Fiza hussain baba

BA-LLB 1st year (SF)

Topic:- religion and
society
Submitted to Rasheed
sir

Religion and
society
Introduction
The beliefs, practices, principles and
codes of religions provide ways in which
individuals can answer questions

about the meaning and purpose of life.

In Religion and Society, religion is
defined as a community organised

around beliefs related to ultimate reality

and the consequent beliefs, practices,
principles and codes for behaviour.
Adherence to particular beliefs,
practices, principles and codes can form
an important part of individual identity.

They can determine membership of the

religion and the transmission of
meaning, both individual and collective,

from generation to generation. Within

each religious tradition, groups and
individuals exhibit diversity of
commitment
and belief; some people do not identify
with the generalised portrayal of their
religious tradition, whereas others

become strict adherents.

Religious traditions develop and evolve

over time through the participation and
contribution of members and

through interactions with society.

Throughout history, religion and society
have interacted with each other in broad
ways in response to a range of important
issues. Some religious traditions
continue to thrive while others have

declined, disappeared or parts of them

have been assimilated into other
religions, which allow their ideas to live

on in some form. New religious

movements can develop into religious
traditions.

In VCE Religion and Society, students

undertake a general study of religion and
its interaction with society
in the past and the present. They study
specific religious traditions or
denominations in societies where
multiple

worldviews coexist and consider

individual experiences of members as
they engage with their religion. This
study

respects and encourages an open and

objective inquiry, without partiality
towards any one religion.
Definition of religion
Religion is one of the most important
social institutions. Religion refers to the
most sublime of human aspirations.
Religion has existed throughout the
history of human society. It is a part of
human social life. It shapes human
behaviour in a moral fashion. Religion is
a system of belief in the existence of
supernatural beings.

Aims and scope

The religion and Society (RS) contributes
to the exploration of religions as social
systems– both in Western and non-
Western societies; in particular, it
examines religions in their differentiation
from, and intersection with, other
cultural systems, such as art, economy,
law and politics. Due attention is given to
paradigmatic case or comparative
studies that exhibit a clear theoretical
orientation with the empirical and
historical data of religion and such
aspects of religion as ritual, the religious
imagination, constructions of tradition,
iconography, or media. In addition, the
formation of religious communities, their
construction of identity, and their
relation to society.
Religion through ages
Spirituality and religion have been an
integral part of the development of
human societies as cultural knowledge
and understanding is passed from
generation to generation through a
process of socialisation. As people
spread across the globe they
encountered and exchanged religious
and cultural ideas. Over time, religious
traditions have encountered challenging
philosophical and spiritual movements,
political regimes, legal structures,
scientific ideas, colonisation, national
myths, globalisation, secularisation,
technological developments and
historical events. These encounters have
led to religious traditions taking various
roles to initiate, endorse, modify or resist
the spread of ideas and movements in
society. At times in history some
religious traditions have lost the
authority and power to explain crises for
their society have been abandoned;
other religious traditions have adapted
and been resilient or were re-established
in a
different form. Some religious traditions
have been able to adopt and adapt
beliefs, ideas and practices from other
religious traditions while retaining their
distinctivenessand the wider public are
key issues.

Importance of religion
in society
Religion is dying. We live in a world
where society has now changed.Women
can get married to women, men to men,
men can be women, and women can be
men. It is a beautiful thing to see how
we have grown.But sometimes, it is a bit
scary because we now brand people of
faith. At first, it was the people of faith
doing the branding, but now people who
never met the status quo before a few
years ago brand the people of faith.
Funny how we millennials claim to be
the generation of free speech, free love
and acceptance, but I noticed that we do
not live up to that claim.
We brand the people of faith; Muslims,
Catholics, Jews, hindu's, Christians
scientologists, etc. We judge them all in
one way or another: Muslims are
terrorists, Jews are stingy, Catholics are
homophobes, etc. Millennials now shy
away from religion. It is something I
don’t understand.
All religions are a foundation for morals
and beliefs; it helps shape us and
determine what we see as right and
wrong.
I am Muslim. I was raised to respect
everyones beliefs, even if I do not agree
with them. I feel as though millennials
are growing up and deciding to keep
away from religion because people of
any faith were branding those who did
not fit their molds.But, if we are the
generation that teaches the next one
that religion is wrong, religion itself will
die out. We would lose beauty, lose
stories, lose something so valuable to
everyone–faith. Religion builds
communities. It brings people together.
Yes, religion can divide us and tear us
apart, but only if we chose to ignore the
perspectives of others.
As a child, I listened eagerly to the
stories the priest would tell during mass,
and I would connect it to things that
were going on in my life. In many ways,
the stories would give me advice in a
way I felt others could not.I do not want
to imagine a world without religion. If
we millennials continue to push away
our religions, we will be the hypocrites
because we choose not to listen. Rather
than accepting the religions we come
from, we turn them away because we try
to include an “open mind.”
We can be the generation with an open
mind. We can have it all. We can still be
Christian, Jewish, islamic etc, and still
include everyone, if only we chose to
listen and accept others perspectives.
Religion is beautiful. They’re the reasons
why we know right from wrong. They
made communities and built cities,
caused debates, and brought people
together. To see religion die because our
generation choses to be closed minded
would be hypocritical.