Learning Module 3

Subject Title: Introduction to World Religions and Belief Systems

Topic: “Positive and Negative Effects of Religion”

Lesson Objectives:
The learners demonstrates understanding of:
a. Identify the positive and negative effects of religions
b. Provide evidence that religion brought about an event in history
c. Justify that religion can have positive or negative effects on society

ESSENTIAL UNDERSTANDING

 Religion can have positive and negative effects on society.

 Religion can be described as a double-edged sword: it can have both positive and
negative effects on society. It has played a very important role in the development of
societies by integrating and stabilizing them; however, it has also created conflicts.

RELIGION

POSITIVE EFFECTS NEGATIVE EFFECTS

it promotes it affirms social

social solidarity hierarchy

it is a source of it triggers
moral values conflicts and
fights

it nurtures it promotes
positive goals in discrimination
life

it gives people a it impedes scientific

sense of belonging success and
development

it fosters social
change. hinders the use of
reason.

Some of the world’s atrocities and conflicts were caused by religion such as the

 self-immolation of a Buddhist monk in Vietnam;

  the practice of sati or widow burning in India;

 the Inquisition of the Catholic Church;

 and the Godhra train incident in India.

HISTORICAL EVENTS CAUSED BY RELIGION

1. Self-Immolation of a Buddhist Monk in Vietnam- Self-immolation, or

the killing of oneself as a form of sacrifice, originally referred to as
the act of setting oneself on fire.

Thích Quảng Đức was a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist

monk who burned himself to death at a busy Saigon road
intersection on 11 June 1963. Quảng Đức was protesting
the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese
government led by Ngô Đình Diệm.

2. Widow Burning Among the Hindus in India- Sati, or the practice of self-immolation of a widow on
her husband’s funeral pyre, is said to have originated 700 years ago in India. It is believed to have
started among the ruling class or rajputs in India, when the rajput women burnt themselves to death
after their men were defeated in battles to avoid being taken by the conquerors.

3. The Inquisition- Inquisition refers to the Roman Catholic Church groups charged with subduing
heresy from around 1184, which includes the Episcopal Inquisition (1184- 1230s) and the Papal
Inquisition (1230s).

The Godhra Train Burning was

4. THE GODHRA TRAIN INCIDENT IN 2002- In
February 2002, a train was set on fire in which 59
people, including 25 women and 15 children,
were killed. The fire happened inside the
Sabarmati.
an incident that occurred on the
morning of 27 February 2002, in which
59 Hindu pilgrims and karsevaks
returning from Ayodhya, were killed in a
fire inside the Sabarmati
Express train near the Godhra railway
station in the Indian state of Gujarat.

Location: Godhra, Gujarat, India

Injured: 48
Deaths: 59
Date: 27 February 2002; 7:43 a.m

Name: _____________________________ Strand/ GradeLevel: _______________

Activity 1
Direction: Answer the following questions briefly:
1. Do you agree that sometimes religious conflicts are being used for political reasons? Why or why not?

2. In your own opinion, can religious conflicts be avoided? If yes, how?

3. Do you think religious groups should have a say in political affairs? Why or why not?