Religious Belief a Fundamental Want or Need?
In my opinion, religious belief is a fundamental want and not a need. The reason it’s a want as opposed to a need is that religion is something that has been around for years. Over such years it’s been changed from generation to generation. The one thing that hastens change is its moral principles. Such as good and evil right and wrong, I think that anybody from any religious background can agree on this. They all preach the same message of love, peace and forgiveness. All this does is give people structures and guidelines to live by.
As a Christian, I am a firm believer in Christ and all that he teaches. I utilize his word as a guide on how to live my life. I am not the only one that does; many people around the world are doing the same thing. Religion gives them structure in life that they seem to can’t find anywhere else. I think that this want comes from some innate need for a parental figure. They want to feel controlled or rather have a dominant figure in our lives.
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When we grow up, there is a need for structure, which is usually provided by our parents or guardians, in most cases, the father is the one who enforces things. Once we grow up and move into the world we lose such structure and are forced to look elsewhere
And religion is the place most look to. You are free to believe in any religion you want. You are also free to leave any religious belief at any time.
According to the Socialist critique of religion, life is harsh so we rarely realize our collective potential or aspirations. So we create an ideal self we call God that is perfect in every way. He is all-knowing and omnipotent. This is something that we as humans admire. We are scared of the unknown and so religion provides us with security for the unknown. We need somewhere to run with our fears questions and problems.
Life is uncertain and we need something to count on. To many people, God is the only certainty in life.
As humans, we use religion as a way to live. It teaches us about right and wrong and how we should treat other people. It’s just like laws that we have to abide by in society. The difference is that these laws are from God. Christians have the Ten Commandments; Hinduism has its five principles and ten disciples and Islamic have the Ahkam. If you look throughout history you will notice that religion has played an important role in shaping the world we live in now. A great example would be the American Revolution. Religion offered moral approval for opposition to the British. It gave many Americans the assurance that a revolution was justified in the sight of God.
Like I have mentioned before people looked to religion for guidance. During the American, Revolution Americans wanted to make sure that the revolting against the British was justified. So they look to religion as the means to confirming their problems. Religion is also something we use as a stress releaser and a way to handle our daily problems. The thought that a higher power is always looking out is comforting to many people.
Good and Evil are something that derives from religion. Look at any religion and you will notice that the differences between good and evil are one of the main themes. Without it we wouldn’t know that murder is wrong. As humans, we have free will and can do whatever we want. Even though we have free will we have responsibility for the action we choose? So if I decide to kill somebody how do I know if my action is wrong compared to a soldier killing his enemy.
The role of religion comes into play as we decide whether which kind of killing is justified. Religion is a fundamental want that we have from birth. It helps us throughout our daily lives, and also makes important decisions for us. Such as the clothes we wear to the food we eat. It shapes us and makes us who we are. We live around religion and we practice the things it teaches. For example, Christians believe that they must model their life after Christ. Meaning they must live a life that is holy and satisfactory to God.
The two biggest questions that have plaque mankind for years are also the biggest reason for the need for religion. Like I have mentioned before religion is a need and not a want. Since the dawn of mankind, humans have always wanted to know two things. How was the world created and what will happen when we die. Science has tried its best to explain these questions but not everybody is buying into it. Religion has its own explanation for our creation and what happens when we die. The thought of a God creating us and the world with his hands is more assuring than the big bang theory. Knowing that if we live a good life we will go to heaven is better than the thought of once we die that’s just it.
Religious belief is a fundamental need that we as humans have. No matter what stance you take on this topic you have to agree that the need for structure and a dominant figure is something we can’t live without. This is were we get our morals and principles from. Religion has been around for ages and mankind has been using religion as a sense of relief from the stresses of life.
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