Every religion followed anywhere in the world, has a set of principles and rules to follow. The rules were designed to encourage fair and moral behaviour. Holy books are written to document the principles of certain religions. Almost all religious preaching tells their followers to be kind human being. Therefore, goodness has not always been the outcome of religious beliefs. Some behaviours run contrary to the principles of the religion, with disastrous effects. This is because over the period some of the religious principles have been bent, changed or interpreted in favour of people holding powerful positions.
There are estimated 4,200 different religions in the world. There are 5 main religions Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and New age. Out of which, the top two are Christianity with 2.2 billion being Christian and Islam with 1.6 billion followers. Most religions are central to one supreme being to, what we call as God. Religions says that God created us but may be human created (idea of) God. Whatever the case may be, religious beliefs have for centuries influenced our society and human behaviour. There are also many who don’t believe in God or religion and are known as atheists.
To understand effects of religion on people’s behavior, let us briefly look into main religions. The purposes of the practice of a religion are to achieve the goals of salvation for oneself and others, and to render due worship and obedience to God. Different religions have different understandings of salvation and God.
Christianity
The religion came to life at first AD with the birth of Jesus Christ supposedly born in the city of Jerusalem. The religion is focused on two values, Love and forgiveness. There is no focus on religious rituals but instead to understand God and enjoying life with him. Jesus Christ was not a forecaster, nor was he God but was stated to be the son of God. They created the Bible to be the written message of God to follow its principles as the generations continue.
Islam
Muslims believe that Islam began 1400 years ago in Mecca. The Muslim believed there was only one God which they called ‘Allah’. There are no equal, superior or lesser Gods. They believed God sent many prophets to teach them how to live. The religion was formed mainly from faith, that being their main value. One of the prophets was known as prophet Muhammed which was said to be the last and final prophet of Islam. Like Christians, Muslims too created a holy book known as the Quran. They believed that their acts decided whether they will ascend to heaven or fall to hell. This was known as the day of judgment.
Hinduism
Hinduism is the oldest and longest lasting religion in the world stretching thousands of years back. It is closely associated with many religions such as Sikh, Jainism and Buddhism which many consider to be small fragment of Hinduism. Unlike many religions, Hindus believe in the concept of many Gods. The main three also known as the Hindu triumvirate being Brahma Vishnu and Shiva. Similar to Muslims the believe that their acts decided their life faith whether they were to go to heaven or hell. Just like many religions they too have scriptures but instead have 4 books rather than one known as the Vedas. They believe in rebirth governed by ‘Karma’.
Buddhism
The religion of Buddhism was said to be founded around the sixth century BC around 2500 years ago by a prince named Siddhartha Gautama who was said to be the ninth incarnation of lord Vishnu in the Hindu religion. Siddhartha was confused to what might be the true purpose of life and why there was a difference between the rich and the poor and went on a quest for enlightenment leaving his family, his wealth and his kingdom and eventually became a monk and started the religion of Buddhism. There is no belief in personal god and Buddhist believe that life is both endless and impermanence, suffering and uncertain. There main practise is meditation and they value morality and wisdom.
The New Age
This religion is like no other common religion. They have no holy text, central organizations, formal membership, geographic centre (e.g. Christians believe Jerusalem to be there geographic centre), creed etc. This is a religion with followers who have somewhat similar beliefs and is a free following religion/ spiritual movement. It is definitely a heterogeneous movement with 8% believe in astrology as a method of foretelling the future, 7% believe that crystals are a source of healing or energizing power, 9% believe that Tarot Card are a reliable base for life based decisions, 11% believe that God is “a state of higher consciousness that a person may reach”, 8% define God as “the total realization of personal, human potential”, and the 3% believe that each person is God.
Below statistics from Pew research Centre (Dated April 5, 2017) shows the followers of major religions in the world:
NB. above is a suggested alternative – list of religious populations.
Religious beliefs can affect us in certain things for example it can affect our health and it can also affect us in decision making. Religion is meant to have a positive influence on decision making, as it teachers individuals morality. In the scene that they all should make decisions that would be approved by their god and follow to creed and code of one religion. All religions have values. Values are guides to behaviour, such as do good, avoid wrong. Thus further influencing positive decision making amounts religion followers. Religious follows decisions are influenced by the moral code of their chosen religion. Religious belief impacts human health in a variety of ways, from blood pressure to psychological well-being. Surveys regularly show that roughly 90 percent of Americans say they believe in God or some higher power and 50 percent say religion is very important to them.
