Religion

HONORS WESTERN CIVILIZATION Religious Foundation Amber Ohlendorf Mr. Fiore 4th Hour 5/1/2010   Religion Religion impacts a society greatly in economical, social, and cultural aspects. Religion plays a role in everyday life in today’s people just as it had in history. However, in order to appreciate the religions of today, one must look at the positive and negative impacts religion has played throughout history. Religion is the foundation for the development of a community in history. In history, religion affects the behavior of mankind. The middle Ages expanded the importance of religion by applying it to everyday life to make a community one. “The centralization of the church enabled Christianity to revitalize the spirit and faith of the Church,” (Western Experience). By people being involved with the church daily, it allowed the church to become unified and powerful. The church had the ability to open the doors to the common people and God. The people were so intrigued by the afterlife, they changed their behaviors for fear of not being in the afterlife with God. With the behavior change of people, religion has brought humanity to a somewhat civilized form and the need for torture devices slowly declined. Religion in the Middle Ages brought the church and the people together in a respectable way. In addition to the behavioral changes in the Medieval Period, the religion to Egyptians guided every aspect of their life. “The Egyptian “Book of the Dead” contains the major ideas and beliefs in the ancient Egyptian religion,” (St. Petersburg Times). The book states how one person’s soul can travel safely to the happy after life. Since the people see the Pharoh as a god/goddess and do everything in their power to keep them happy, people spend their whole lives trying to live accordingly so they do end up with the Egyptian god Osiris. By people who live by the book, the Egyptians were a unified community because they did all their jobs honorably together. People base their lives around religion for the fear of how they will spend their afterlife. Religion has made people think before they act. Religion affects the way a government and economy is constructed. In Ancient Greece, the city-states were very isolated. Their governments were not different from the surrounding city-states; however, each city-state believed their god/goddess that was watching over their city was superior to another. The god/goddess of the city was put first before anybody in the town. People waited on them hand and foot to please them to make sure the god/goddess would watch over the city-state and keep it safe. The economy was pretty much based on the action of the god/goddess. The farmers depended on them for good harvest, sailors for strong winds. The people had such strong beliefs, that everything done around the city-state was done with good intentions of the god/goddess. Similarly, the people of Muslim faith revolve their government under the word of Allah. Those who are Muslim read, “…And if you judge, judge between them with justice. Verily, God loves those who act justly” (Quran 5:42). The Muslim people believe that Allah is sacred and he makes the laws. Thus, bringing together religion and government. They believe that their religion should be the laws that people must abide by. By building a community around the religion, people have the sense of a secure community. Religion makes or breaks a community through disputes. The Catholic Church community split due to a religious dispute. “…the most famous disagreement was and still is the filioque dispute,” (Chambers 193). This tore the community apart because the people shared slightly different beliefs. The people had officially recognized the two will never be as one because they never see eye-to-eye. Because the two have their differences, the Christian community had left its mark on history. Another dispute that happened due to religion was the Crusades. “The Crusades originally had the goal of recapturing Jerusalem and the Holy Lands,” (Grun 187). The Crusades lasted 200 years in the name of God. Communities were torn apart because of them. The soldiers fought for God, and with that they were sent to fight off another religion for their faith. Communities plundered because the war left some families without a husband, father, or a son. Some people were proud and most suffered from these actions. The Church’s dispute with the Muslims lead to a never ending twist to the two communities. Another religious incident that leads to a community to ruins was the Inquisition. “…persecuting individuals for a wide array of crimes,” (Fetzer 188). The Inquisition tore communities apart because it left people with thought that one cannot be in a different rhetorical aspect. Because the people were murdered for heresy or blasphemy, people thought those murdered had it coming to them. This allowed the Inquisition to go on, thus, tearing apart the community. Equally important to the Inquisition was the Reformation. Chambers states, “…Clerics had taken advantage of this vagueness simply to sell indulgences.” (Chambers 375). Martin Luther saw the corruption of the church and spoke out against the church saying that money cannot forgive one’s sins. After a while, Luther began to gain support from the people. The people who believed that the Church did not have the authority to give and take time from purgatory, began to form a new faith with similar traditions. They made their own community by breaking away from the corruption of the Catholic Church. By having religious disputes, some communities fall apart while others began to form a new community. One must fall for another to flourish. Through dispute, government, and behavior, a community is based off religion. A community can only flourish when people work together and make it happen. It is still true today, that religion plays a role in everyday life for people. People use religion in their community to guide them and keep them safe on their journey. Religion will always be a part of a communities history. However, religion is only what you make it to be in your community.