Religion plays a necessary role in society and politics by providing a moral benchmark and bringing purpose and glee to an otherwise ignorant and evil society. | Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Everyone is always looking for something: to be a better person, make a difference or a sense of happiness.
There is an inherent need in humans to look to something higher and greater than us to fulfill whatever void holds our lives, whether that higher power may be. Money, government, power or God.
There is an inherent beauty in all religion, as it brings meaning to a seemingly devoid life. When we are born, we are nothing more than a small being with no power, future and meaning. Just a body.
But what is life without meaning? Humans have 100 years, possibly, to make use of our body, and religion gives us a chance to make our life worth living.
You see, the necessity of religion is that no matter what you’re looking for, it fills you up. Religion makes life better.
If you’re looking to be a better person, you find a reason to be a better person, you find a way to be a better person. If you’re looking to make a difference, you find a way to make a difference through service or helping others find a better life. If you’re looking for happiness, religion is there to give you something to believe, to be happy about.
Even at your times when you’re most down, religion is there.
Religion helps guide society, and the individuals in that society, to something greater. To best understand this, George Washington once said, “Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
If we trust in the government and society to make what is legal or moral, we come to the point of societal downfall. We no longer have a benchmark to look towards.
The world is a dark and dangerous place — just look at news in the past month. As we scour the earth to find a sliver of meaning that made all the suffering worth it, religion gives us a reason to keep travelling through the darkest of nights.
Find meaning, find religion.
Opinion columnist Jorden Smith is a political science junior and president of the College Republicans. He can be reached at [email protected]
Would you rather believe things because they’re true, or believe things are true because it makes you feel good? Are facts secondary to feelings when it comes to what you believe, or do you care more about the truth than whether the truth is nice?
Religion is nice because it creates a common moral ground, and allows people peace of mind. However, it is imposing in the sense that it creates divides between people and has the tendency to create extremist agendas. In more ways than one, religion has had a negative effect on the lives of millions. I believe spirituality is more important than religion.
At the end of the day, all gods from different religions are the same and religious books teach the same thing- love and be loved.
I think it’s important to respect people that do and don’t believe in a god. However, as more of a spiritual person, I don’t understand the concept of believing in someone you have never met/ can never see. I think it’s great because it gives you something to believe in- so why not believe in yourself?
I am not trying to offend anyone religious, but I don’t understand how you can believe something without facts, or data supporting it. Personally, if you want to believe in something, believe in the goodness you see in *real* tangible people that have done great things for humanity, not a fictitious figure you read about in a book written thousands of years ago.
I think religion is beautiful and people find tranquility in it, but I do not understand how you believe in something you cannot touch/see/ascertain for yourself.