Religion has had good and bad effects in the society. Millions of responsible students’ study in catholic schools and later promote peace. As such most of the religions promote peace. Recognising unparallel influence of religious beliefs on people’s behaviour, some power-hungry people started misleading people with interpretation that was different from the original intent. Their misleading beliefs caused them to act irrationally and at times resulted in catastrophic losses and damages. Religious beliefs leading to violence include “The Crusades” and Palestine-Israel War as described below:
The Crusades
The crusades were a series of war fought between the Christians and the Islam. It started when the Christians from western Europe responded to Pope Urban II’s plea to go to war against the Muslims in hopes to capture the holy city of Jerusalem. Pope Urban II believed Jerusalem was the birth place of Jesus Christ during the time where the holy city was already under Islamic control and demanded it to be taken from them. The Muslims responded with violence and soon war broke out between the two religions.
Palestine – Israel War
After the World War II, 6 million Jews were killed and massacred. Thus the Jew wanted their own country were given a large part of Palestine. In 1948 the Arabs of Palestine and the Israelis began to fight over the city of Gaza. As a result Gaza was given to Egypt and the West bank to Jordan. But it didn’t end there as in 1967 Israeli forces began to invade Gaza and stayed there for years hoping to exchange the they land they won for Arab countries and an end to the fighting. The Israelis left in 2005. However, a group called Hamas won the election in Gaza and taken control. They were terrorist organisation and tried to recapture the lost land of Palestine and the war continued.
Many countries are represented by religious leaders like Vatican City governed by the Pope. Majority of the citizens are Christians. In some countries, government decisions are decided based on specific religion. There are some other countries with mixed religion like Israel having three religions Jews, Muslim, and Christians. Countries like India and Singapore are a multiracial/ multi-religion country giving equal rights to all religions.(National Perspective)
Globally religion is an essential part of most of the lives (about 84% as per the Pie chart above) and it determines their attitude, behaviour and overall lifestyle. Even how people, world leaders etc interact with is all to do with their religions and belief as some prefer to greet by nodding, shaking, hugging and etc. Terrorist organization are in the increase due to their misguided thoughts and has now become a global issue. As such religion has always had global effect, relations among countries and societies. (Global Perspective)
Religion impacts our behaviour in every aspect of our lives by having to live by those principles and rules. It is rooted in our brain that religion is how we think, how we act, how we choose. People usually tend to seek God’s guidance & support when any problem exceed their capability to handle. At times people seek God’s blessings to fulfil their dreams and goals. I have noticed during exam time that suddenly a lot of my friends start praying to God, believing only He can control the outcome of their exams. Meaning only God has control, they have just got to do prayers and efforts. This is how religion influences humans by attempting to influence their lives and to believe that they hold no significant individual power.
Whether God created us, or human created (idea of) God, religious beliefs has proven their power of continually impacting human behaviour. It regulates the actions humans take to make informed (good or bad) decisions. Religion is powerful because it does not only control one individual, but rather dominates clans, flocks, groups, and communities. Knowledge of religion and power are positively related, as knowledge increases, so does the power you have to control and influence.
Sadly, not all religious believers stick to the true meaning of the rules, preferring to bend them to suit their desires. Still I believe that most people are basically good, with only a very few seeking to do damage in the name of a faith or God. If the majority are good people, just striving to do the right thing, according to their religion, then this positive approach impacts on their behaviour. It then goes further by encouraging others, even non-believers, to try to work from a moral standpoint. The outcome is a better society for all. Or so we can hope.
Personal Perspective
Religion affects people and their behaviours both in a good and a bad way. Their belief has caused them to be the human beings they are today. Mostly good behaviour of humans is driven due to the principles and rules of the religion they follow. Different people would have different opinions about this subject
After referring to many websites and gathering information I can conclude that yes, Religion affects people and their behaviours both in a good and a bad way. Their obdurate belief has caused them to be the human beings they are today. Mostly good behaviour of humans is driven due to the principles and rules of the religion they follow. Different people would have different opinions about this subject. In today’s world people’s behaviour is one of the biggest issues where there is no equality among the people with different religion. Several counties have been adapting multi-religious societies and accommodating religious events as long as they do not interfere with any other religion. Such countries are equally treating peoples from all religions. I wish and believe that there will be a day when this will be followed by every country across the globe.
27.02.2019