SSCI AS 304 - Exploring the Positive Influence of Religion in Society

This essay argues that religion, despite being associated with violence, is fundamentally a positive force. It posits that religion disseminates positive emotions, provides hope, and unites people with shared beliefs. While acknowledging violence committed in the name of religion, the essay contends that these acts are manipulations by individuals and do not reflect the true essence of religious teachings, which promote love, peace, and solidarity. The essay addresses counter-arguments that religion causes conflict and blind patriotism by asserting that people misuse religion for selfish purposes. Ultimately, it concludes that religion's core tenets encourage kindness and hope, making it a positive influence despite its negative associations.

Running head: RELIGION IS A POSITIVE THING
RELIGION IS A POSITIVE THING
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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RELIGION IS A POSITIVE THING
Religion is a positive thing
Introduction
Religion, as has been found in the contemporary era, has been associated with more
violence than it has been with peace. However, it would be wrong to assume that because of the
increasing violence in the name of religion, makes it negative or bad. In the given essay, it will
be argued that although religion has some negative aspects, it is a positive thing.
The essay will first begin with arguments that support the chosen point of view, which is,
religion is a positive thing and then reply to the counter-arguments against this point.
Discussion
Religion is a positive thing because it disseminates positive emotions across the world
and provides hope to the people. Religion is the faith or belief that people possess which gives
them hope and strength to face any kind of adversaries in life. The existence of religion is almost
as old as the existence of humans. Religion unites people with similar ideologies and faith. It
gives them a sense of security that in times of need, the people will be there for help. As Van
Cappellen et al. (2016) have also found, endorsing religion or spirituality is related to the
wellbeing of individuals. According to the authors, religion positively enhances the emotions of
those who follow and endorse it. The reason they state is that religion spreads positive emotions
such as love, peace and gratitude. Apart from that, religion gives a reason for people to work for
good and do well in life, as they believe it is associated with afterlife.
The people commit violence in the name of religion by manipulating vulnerable minds,
thus staining the positive image of religion. Religion in itself is not bad; the people do bad things

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RELIGION IS A POSITIVE THING
in the name of religion and compel others to think that religion is a negative thing. All the
violence that has been done in the name of religion has been the selfish acts of humans to
establish their supremacy over others. Religion never teaches or propagates violence. Islam in
particular has been marred by the violent acts of terrorism that followers if this religion have
carried out across the world. However, it is nowhere written in any of the Islamic texts that
followers should kill others in the name of religion to attain jannat in the afterlife. Evidences of
terrorists brainwashing young Muslims to attack people in the name of jihad are abundant.
However, as Rashid (2019) notes, those who think Islam or its holy book Quran teaches
terrorism are not at all aware of the true meaning of the religion. The author states that Islam
teaches people to defend themselves as well as others irrespective of any religion or faith they
belong to even if it means that they have to take up arms (Independent.co.uk, 2019). The terror
outfits like ISIS and others have taken this in all the wrong sense to spread hatred and violence.
Therefore, it is clear that religion never teaches or encourages violence against others.
The opponents of religion however argue that religion is negative because it creates blind
patriotism and results in conflict and even war. They provide examples from the past where
religion was the cause of unfathomable bloodshed such as the so-called ‘holy war’ of Jerusalem
known also as the First Crusade. The war was fought in 1099 when the Christians conquered
Jerusalem that was under the rule of the Muslims for 450 years (Jotischky, 2016). Thousands of
people were killed in the fight. The opponents further argue that the wars and conflicts because
of religion are still undergoing but under different names. Woodlock (2019) in an article
published in The Guardian argues that religion is the root cause of all the conflicts and wars
whether on a large scale or small scale. The author states that religion “provides useful cover and
powerful motivation for the evil-hearted”. Some opponents also provide the recent incidence of

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RELIGION IS A POSITIVE THING
the New Zealand Mosque attack that was carried out by a white Australian on innocent Muslims
while they were praying (Bbc.com, 2019). They argue that this clearly proves the negativity
religion spreads amongst people. The attacker killed those people because of the crimes
committed by the terrorists in other countries at different times in the name of Islam. The article
in The Guardian had opinions of others who do not blame religion as well. According to them,
people use religion to commit sin and not religion uses people (The Guardian, 2019). To put it
simply, some sections of people made the choice to interpret the religion for their own
selfishness. This does not; in any way establish that religion is a negative thing. In fact, instances
like Christians propagating Hindu ways of life or Islamic way of life and the other way round
show that religion bring people together. People need to understand that the basic tenet of every
religion is the same – to spread love, peace and solidarity.
Hence, it could be reiterated that religion is a positive thing although it has some negative
aspects. As discussed in the essay, these negative aspects have been the creation of humans and
religion has no fault in it. The essay also highlighted the fact that religion provides hope to
people to lead a life of kindness and hope because those who truly follow religion believe in the
afterlife and thus want to lead a sin-free life. the essay provide answer to those who think
religion is bad because it causes war and conflicts stating that the people using religion for hatred
and violence are bad and not the religion.

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RELIGION IS A POSITIVE THING
References:
Bbc.com. (2019). New Zealand mosque shootings kill 49. Retrieved from
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47578798
Independent.co.uk. (2019). Show this to anyone who believes the Quran teaches violence.
Retrieved from https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/islam-muslim-terrorism-islamist-
extremism-quran-teaching-violence-meaning-prophet-muhammed-a7676246.html
Jotischky, A. (2016). The Christians of Jerusalem, the Holy Sepulchre and the origins of the First
Crusade. In Crusades(pp. 47-70). Routledge.
Van Cappellen, P., Toth-Gauthier, M., Saroglou, V., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2016). Religion and
well-being: The mediating role of positive emotions. Journal of Happiness Studies, 17(2),
485-505.
Woodlock, R., Loewenstein, A., Caro, J., & Smart, S. (2019). Doesn't religion cause most of the
conflict in the world? | The panel. Retrieved from
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jul/02/religion-wars-conflict