For centuries, religion has been a topic of great debate and interest, stemming from the validity of ideals to reasons why people believe in it in the first place. Despite all the efforts over time to thwart religion, it has managed to remain as a prominent structure. One question that seems to always be brought to the table is how religion continues to exist in light of the continual advances of science. The reason religion continues to exist today is not because the furthering of science leads to disproving religion, but rather because religion addresses questions that currently not even the advances of science can answer, giving people a sense of unity and congregation based upon two key emotions: hope and fear. However, as with science,
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The feeling of hope is an essential emotion in human survival. We expect something better and greater than what we currently experience. If you consider it, hope is the most crucial element to our survival, and would be a favorable trait passed down from generation to generation. Those with hope will move forward and flourish. Those without hope will sink into despair and perish. Obviously, through natural selection some will go on and some will not. In order to find/feel hope, people oftentimes look to religion to explain what they don't know or understand. From a functionalist point of view, Emile Durkheim attempts to tackle religion by defining it as “a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden - beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a church, all those who adhere to them" (106). According to Durkheim, despite the furthering of science, it is impossible for a society to “not feel the need to uphold and reaffirm… the collective ideas which make its unity and personality” which are accomplished through …show more content…
It has lasted many times longer than any of us have been alive, and in agreement with Marx, there is ultimately a great amount of truth and falsehood in every system. We must learn as much as we can from every school of thought, because there was a valuable human being behind each word that was spoken. In an age where every culture and its religions are clashing and morphing more than ever before, religious tolerance is the only solution if we are to survive as a species. It is our moral obligation to reject any ideas that spread fear and division and to promote all which embodies love and universal acceptance. It is an uncertainty as to whether concrete religion will continue on in the future; but it is my true hope that whatever happens, world spirituality will change to be a much happier reality, for better religions and a better
The feeling of hope is an essential emotion in human survival. We expect something better and greater than what we currently experience. If you consider it, hope is the most crucial element to our survival, and would be a favorable trait passed down from generation to generation. Those with hope will move forward and flourish. Those without hope will sink into despair and perish. Obviously, through natural selection some will go on and some will not. In order to find/feel hope, people oftentimes look to religion to explain what they don't know or understand. From a functionalist point of view, Emile Durkheim attempts to tackle religion by defining it as “a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden - beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a church, all those who adhere to them" (106). According to Durkheim, despite the furthering of science, it is impossible for a society to “not feel the need to uphold and reaffirm… the collective ideas which make its unity and personality” which are accomplished through …show more content…
It has lasted many times longer than any of us have been alive, and in agreement with Marx, there is ultimately a great amount of truth and falsehood in every system. We must learn as much as we can from every school of thought, because there was a valuable human being behind each word that was spoken. In an age where every culture and its religions are clashing and morphing more than ever before, religious tolerance is the only solution if we are to survive as a species. It is our moral obligation to reject any ideas that spread fear and division and to promote all which embodies love and universal acceptance. It is an uncertainty as to whether concrete religion will continue on in the future; but it is my true hope that whatever happens, world spirituality will change to be a much happier reality, for better religions and a better