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Braxten Price
John Kubler
English 114A
9 December 2014
Religion: The Power to Influence the World
All throughout history there has been a war raging on between mankind over religion
and cultural differences. With the mindset to control and dominate everything we see and touch,
we as a species have destroyed and ruined our world. There have been millions of innocent lives
lost over the fight to control others and enforce ones beliefs. If religion has the power to bring
countries down to nothing, why arent we using it to help bring us up as a world together. When
used correctly religion can be a tool used to bind and connects us even when it seems that the ties
should be broken. Even when some connections seem to defy all reason, it can be religion that
keeps them strong and unbroken. The truth is that it is man who causes the problems we face.
Religious practice promotes the wellbeing of individuals, families, and the community,
(heritage.org). If we want to do better in the future we need to realize that our main problem is
how we use religion. Religion has been at the center of most conflict in our world for thousands
of years. It has found a way to both bring us together against great odds and also separate us in
times of need.
People often question the positive effects of religion after the Holocaust and Colombian
Genocide. These earth shattering and heart breaking events that took place during a time of great
suffering and need, are a false pretenses on the effects of religion. It was not religion that caused
these tragic events in history, but individual men who used religion to manipulate people into
following their false beliefs. In Marjane Satrapis book Persepolis she writes about her childhood

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in Tehran during the Shahs regime. During that time the Shah was being influenced by other
countries who wanted to control Tehran in hopes of gaining more oil.The Shah started to abuse
his rights and never keep his promises that he made to his people. When people started to realize
the traitorous acts the Shah was committing they began to revolt and rebel against him. In an
attempt to not look weak amongst other countries the Shah began killing and imprisoning anyone
who was fighting against him.Satrapi describes an incident in which the Shah had over 400
innocent people killed, The BBC said there were 400 victims. The Shah said that a group of
religious fanatics perpetrated the massacre. But the people knew that it was the Shahs fault!,
(15). The Shah felt a threat from the many people who decided to revolt so he had them killed.
This shows that it is people who decided to hurt and kill each other not religion. Mankind likes to
use religion to mask their true intentions and ideas. How can a belief that teaches peace and love
for one another, be the source of so much evil and hate?
In Madeleine Albrights book The Might & The Almighty she discusses the power of
religion in politics. Albright was the first women to become Secretary of State in the United
States of America. In an excerpt of the book Albright shares a story told to her by Bob Seiple one
of the members of the State Department. The story takes place in Lebanon during the 1980s. In
that time period Lebanon was going through a very rough time due to a civil war. The story
begins with Mary a Christian woman who was running away from Muslim militia and tripped
over a root. While she was trying to get up a man came up to her and put a pistol to her head
yelling at her to renounce the cross or die (37). Mary would not say those words, so the
militiaman shot her through her neck and spine. The next day more men came to the village to
occupy it when they noticed Mary who was not dead. They rushed her to the hospital where she
survived but was now paralyzed from the neck down. When asked by Seiple how she felt about

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the guy who pulled the trigger she simply stated, I have forgiven him (37). After hearing what
Mary had to say he came up with two lessons which are, there are people who are willing to
die -and kill- for their faith. . The second lesson is that religion at its best teaches forgiveness
and reconciliation, not only when those acts are relatively easy but also when they are almost
unbelievably difficult (37). The way I see it in this situation is that religion was able to help
Mary forgive the man who caused her to live in a permanent shell for the rest of her life.
Religion was able to teach Mary to be strong and kind even against the people who tried to kill
her. Marys religion was able to help her find peace and not want to fight more to seek revenge.
In the song Imagine by John Lennon he describes a world without religion. He argues
that a lifestyle without religion is living life in peace. Lennons main argument is that religion is
the reason the world is at war. Without research into religion it is easy to say that it is the main
cause of so much strife in our world. If people actually looked into the basic concepts of religion
they would realize that most religions preach about loving one another, respect to your fellow
man, and helping each other. In his song Imagine Lennon describes his ideas of a perfect
society by saying,Imagine no possessions, no need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man,
(lines 17-20). In theory that sounds like the ideal place to live. But when you really begin to
think about it you will realize that type of society would never work or advance. Being able to
rely on each other for everything would cause people to become lazy and never want to strive for
better living conditions. Who would want to do anything, when you can rely on other people to
do it for you. Some of our greatest achievements have been achieved because of competition for
a better life. Without competition competitors would not strive to outdo each other. That means
no new IPhones, Tablets, and TVs.The reason we have some the greatest advances in history is
because we always want to better our future.

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Adding a little bit more religion to our world would not hurt it but empower us. If we
follow the preachings religion teaches us there would be fewer wars, because religion teaches
peace and love for all. Towards the end of her writing Albright explains how religious
motivation will never go away by writing, To lead internationally, American policy-makers
must learn as much as possible about religion, and then incorporate that knowledge in their
strategies (39). My view is that if we take into account how other people feel about certain
things due to their religious beliefs it can better help us come up with solutions to problems.If
most war is about religion, such as the Holocaust and Genocide, why are we trying to remove
religion from our political policy. Bill Clinton gives a great example of this by saying, If youre
dealing with people who profess faith they must believe there is a Creator; if they believe that,
they should agree that God created everyone . Once they acknowledge their common
humanity, it becomes harder to kill each other (42). In other words Clinton believes that if we
use religion to our advantage showing that we are all created the same it could lead to fewer
disagreements and conflicts. Albright voiced her opinion about religion by stating, Religion at
its best can reinforce the core values necessary for people from different cultures to live in some
degree of harmony; we should make the most of that possibility, (42). If we used religion as a
way to connect us and not separate us we would be signing more peace treaties and less
declarations of war. Once we realize we need religion to make us better, the world will be a
better place.

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Works Cited
Albright, Madeleine. "Faith And Diplomacy." The Review of Faith & International Affairs 4.2
(2006): 3-9. Print.
"Imagine" Lyrics." JOHN LENNON LYRICS. Web. 23 Sep. 2014.
Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. New York, NY: Pantheon, 2003. Print.
"Why Religion Matters Even More: The Impact of Religious Practice on Social Stability." The
Heritage Foundation. Web. 23 Sep. 2014.