The purpose of religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The purpose of religion - Essay Example Religion has been the most intriguing, controversial and influential factor in lives of individuals for centuries. Since the beginning of civilization thousands of years ago, religion has engulfed the life spheres of inhabitants of this world to a great degree. Scholars, thinkers, philosophers, and theologians have invested their time and effort extensively to study the impact of religion on people’s lives. Even when the role religion played in lives of its believers was not an empirically proven one; it was evident through introspection of thousands of people who saw a transformation in their lives as they begin to exercise their faith. This paper attempts to explore this transformative power, religion holds and the purpose it serves in different contexts in lives of people. In addition, the paper will also attempt to look at the modernization and analyze the difference, advent of science and technology has made in the function, religion served in the lives of its believers. In the beginning, when man began to venture into the mysteries of the universe and embarked upon the everlasting intellectual journey, he used religion as a way to explore the universe and solve the puzzles each phenomenon offered. Thus, mythologies came into being and people started worshipping objects because they thought it was these objects, which ruled the universe and ran their lives. This does not only include objects like fire and water but animals like the ones who were more powerful than them and their pets. As the world progressed, people grew wiser and realized the existence of a higher force, which governed the lives of objects, and entities, which they earlier perceived to be the divine force itself. This way, the advent of the concept of religion took place. However, as the world advanced, the role of religion became more subsided as people explored similar gains in other resources like technology and consultancy, both of which provides comfort and a space for cathars is with machine and human respectively. What is problematic to determine is therefore not what religion aimed to achieve, but whether religion is still required to enable life to function normally or whether it is an obsolete entity whose entire existence is nothing but a false satisfaction and testimony to various events that stand unexplained in the realm of history. To look at it critically, religion actually does not offer much help when it comes to real-life issues, at least not anymore. The purposes it served in ancient times are now attained in its absence with the same quality nonetheless. For instance, religion in older times was used as explanation for many life processes and universal occurring, which were devoid of any explanation comprehensible to human mind. However, with the scientific advancement and new discoveries flooding the world of information every minute, science seems to have overtaken this role and religion appears subsided by its much younger rival. Exampl es of this will be evolutionism offered by Charles Darwin and Big Bang theory, which both offer non-divine-yet-logical explanation for the creation of universe. In old times, religion also served a psychological purpose. It helped people relieve stress, get rid of their worldly pressures, and submit their worries to the power, which seemed to absorb all that is bad and protect people from all sufferings. All matters that seemed out of their control and circle of wisdom were left to the unimaginable and unending power of divinity. In addition, rites were designed to appease and gratiate this super power for his unlimited bounties and whenever sins or mistakes were committed, propitiation rites and sacrifices were performed to make it up to him. Thus, religion was just not restricted to rites and worship, but it engulfed the whole lifestyle and involved all aspects of existence of an individual. However, science has managed to overshadow successfully the impact of religion on peopleâ €™