY. “Can Morality Exist Without Religion?” Teen Ink, 18 Sept. 2014,
Cray, Andrew. “ The Experiences and Unmet Needs of LGBT Homeless Youth.” Seeking Shelter, Sept. 2013
“Our Services” Glide Memorial Church.
Johnson, Peter Fimrite and Lizzie. “Churches Open Doors to SF Homeless in Winter Shelter Program.” SFGate, 20 Nov. 2016,
Lewis, Andy. "Some Positive Benefits Churches Bring to Communities." The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission . Southern Baptist Convention, 13 Mar. 2008.
Morris, Alex. “The Forsaken: Gay Teens Shunned by Their Religious Families.” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 3 Sept. 2014
Reynolds, Neil. “Someone Is Watching You – so Behave Yourself.” The Globe and Mail, Special to The Globe and Mail, 5 Nov. 2010,