Does Religion Stabilize Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Does Religion Stabilize Society - Essay Example However, the issue still remains controversial as religion is not same for all the countries and its role is different in different parts of the world. Unfortunately, there are the societies, which do not benefit from their religious beliefs, but they on the contrary delay their development. Thus, the given paper will prove that religion really can stabilize society, but only if the society stabilizes its religious beliefs.Religion controls our behavior and this is the most important role of it. If to analyze the laws, which exist in the modern society, it will become clear that they are based on the religious beliefs transferred to us by our ancestors. For example, in European countries murder is considered to be the hardest violence and the first and most important commandment is â€Å"do not murder†. In his article â€Å"The advancement of religion in a pluralist society (Part I): distinguishing religion from giving to ‘charity’ Donovan Waters (2011) states: à ¢â‚¬Å"religion as the law sees it is concerned with belief of some kind in the power and influence of the supernatural; a set of such beliefs will make up a faith and that faith relates humanity and the individual’s destiny to a conceived spiritual essence which in one way or another is understood to bring succour to human kind† (Waters, 2011: 653).... But for the religion our society would be quite different. We can’t know exactly if the life in this society would be worse or better, but it would differ much from the life we have now. We know that well and thus maintain religion. We feel that we can’t do without it. According to Emile Durkheim, religion is a product of the society as the society recognizes its essentiality: â€Å"If religion has given birth to all that is essential in society, it is because the idea of society is the soul of religion† (cited in Bellah, 1973: 191). Religion, self-reliance and cooperation Religion teaches self-reliance. We can find many religious teachings, which teach us to rely upon ourselves in order to be successful. Religion teaches us to work hard and get the desirable, we all know the rule: keep looking for and you will find. This rule was brought to us by religious teachings and its veracity was proved many times. Religion states that we should never give up, on the cont rary we should look for the new ways to get the desirable and believe in our own forces. Religion teaches us to rely upon ourselves but at the same time it teaches us to work together. The problem is that we are selfish by nature. We feel that we can get better results working as a one team but at the same time we always try to benefit from our selfishness. Religion helps us resolve this problem by teaching us to provide each other with necessary assistance. It condemns selfishness and selfish behavior. It is necessary we should mention that modern society and the views of capitalism make people more selfish. Now many prefer to get advantage of others and benefit from the failure of others. However, such behavior is still highly criticized and this is due to the religious