OUR LADY OF TRIUMPH INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Purok Tugas, Balangasan Dist., Pagadian City, Philippines

Document Title:
ISO 9001:2015
HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
SELF-LEARNING MODULE

HUMSS 12

Introduction to World Religions &

Belief Systems
Quarter 1
SELF LEARNING MODULE 3
Week 3

F2 ROYLAN HOPE C. PETILUNA.

Subject Teacher
09663557331
F2roylanhopecpetiluna@gmail.com

Name: _______________________________________________________________ Year/Strand ________________________

Subject: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Student’s Contact Number: ____________________________________ E-mail Address:____________________________

Date Submitted: ______________________________________

Most Essential Learning Competencies:

1. Analyze the influences of religion to culture and society

 OUR LADY OF TRIUMPH INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Purok Tugas, Balangasan Dist., Pagadian City, Philippines
Document Title:
ISO 9001:2015
HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
SELF-LEARNING MODULE

Effects of Religion
Introduction:

In the last module, we have discussed how religion affects culture and geography and how
these two affect religion in return. Now, we are going to focus on looking at how religion affects
various aspects of human society and to the human person itself. In order to clearly understand
the effects of religion, you must first understand that Man has multiple aspects are distinct in
character but operate in an interconnected manner. In simpler words, humans are not only
composed of their physical body/aspect but that they also possess social, emotional, and even
spiritual aspects that need to be addressed.
In this module, we will learn what human aspects that are affected by religion and the
way religion affects each of these aspects of human life. Moreover, this module would also
discuss to you how these effects become beneficial/positive to us or destructive/negative to us.

Moral Life
Generally speaking, religion teaches us standards of morality or our standards of what is
right or wrong, good or bad. These moral standards become our guidelines in considering the
actions that we should take in order to live an organized and harmonious life. Examples of this
effect include the following; for Jews, Christians, and Muslims, their religions taught them to
follow the laws given by God through Moses known as the Ten Commandments; for Buddhists,
they are bound to follow the teachings of Buddha; for Hindus, they ought to follow the diverse
practices and customs of their different gods, and of the teaching of the Vedas.
This affects our human society positively since this becomes our guide to behave in a way
that promotes order and justice in our society. When religion teaches us not to steal, more
people would be able to get a hold of their possessions that they need to survive every day with
lesser fear. When religion prohibits us to kill, then we would have lesser cases of families losing
their loved ones from violence and war. However, the act of imposing standards of morality can
be destructive or affect us negatively when these true meaning of these standards are not
understood, or used by religious authorities for personal gain and interest. Many tragic events in
history sprung because of this dilemma and have resulted to negative consequences that are felt
even until now.
For instance, Christianity mandates that a married man should only be wed and have
marital activities with his one married wife (monogamy). However, for some other religions, say
Islam, polygamy, or the act of a married man to marry another woman simultaneously with his
first wife (that is if he can provide for the needs of both wives) is permitted. This difference in
moral standards often affect how the followers of both religions view each other (say Christians
may see Muslim men as immoral or Muslims view Christians as too hypocrite). This distorted
view and rejection of religious diversity then creates a barrier between these people that could
lead to major conflicts, and worst, violence.
Another example of this negative effect of religion is the teachings of Islam and Hinduism
about the meat that could and should not be eaten. For Muslims, eating pork (unclean animal) is
strictly prohibited and those permitted to be eaten are only chicken, beef, and goat. However, for
Hindus, pork may be eaten together with all the other meat mentioned above except Beef (cow as
a sacred animal). This has affected the way Hindus and Muslims view each other (say Muslims
see Hindus as immoral for eating pork, while Hindus see Muslims as immoral for eating beef).
This event, together with all other reasons have created several violent conflicts between Muslims
and Hindus and India to the point that they even decided to divide the original landscape of
India into Pakistan and Bangladesh (for Muslims) and modern-day India (for Hindus).
While it is good that religion provides us with standards of doing what is right and wrong,
viewing these standards as true to everyone can create unwanted effects. People must
understand that religions, as well as the views of its followers are different but does not
necessarily imply that the inconsistencies mean bad. We should understand that these
standards of morality, no matter how different across religions, are set for a single purpose that
is, to preserve the good and well-being of humanity and the environment.
 OUR LADY OF TRIUMPH INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Purok Tugas, Balangasan Dist., Pagadian City, Philippines
Document Title:
ISO 9001:2015
HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
SELF-LEARNING MODULE

Aesthetic Life
Aside from teaching standards of morality, religion also introduces to us standards of
beauty, what is desirable, and what we should strive for. For religions like Christianity, Judaism,
Islam, and Hinduism, people should strive for the beauty and appreciation of life, nature, and
others. While for Buddhists, there is not much beauty in life itself but the true beauty lies on
how one has lived his life in moderation. For Taoists, there is also not much beauty in life alone,
but that true beauty is found in how life is lived in harmony with nature.
Positively, religion affects our way of looking at ourselves and giving us an outlook in life.
As Christianity teaches the value of loving one another as one’s self, Christians ought to treat
other people with respect, courtesy, kindness, charity, and other values that manifest love
towards other people. However, introducing various ideas of beauty can vary from one person to
another. That is why these standards for beauty could sometimes negatively reinforce some
unwanted conditions of human life rather than improve them.
For instance, the Christian teaching of loving one’s enemy could be negatively reinforced
in people who are bullied for the first time. These people might take the teaching too seriously to
the point that they would mistake love for cowardice or subjection to violent people. Another is
the Buddhist teaching that life is naturally full of suffering and that man should live in
moderation to overcome these sufferings. Naturally pessimistic people adhering to this belief
might just be too passive or receptive to the different challenges in life saying that these are all
part of the suffering and that there is no way to solve them. This could this people’s lives more
miserable and unproductive as they continue to see that there is no point in trying to improve
themselves.

