Why is religion an important part of the world and culture?

Answer 1

Religion has shaped what our country has become. Many historical aspects of the world has been revolved around the church, either making a new church or breaking away from the church. It doesn't matter what religion you believe or even if you believe in God. Everyone could agree that religion has changed our culture and what our country is today.

Answer 2

The truth is, no one has ever come up with a conclusive satisfactory answer to that, and oftentimes answers range from opinion, to people who swear in all honesty they have experience spiritual phenomena, and depending on the society these things are either accepted, or, seen as signs of mental illness. The majority of Europeans these days for example, consider religious people to be mentally ill, especially Europeans in the Scandinavian countries who were among the first to become ultra secularized. Considering the history of the teutonic peoples I don't find that too surprising, that they would abandon a belief system preaching compassion, respect and humility but all the same that is just my own bloated opinion on them. Myself personally I don't follow any religion, although often I have been labeled as a "Daoist Agnostic." For your benefit, the different definitions;

1) Pick your religion; A Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Hindu, an Animist, whatever, different religions have different membership names. Now the word "Jew" is not included because it defines both religious membership, as well as ethnicity. Whereas with other faiths, the two are separate. For example, both Arabs, and a substantial number of African black people, are Muslims, however that does not stop the Arabs from treating black people like garbage, in the same way that, even though both Mexicans and Americans are largely Christian, and in fact Evangelical Christianity has become huge in Latin America now (Catholicism is not longer the majority religion), that does not stop most white Americans, from treating Hispanics like crap. Of course some Misrahi Jews would argue that their situation in Israel is similar, see, the problem with that mentality is, that in THAT particular case, it is the OPPRESSED people, who see themselves as "better" than the oppressors. Usually its the other way around; as a general rule many African black people have an inferiority complex when it comes to Europeans and Arabs, and see their oppressors as "better" than them. Its the same way with Hispanics and whites in the Americas, in Israel though, its different; a misrahi Jew may live in miserable poverty, they may not even have made it past high school but there is no way, in hell, that a misrahi Jew, especially an Iraqi Jew who may indeed descend from King David himself via Daniel, will see themselves as "inferior" to the ashkenazi "elite," they don't care how much garbage they spew regarding ashkenazi achievements. So you see, its complicated, and if I kept going on all the stuff I read across three separate University libraries, this would become a whole e-book and you probably don't have the time.

2) An Atheist; someone who, well "this is all there is, T.S., live with it, end of story."

3) A Secularist; now, these people run the gamut of belief systems. These are individuals who wish to keep their religion a strictly personal business. How can I explain this better? A fundamentalist Christian southerner for example, a Lawyer, before starting the day at the office of his law firm will say "alright everyone, lets begin this work day with a prayer." Another southern Christian on the other hand, also fundamentalist but secularist in his mentality, will go to church every Sunday, instruct her kids and her Doctor or college professor husband to say their prayers every night, but she will NOT mention the word "god" in her lawfirm, because she considers it inapropriate. What is generally accepted the world over, regarding the definition of secularism, is this; keeping one's faith personal to avoid ruffling feathers.

4) A Deist, although in today's world, a nearly extinct mode of thinking. What Deists are, are people who do not believe in any religion, nevertheless, they feel that the Universe is too well structured and organized for it to have all been an "accident." They believe that neither science, nor religion holds the answers, however they believe that a force runs the universe usually though that force is an all powerful God.

5) An agnostic is someone who may or may not believe in God, but who holds the view, that God can not be known, because the whole concept of God is so ridiculous, and enormous, that to try to comprehend it is ultimately useless, so, it is better to simply move along with life taking whatever comes. Agnostics, as a general rule, generally tend to get along better with atheists than with anyone else. Now, what separates an agnostic from a Deist? The fact that an agnostic, will NEVER say "yeah, everything has structure; therefore God made it." Okay I will say it, but most won't. Besides, "Daoist Agnostic" is what I have been LABELED, I prefer to see myself as a "Daoist Deist."

