Positive And Negative Effect Of Religion 46722p

Positive and Negative Effect of Religions Kelvin Paul B. Panuncio

Identify the positive and negative effects of religions • Postive effects could be that it brings people together, gives them a community for ing each other, focuses their attention on God. It provides a moral framework, comfort for those in need, the promise of an afterlife... and so on.

• the postive effects of religion is that it brings people together in a community, allows people to share a common goal of the relifion, makes them feel united, gives them something to believe in, provides meaning to life, explain any questions they may have, allows people to believe in something greater than themselves and lets

• Negative effects are that the different religions can be seen to inspire conflict in the world, some might say that they focus people too much on religious things rather than on day to day things.

• the negative effects of religion are that it creates conflict, people disagree on issues, it creates discrimination and prejudice between people and it means that generally people cannot see beyond certain factors in other people.

• In third world countries such as Brazil, India, Africa etc. religion is very important as from religion they can make 'sense' of life. Religion answers: Who they are? What is their purpose of life? What is life and death? and many other question. In this countries science has not arrived thus religion answers all of these questions. • Other people follow religions (i.e. Buddisum) as they believe in their way of life. By this I mean although they do believe science, big bang, evolution etc. they also want to be vegetarians or do not want to have alcohol or do not want to gamble etc. So religion can be like a border line where the follower must not cross if they do so they will be punished in the going to hell in Christinaty and Jewism or having a bad karma in Hindisum and Buddisum. • But mostly religion brings people together for example, Chrismas or Diwali or any other festivals can be like an excuse where family meet (after long time), have fun and share memories as well as thinking and praying to God. Similarly it bring people in a community together.

• positive: . you can socilaise with new people in your communtity  . it brings people togther . also gives them something to belive in . you all have something in common  . you all come togther and pray for one God • negative: . people may not understand your religion . it can create wars and arugemnets 

• The starting point of religion is fear. Religion is based on the idea of sin: all people are born sinners, impure souls, and if they don’t purify themselves, they will soon be condemned to hell by God, where they will have to experience eternal suffering. • In order to avoid hell, religion demands that people prove to God that they are worthy of heaven. How? By following the dogma of religion. Naturally, when people are put in such a situation, they find themselves in a continuous state of fear. They are always afraid whether their actions are right according to religion or not.

Provide evidence that religion brought about an event in history • Buddhist Burma • Human sacrifices were still occurring in Buddhist Burma in the 1850s. When the capital was moved to Mandalay, 56 “spotless” men were buried beneath the new city walls to sanctify and protect the city. When two of the burial spots were later found empty, royal astrologers decreed that 500 men, women, boys, and girls must be killed and buried at once, or the capital must be abandoned. About 100 were actually buried before British governors stopped the ceremonies.

Thuggee Murders • of lndia’s Thuggee sect strangled people as sacrifices to appease the bloodthirsty goddess Kali, a practice beginning in the 1500s. The number of victims has been estimated to be as high as 2 million. Thugs were claiming about 20,000 lives a year in the 1800s until British rulers stamped them out. At a trial in 1840, one Thug was accused of killing 931 people. Today, some Hindu priests still sacrifice goats to Kali.

Mountain Meadows Massacre • The Mountain Meadows massacre was a mass killing of the Fancher-Baker wagon train at Mountain Meadows in Utah Territory on September 11, 1857, by a group of Mormons and Paiute Indians. The Arkansas emigrants were traveling to California shortly before Utah War started. Mormons throughout the Utah Territory had been mustered to fight the invading United States Army, which they believed was intended to destroy them as a people. Initially intending to orchestrate an Indian massacre, two men with leadership roles in local military, church and government organizations, Isaac C. Haight and John D. Lee, conspired for Lee to lead militiamen disguised as Native Americans along with a contingent of Paiute tribesmen in an attack.

The Inquisition • The Medieval Inquisition is a series of Inquisitions (Roman Catholic Church bodies charged with suppressing heresy) from around 1184, including the Episcopal Inquisition (1184-1230s) and later the Papal Inquisition (1230s). It was in response to large popular movements throughout Europe considered apostate or heretical to Christianity, in particular Catharism and Waldensians in southern and northern Italy. These were the first inquisition movements of many that would follow. • Torture was used after 1252. On May 15, Pope Innocent IV issued a papal bull entitled Ad exstirpanda, which authorized the use of torture by inquisitors. The Inquisitors were forbidden to use methods that resulted in bloodshed, mutilation or death. One of the more common forms of medieval inquisition torture was known as strappado. The hands were bound behind the back with a rope, and the accused was suspended this way, dislocating the ts painfully in both arms. Weights could be added to the legs dislocating those ts as well.

• The organization is still active today under the name of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Prior to becoming Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Ratzinger was the head of the congregation.

The Witch Hunts  • When Puritans settled in Massachusetts in the 1600s, they created a religious police state where doctrinal deviation could lead to flogging, pillorying, hanging, cutting off ears, or boring through the tongue with a hot iron. Preaching Quaker beliefs was a capital offense. Four stubborn Quakers defied this law and were hanged. In the 1690s fear of witches seized the colony. Twenty alleged witches were killed and 150 others imprisoned.

Roman Persecution of Christians • Christians were first, and horribly, targeted for persecution as a group by the emperor Nero in 64 AD. A colossal fire broke out at Rome, and destroyed much of the city. Rumors abounded that Nero himself was responsible. To divert attention from the rumors, Nero ordered that Christians should be rounded up and killed. Some were torn apart by dogs, others burnt alive as human torches. Over the next hundred years or so, Christians were sporadically persecuted. Then in the mid-third century, emperors initiated even more intensive persecutions. This, “The Great Persecution”, is considered the largest. Beginning with a series of four edicts banning Christian practices and ordering the imprisonment of Christian clergy, the persecution intensified until all Christians in the empire were

Aztec Human Sacrifice • The Aztecs began their elaborate theocracy in the 1300s and brought human sacrifice to a golden era. About 20,000 people were killed yearly to appease gods — especially the sun god, who needed daily “nourishment” of blood. Hearts of sacrifice victims were cut out, and some bodies were eaten ceremoniously. Other victims were drowned, beheaded, burned or dropped from heights. In a rite to the rain god, shrieking children were killed at several sites so that their tears might induce rain. In a rite to the maize goddess, a virgin danced for 24 hours, then was killed and skinned; her skin was worn by a priest in

Islamic Jihads • Islamic jihads (holy wars), mandated by the Koran, killed millions over 12 centuries. In early years, Muslim armies spread the faith rapidly: east to India and west to Morocco. Then splintering sects branded other Muslims as infidels and declared jihads against them. The Kharijis battled Sunni rulers. The Azariqis decreed death to all “sinners” and their families. In 1804 a Sudanese holy man, Usman dan Fodio, waged a bloody jihad that broke the religious sway of the Sultan of Gobir. In the 1850s another Sudanese mystic, ‘Umar al-Hajj, led a barbaric jihad to convert pagan African tribes. • This article is licensed under the GFDL because it contains quotations from the Wikipedia articles: Mountain Meadow Massacrew, and Medieval Inquisition. Other sources: Religion’s Death Toll, by James A. Haught [1990]