World Religion Summary Paper

[cm_christ]

i took a world religion class this semester and we had to sum up what we learned and how it affects our viewpoint in a paper. i think it turned out pretty well. please ignore any spelling and punctuation errors, but besides those feel free to criticize

 

 

When I started world religion I expected to learn about the different religious beliefs and traditions, and how they affect and play into society. It’s hard to deny that religion is one of the biggest social Phenomena and forces in the world, so It is important to learn about it and understand other cultures religious and spiritual traditions’ while I will say that my knowledge of the world’s religions has increased after taking this class, above all this semester has just affirmed the world view I already held. Religion is a misguided effort to understand and find meaning in life. While it may bring on feelings and emotions to pray and. or worship your deity, it is all in futility. Mankind has invented thousands of gods over the course of human existence to explain various things. Forces like thunder and fire were once explained by a fable or magic, but we now can explain these things through science. The gods that exist and are worshipped today in modern society are just gods of the gaps. What that means is where science can’t yet explain something, some people just explain this as supernatural, and/or god created. The practice of religion is nothing more than organized superstitions. It doesn’t matter whether you pray to Jesus, Allah or Vishnu the results will always be the same, nil. There is a quote from Madelyn O’Hair that sums up the argument very well, “two hands working can do more than a thousand clasps in prayer. Instead of begging invisible beings that may or may not exist for peace, doesn’t it make more sense to instead work on achieving peace in our lifetime? It can be practiced and done daily, through a kind word to your fellow human or a helping hand lent to a stranger. These actions will do more to bring world peace than any god or religion ever could. It is far easier to pretend we will never die, but the reality is that we will die; it is an integral part of life. Without pain there can be no happiness, without sadness no joy, and without death, there can be no life. Whenever humans finally accept that reality, religion will melt away, and we can all start appreciating what is really important in life, until this happens we will always have petty rituals, strange superstitions and the scourge of religion upon mankind