Those 5 types are important in this discussion to answer your question, because when dealing with a complex question such as yours, you have to take those 5 sets of beliefs into consideration. As a general rule, outside the world of Islam, you will find everyone else, however of course the world of Islam is governned by Islam. With the exception of Turkey, the majority of Muslim countries are not secularist. Even though secularism by no means says "stop believing or you'll go to jail," secularism has had clashes with Islam, because the religion of Islam believes, religion should totally dominate a person's life. This view is shared by Orthodox Judaism, although, not so much by Babylonian Judaism. As a general rule, most misrahi Jews follow the old rules regarding Judaism; follow the 10 commandments, and leave the following of the law to the priests. Most ashkenazi Jews, don't follow any rules at all.

Judaism made simple; if you are a non-priest (Rabbi) Jew, you are only required to follow the 10 commandments, and to be obedient to the priests regarding the law. If you are a priest, you are required to follow the myriad of laws outlined in the 5 books of Moses. What most middle eastern Jews will do, is just follow the old rules, most ashkenazi though, will not, while Orthodox Jews believe ALL Jewish males, must follow EVERY law, not just the 10 commandments. In other words, if you are not decently dressed (a requirement for both men and women), you are not wearing a hat, you don't have your sidelocks, and assuming you can grow a full one, you don't have your beard, Orthodox Jews will not let you into a synagogue, some sects, don't even let women in. The majority have separate places of worship.

The "no one can answer that question satisfactorily" is true enough, so that was the first answer. Few religious scholars would argue with me on that point, however let me give you a more straight answer, however this answer, is just one of the MANY views, surrounding your question. Because the field I studied in college was Psychology, I will try my best to give you a psychological explanation.

Simply put, life is tough, boring, full of struggle, and the majority of people simply can not accept, that this is all there is. A psychology professor of mine (an atheist), once said, that religion could be psychologically classified as a form of denial, a means by which to mentally cope with the struggles in life. Unable to accept reality for what it is, the mind invents "something at the end of the road" so that the daily struggles of life become more acceptable. Don't kill the messenger; I know what I said will probably make more than one person uncomfortable, if that's the case, sorry, its just what I encountered during my Psychology studies. Of course, I disagreed with him, and got graded down. What exactly did I say? "That's easy to say if you are not covered with flies and starving to death like some Africans." That could be interpreted as saying, that its easier to be an atheist, when you are a spoiled brat who has an easy life. I mean gosh, if its true that there is no God, then I suppose those African kids who starved to death, who will never know the tender warmth of a man or woman they live, got screwed huh? Better tell atheists to be careful with what they assume. I ended up with a "D" grade for that class but you know what? It was worth it.

Psychology, of all the sciences, has the highest ratio of atheists, and the explanation for this is a very simple one. If all that a person is, can be summed up as neurobiological data, that is a result of a combination of a genetically predetermined temperament and experiences, then, what it all boils down to is, what a person encounters, and how the person's temperament, their genes their brain, interprets that data that is why therefore, by all seeming logic, there can be no soul. Thus, to the mind of a Psychologist, by all SEEMING logic, there can be no God. That is the reason you will encounter atheists most among Psychologists, than just about any other science, and why Christian fundamentalists have declared war on that particular field.

If what I just said made you uncomfortable, here is something to make you feel better; if a T.V. is broken, does that mean, there are no T.V. signals floating around in the airwaves today? Same logic applies to the human brain; all it is, is material, by which the soul manifests itself. Naturally if a brain is injured or damaged in any way, it won't get the "whole" of the signal. Don't think I made myself clear, and I violated the neutrality guideline but given what a sensitive issue religion is, I'm TRYING to be careful not to ruffle any feathers here. Most religious people, would NOT be comfortable with what I said about how the soul "is only data." To avoid making people angry I had to counterbalance it with this very Buddhist explanation. If you come from a Christian tradition, sure, Psychology would seem to say, there is no soul. However if you come from a Buddhist tradition or read about Buddhism, what a Buddhist would say about a brain damaged individual, is that the material, by which the soul manifests, simply isn't there, but that does not mean the soul is not in there. Again a damaged brain, is no different from a damaged T.V. set; a damaged T.V. set can not capture every single signal, the same way a damaged brain, or body, can not properly manifest the soul. In fact this is a fundamental tenet of the Shaolin temple; Buddhism holds, mind and body are interdependent. Likely, you will encounter a situation like the one mentioned above so, try to keep your mind open.

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