An Examination of Religion's Impact on Modern Society: Arguments

This essay delves into the multifaceted role of religion in modern society, presenting arguments both in favor and against its positive influence. The positive arguments highlight religion's capacity to foster social unity, develop moral character through teachings of love and righteousness, and provide support for economically weaker sections. Conversely, the negative arguments address religious fanaticism, the potential for stifling free thought, and the encouragement of superstition. The essay incorporates research from various academic sources to support its claims, developing specific arguments with detailed analysis and referencing to provide a comprehensive understanding of the topic. The essay adheres to the Harvard referencing style and includes a minimum of four academic sources, along with supporting non-academic sources as required, and a complete reference list. The student also provided a Turnitin report and attachments, including PDF files of academic articles and URLs, to support the research and information used in the task.

Does Religion have a positive Role to play in society?
Arguments in the favour of the topic:
1. The practice of religion brings people from the different strata of the society to come
together and thus help to increase fellow feeling. This ultimately improves the social bonds
and thus promoting social unity.
2. Religious teachings develop the moral character of an individual by preaching love and
denouncing all forms of hatredness. Strong and righteous individuals build a prosperous
nation.
3. Religion is a source of sustenance for the economically weaker sections of the society.
Keywords: Religion, righteousness, Moral conduct
Religious teachings develop the moral character of an individual by preaching love and
denouncing all forms of hatredness. Strong and righteous individuals build a prospering
nation. It is a powerful force to develop the sense of righteousness and promotes social value
as well as strengthens human relationships. The families who visit places of worships or are
pious have better family bonding and low divorce rates. It works as a speed-breaker for a
person before committing any unlawful activity. As Nath (2015) thinks, religion develops
social virtues like trust, honesty and moral conduct. The holy vibration that reverberates in
the heart of a religious person illumines their mind and makes him differentiate between right
and wrong. Religious practices like meditation, regular worship streamline the minds and
alleviate stress which one encounters in his day to day life. Meditation frees the mind from
incomprehensible fears and thus prepares him or her to face the hardships and challenges of
life in a bold and rational manner. The peace of mind attained through religious practices
enhances one’s ability to concentrate more on his or her work. It teaches people to enjoy life
in its true essence. As Cheryl et al. (2013) observed that the health of religiously involved
people is much better due to their healthy lifestyle. This shows that religion affects health in a
positive way. As Vivekananda (2013 p.131) observed that the infinite knowledge of the
cosmos is embedded in the mind and religion prepares our mind to gain this knowledge and
use it for the betterment of the entire mankind. Thus, religion plays a vital and crucial role in
the well being of the society.

Arguments against the topic:
1. Religious fanaticism has been largely responsible for unnecessary bloodshed throughout
history by exploiting the sentiments of the common people..
2. The blind faith in religion strangulates the free development of the human mind.
3. Religion encourages superstition.
Keywords: Fanaticism, Exploitation, Misanthropist
Religious fanaticism has been largely responsible for unnecessary bloodshed throughout
history by exploiting the sentiments of the common people.
The benefits of religion are frequently overshadowed by the dark aspects of it. The fanatics
use religious beliefs to create divisions among human races, thus breaking the communal
harmony of a society so that their ideals are established. They kill people in the name of
religion and proudly justify it. As pointed out by Nath (2015), the wars between the
Protestants and the Catholics and the conflict between the Hindus and the Muslims have
caused innumerable deaths. The fanatics misinform the common people and feed on their
blind faith to pursue their motto. Some opportunist politicians use these religious institutions
to fulfil their purpose of remaining in power. Some religious practitioners exploit the
dependence of people on religion to satisfy their needs and fulfil their ambition. More often
than not they are misguided and exploited by these misanthropists, the hater of mankind in
the guise of their benefactors. As mentioned by Mastin (2011), women have been exploited
by religious groups since time immemorial. Women become easy prey to these religious
practitioners due to their unwavering faith towards religion. Thus, it can be said that the
adverse effects of religion predominate over its benefits towards an individual and the society
as whole.

Reference List:
Chetanananda.S (2013) Meditation and Its Methods.13thEd.Kolkata: Publication:
Publication Department Advaita Ashram.
Mastin.L (2011) Living without Religion-with a clear conscience. Arguments For Atheism.
[online]Availablefrom:http://argumentsforatheism.com/arguments_atheism_society.html
[Accessed on 8thApril 2019]
Dr.Nath.S (2015) Religion and Its Role in Society. IOSR-Journal of Humanities and Social
Sciences.[online]Vol-(20,Issue-2,pp82-85)Availablefrom:www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/
papers/Vol20-issue11/Version-4/L0201148285.pdf [Accessed on 7thApril 2019]
Cheryl. L Holt, Eddie M.Clark, David L.Roth (2013). Positive and Negative Religious Beliefs
Explaining the Religion- Health Connection among African Americans.HHS Public Access
AuthorManuscript[online]Availablefrom:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/
PMC5441393/[Accessedon8thApril 2019]