Religion is a range of social-cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations that generally bind people together in a shared sense of identity. It has a remarkably wide semantic range, from scrupulous devotion to Rastafarianism and Scientology. This broad semantic range raises two philosophical issues for the concept of religion, issues that are likely to arise for other abstract concepts used to sort cultural types: the first is whether it is possible to understand a category-concept like religion by its essential properties; the second is how one might distinguish between monothetic and polythetic definitions of religion.
Many people believe that Religion gives a purpose to their life. It relieves them of fear and anxiety. It makes them aware of their origin and where they are destined to go after death. It teaches them to love God and all other human beings. It also teaches them how to be a good citizen of the society. Religion prevents them from indulging in anti-social activities and teaches them to solve problems with peace, non-violence and through discussion and dialogue.
Anthropologists believe that Religion evolved out of humankind’s natural need to cope with the knowledge that they would die and perhaps not come back. It was their attempt to make sense of this process, to gain control over the uncontrollable by employing a kind of magic and prayer. Early man attempted to manipulate their environment through magic, such as drawing pictures of animals on cave walls to assure success in hunting, and he tried to control the uncontrollable by supplicating to gods and goddesses.
There is a lot of research on the benefits of religious practice for mental and physical health. Regular attendance at religious services is associated with strong families, stable marriages, well-behaved children, and greater educational attainment and health. It also reduces domestic abuse, crime, and substance abuse, as well as the likelihood of dying from a serious illness.
However, there are some groups that claim that their Religion is the only true one and want to convert everyone else to it. This is dangerous for the future of the human race and should be stopped. People should be able to respect other religions and their beliefs. Then, there will be no wars and violence and the world can move forward with peace and harmony. This will be the best gift that religion can give to humanity. It is important that we all work together in this direction. Let’s hope that this is achieved soon. Thank you for reading this article.