Beliefs and functions of Religion in Society

In today’s society you might find yourself searching for some type of hope, one of which is believe and hope that has been making a comeback in the upcoming generation, and that is the faith in religion. If you have ever experienced any type of religion you would know that it gives you faith and hope in some pretty dark times (Maybe when you’re praying for a way to pay off all your college debt)

               Growing up I was able to experience a rather popular religion, Christianity. In this religion most was practiced by going to church every Sunday (Most of the time being forced) and praying to a savior who we believed would forgive us of our wrongs and sins (This savior being Jesus of Nazareth.) But I always found a curious interest for learning more about all of the religions. And why people were believed there religion was the correct believe.

               I found it interesting learning that the religion that I believed in actually began as a cult that split off using elements from Judaism. This religion being based off the perception that is their duty to imply and use god’s laws. This is usually done through following The Ten Commandments, which is essentially the rules and laws of God himself. Another Religion that I was rather fascinating to me was one I learned about in class, that which is Hinduism. I’ve heard of this religion but I never took the time to really understand it, it was interesting to learn their moral practices and believes, such as they who envision God as a moral force rather than a single all powerful entity. It was also interesting to learn that the origins of this religion began in Indus river valley, and that the followers of this religion believe that they have a moral responsibility called “dharma”

               One of the rather interesting religions that I was able to learn in the classroom and from a close friend of mine was Islam. This religion was where its followers worshiped the word of God in the form of its prophet Muhammed. Usually called Muslims. When I interviewed my friend of some information of this, he told me that he never goes anywhere special for prayer, he does during certain hour of a day kneeling on a special rug that prays with, also he informed me that an important factor to this religion was following the five pillars, these rules are faith, prayer, almsgiving, fasting and the pilgrimage to Makkah,

               There are a great deal of other religions that people choose to follow such as Buddhism, Confucianism or one of the not commonly known ones such as Jainism, but each of these serve the purpose of unifying people by being socially constructed and giving them some kind of sacred meaning to their lives by praying to some significant figure or abiding by different values or laws each of which follow. But each of which is important, and important to learn about to better understand different cultures of religion.

http://dl0.creation.com/articles/p005/c00521/521-religious-symbols.jpg

http://krieger.jhu.edu/mellon/about/

http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/mods/theme_c/mod10.html