How Paramount is Religion to a Functioning Society? | Teen Ink

How Paramount is Religion to a Functioning Society?

January 19, 2017
By OmerAbdel BRONZE, Franklin Lakes, New Jersey
OmerAbdel BRONZE, Franklin Lakes, New Jersey
4 articles 0 photos 0 comments

The root of all arguments, it is the epitome of controversy in today’s day and age. Despite it being around since the dawn of time, religion has become progressively more debated as humans gain insight into science and the physics of the universe. Of course, it is never fair to rule out one side unless it is proven fallacious; yet with religion, it seems to be a futile effort. Until the scientist Charles Darwin imprinted history with his theory of evolution, it seemed that faith, specifically Christianity, was at a peak. Yet today, most evolutionists point to Darwin’s theory as a reason why religion is illogical. Atheists, those who do not believe in an omnipotent being, a God, may see that religion is unnecessary, and even outright foolish. Some may go as far as to say that religion is debatably the reason for all wars. ISIS, for example, is a terrorist organization created in the name of the Islamic faith.


As many see it, religion is dangerous to our future generations, and may even cause another World War. Along with Atheists, there are also Agnostics; those who do not believe, yet they do not disbelieve; they simply just don’t know. There is no doubt a reason for their beliefs. Since the dawn of religion, not a single piece of factual proof has been provided to give evidence that there is an omnipotent being. And despite proof being against religion entirely, chaos, and anarchy would ensue without it.


In most every country on our planet, there is some sort of leading body. Either a parliament or a congress or even a monarch dictates the laws and regulations of their land. This should sound familiar. Even at the center of diplomatic countries that respect all religions is an idea sprouting from the Abrahamic faiths. According to these faiths, specifically Judaism for a moment, God is the one that gave the people of Jerusalem the 10 commandments that all inhabitants of Earth should abide by. He then has his subjects, enforcers if you will, that spread his word all across the planet. The relevance in this is that the idea of government was created as a result of religion. For example, in America’s society, there is a President, that works with others to create laws to better assist the country so that it may function better. Then, there is the executive branch, which holds all the people that enforce the laws. They may not agree with it, but according to a higher power, it must be enforced. Here begins the line between the dangers and necessities of religion. While government is a tremendous body capable of doing wonderful things for a nation, there are times where a body of power can get too much power. And once certain groups of people have too much power, terrible things may happen. As cliché as it is, Hitler and his group of Nazis are a perfect example why government can be a travesty to our species. There was a supreme leader of the Nazis, while they had the S.S. take care of enforcing their laws. Though there is a huge difference between this and God, there is no doubt a large chance that too much ambition can cause a group to become corrupt. And though each individual is different, we each have core emotions that can cause us to be ambitious, even if it can be detrimental to our society.


Man is a complex being, capable of feeling, thinking, and arguing. This trifecta allowed for the sprouting of this monstrosity of a tree known as religion. At the stem are the three Abrahamic faiths; Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Despite these religions being very similar in structure, function, and design, there are constant arguments about which one is right. And now what would happen if none were right? What if each and every religion was debunked as a creation of man? Anarchy, suicide, panic. Each and every devout fanatic of a religion would go insane realizing that all they had worked towards was done in the name of a figment of their imaginations. Now back to our nonfictional present day. There are factions, organizations devoted to spreading the word of God. There are even countries that run according to a Theological stance. Even still, it is religion that ties these people together. And how does it accomplish these goals? The one thing that gives people ambition and emotion: hope.


Hope is without question the most important thing in today’s society. It is the reason why there are not more suicides or mass murders being ubiquitously exhibited throughout our world. Even still, our society is plagued with these travesties despite religion being widespread. It may seem that the people who commit the aforesaid have the impulse that they will not be held accountable for their actions. While that may be true, assuming there is no omnipotent power, it is still the cause for most murders in the world, either self-inflicted or homicidal.


This, whether it seems like it or not, is a form of anarchy; a society that believes they are not held accountable for their actions. And while a larger majority of individuals are turning to Atheism, the number of murders seems to be unaffected. So, of course, there is no correlation between atheism and murder, if it is not obvious already. But still, we must find the reasons for the occurrence of such travesties. If we could live in a world where no harm ever came, there would be no need for religion. In this utopia, every individual, regardless of how poor, would be hopeful for the future; instead of worrying about when their next meal would be, they would worry about what school they wanted to go to. They wouldn’t need to worry about getting mugged in the middle of the street because the muggers would be home with their families with no need to steal. If we lived in a world where no murder, or suicide, or even genocide ever plagued the Earth, humanity would have found the pinnacle of its success. We only need to discover how to get to this point. And whether our utopia includes religion or not, that is up to us, as a nation of freethinking individuals, to decide.



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