Religion has been one of the controversial issues that we come across every now then and I decided to read some articles and publication, coupled with my own reasoning I came out with these piece on the significance of religion in our society. Religion is derived from the two Latin words “re” and “ligare” which means “to reconnect”

WHAT IS RELIGION?

According to atheisme : Religion is the set of beliefs, feelings, dogmas and practices that define the relations between human being and sacred or divinity. A given religion is defined by specific elements of a community of believers: dogmas, sacred books, rites, worship, sacrament, moral prescription, interdicts, organization.

With this definition,I can say there is no one on the planet earth that does not have a religion because this concept comes down to one basic thing which is belief and we all believe in at least one thing. All these different beliefs is about knowing a supreme being called God.

Religion has a purpose and this purpose leads the path to forming guidelines of each belief system but we seemed to have forgotten this, which is very sad. If we study each and every of the religions of this world,we will notice that they have three(3) characteristics in common and these are:

Faith
Believes
Unity

Religion has played lot of role in our society today(both positive and negative). The sikh scripture states that religion is very much a force with both positive and negative qualities.

“Rituals and religions are all just entanglements; bad and good are bound up with them. Those things done for the sake of children and spouse, with ego and attachment in the heart, are just more bonds. Wherever I look, there I see the noose of attachment to Maya. O Nanak, without recognising higher Truth, the world is engrossed in blind entanglements” (SGGSJ, p. 551)

So lets look at both qualities below:

Increases Self-Esteem

Religion can offer a particularly strong sense of self-worth because God’s love in most believe system is often perceived as unconditional. In other words, many religious traditions state that God, like a good parent, loves and values all human being irrespective of actions and in-actions.

Promotes Fellowship

Religion in a way encourages a sense of belonging which is one of the peculiar things that is needed by human since we are social beings. Religious activities provides us the avenue to meet people of like minds and belief which in turn boost our connection to others

Promotes healing of mind and body

In science, it is believed that a patient’s mental state influences diseases and healing and so a branch of science that's relatively new ( Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) ) enforces beliefs that physicians have held for many centuries. Religious people possess a strong belief in the idea of being healed by God or other divine authority and because of this, religious and spiritual people have been noticed to have a higher ability to experience healing of their own mind and body.

Source of hope

Psychologically, it is believed that positive thinking and attitude are good for our well being. For most human, religion as been a huge means of getting ope and optimism.

Negative Role

Power driven leaders

Just like every other secular or political institution those centres of religion becomes breeding grounds for power driven, egocentric, self righteous people who do more harm to society than good.

Faulty Religious Idea

There are many examples of religious ideas which are bad for mother earth, bad for creating human unity and bad for the advancement of society. There have been bad religious ideas that were developed by believers of various religion which has been at the detriment of planet Earth . Some of these beliefs include calling followers of other religions unbelievers and obstructing scientific research because it may contradict our own religious ideas.

War

It saddens me that people have used and are still using religion as an excuse to start war with one another and use religion as a tool to argue their oppressive actions.

So in summary, as much as religion can be a source of hope for its followers and be a connecting tool to spiritual world,it can also be a dangerous tool to cause upset and chaos in our society.

Stemians,let me hear your views about this topic.