RELIGION & SOCIETY

Religion & society

Religion & society

Introduction

Religion has had a great deal of impact on the society, including the European countries, since way back in the 16th century. Religion can be described as a means of life that is connected to beliefs or tenets about the supreme power or being. Even today, religions have great impact on our lives. Hence, religion is responsible for the conflict in the society, certain lifestyle in our society, and a widespread culture of peace.

Discussion

The Roman Catholic Church is associated with much of the confrontation that has been witnessed in history. Therefore, the resultant was the conquered country adopting the religion of the country that defeated it. Rulers who were opposed to certain religion made the life of the believers difficult and even sometime went to the extent banning the whole religion. One instance of this is the ban imposed on the Catholic church of the Romans by the Sir Henry of England. In fact, this ruler went on to join the protestant, a body that opposed the Catholic beliefs (Schaefer, 2009).

Religion is also responsible for the differentiation in the society between the wealthy and the poor. Although mostly religion is meant to provide an environment where everyone is treated as equal, the early Christian Churches leaders extorted the poor with the pretense that they would be forgiven. Consequently, the Pope and other church clergies accumulated wealth and lived a lavish lifestyle at the expense of the followers and the common man. It is worth to note that the economic and political aspects played a great role in the reformation. At this era, the political elites were opposed to the materialism in the Catholic Church and led to a revolution of the religion. The result was emergence of Lutheranism, which played a great part in treating the wealthy as well as the poor as equal. Considering that people paid land dues to the church, a conflict of interest was apparent between different religious groupings within Christianity. Elsewhere, religion beliefs were in conflict with scientific findings and scientist more often than not became outcast or imprisoned for opposing the common church beliefs. So, religion was the epitome of the society; anything significant in life was linked to religion. In the past, physical confrontation characterized the society as a result of religion. Wars, even in modern times, are fought as a result of differences in religious beliefs. Israel and Palestine are some of the territories that are marred with religious conflicts (Lewiston, 2004).

Religion can be linked to the economic inadequacy of several economies. Firstly, the religious conflicts, especially physical ones, have affected the economy negatively. It is common knowledge that the likely consequences of conflicts are destructive. Historically, the attack of the Ottoman Empire by Roman rulers after the recommendation of the Catholic clergy as well as the expelling of the Moors and Jews by Spain resulted to loss of resourceful people.

Today, various religions are in conflict with each ...