Social Life
Being a community of people who share the same beliefs, religion promotes social
interaction among individuals and organizations in the society. By being a community directed to
improving the lives of its members, religion promotes and develops the values of collaboration,
unity, solidarity, belongingness, and social mobility (social change). Religion positively affects our
social life when it moves the whole religious community of the whole community of followers to a
good and beneficial goal. An example for this is the success of the People Powers in ousting
dictatorship from the Philippine government. Religion played a vital part in gathering the people
and inspiring them to stand together against political dictatorship. Today, we still reap the
benefits of the People powers and it is largely because of the involvement of religion in Philippine
politics.
However, this could have a negative effect when religion gathers the people toward the
self-interest of one or a few religiously significant people, or toward hatred against all other
religions or aspects of society. For example, the Catholic church once started the Crusades, a
series of European invasion of Muslim lands to reclaim the Holy city of Jerusalem. Under the
belief that Jerusalem belongs to the Catholic church as this is where Jesus Christ was crucified,
the Catholic church used its power and influence to make European kings send their soldiers
and resources to Israel and battle against Muslim forces. This series of campaigns lead to
thousands of death of many Christian soldiers and innocent people of their time and have
resulted to a gap between the relationship of Muslims and Christians which can still be felt even
until today.

Psychological Life
Religions have a lasting effect on a person’s life and can greatly affect his/her behavior.
This is made possible by giving people ideas of a stimulus-response or a cause-effect relationship
of their actions. For example, in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism is the idea of heaven and hell.
Followers of such religions are conditioned that if a person follows the commands of God, he/she
will go to paradise/heaven, and if he/she does bad thing all the time, the person will go to
eternal suffering or hell.
This can positively affect the lives of people as this idea of heaven and hell can encourage
him/her to do what is good for the sake of heaven, and avoid what is bad to stay away from hell.
However, this also has a negative effect when religion is used for the personal interests of
religious authorities. For example, leaders of religious extremist groups like the ISIS interpret
jihad (holy war) as a means to attain heaven. Because of this, members of this group willingly kill
other people for the purpose of their said honorable cause. Another example also is when
 OUR LADY OF TRIUMPH INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Purok Tugas, Balangasan Dist., Pagadian City, Philippines
Document Title:
ISO 9001:2015
HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
SELF-LEARNING MODULE

Spanish Catholic Friars in the Philippines solely interpret the Bible and relay it to the people that
the only way for salvation or heaven is to serve the Church. That is why a lot of people highly
respect church officials and follow church orders without question or resistance for the purpose
of gaining the favor of god as what is said by the church authorities.

Transcendental Life
Religions teach people that our humanity is subject to things or elements that are higher
or greater than us. It makes us understand that these elements that are beyond us are what
manages the entire universe and that we, as part of the universe are subject to such
transcendental elements. While this is true, religion also teaches us to become closer to those
elements and transcend our humanity. This is the reason why most, if not all religions, teach us
to do what is morally good and right for us to grow closer to transcendence or to go beyond our
physical selves.

General Instructions:
Always read and follow the instructions for every exercise carefully. Write your answers in
the blank spaces provided.
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Exercise 1

Directions: Make a collage of pictures showing the positive and negative effects of religion. Show at
least one positive and one negative effect of religion for each of the aspects discussed above. You
can either get your pictures from the internet, take actual pictures of it, or portray the effects in
your house and take a picture of your portrayal. Write a short description below each picture. Paste
your collage on the box provided on the next page and answer the questions after it. (20 pts.)
 OUR LADY OF TRIUMPH INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Purok Tugas, Balangasan Dist., Pagadian City, Philippines
Document Title:
ISO 9001:2015
HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
SELF-LEARNING MODULE

My Collage on the Positive and Negative Effects of Religion

 OUR LADY OF TRIUMPH INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Purok Tugas, Balangasan Dist., Pagadian City, Philippines
Document Title:
ISO 9001:2015
HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
SELF-LEARNING MODULE

1. What are the social, psychological, and transcendental effects brought to you by your
religion? (5 pts.)

Social Effect:
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Psychological Effect:
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Transcendental Effect:
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2. In your own opinion, what are the positive and negative effects of religion? Explain your
answer (5 pts.).

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------Scoring Rubric------
Points
Content
20 All pictures posted follow
the instructions and are
examples of positive and
negative effects of religion
16 Most pictures posted
follow the instructions
and are examples of
positive and negative
effects of religion
12 Half ot the total number
of pictures posted follow
(for Collage)
Criteria
Comprehensiveness
Collage is organized
properly to project a clear
view and understanding of
the effects of religion
Collage is organized
properly but projects an
unclear view and
understanding of the effects
of religion
Collage is organized
properly but projects an
Creativity
Possesses artistic elements
like color, borders, and
highlighting signs; given
that these elements are
arranged properly to show
neatness.
Possesses artistic elements
like color, borders, and
highlighting signs; given
that these elements are
arranged properly to show
neatness.
Possesses artistic elements
like color, borders, and
 OUR LADY OF TRIUMPH INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Purok Tugas, Balangasan Dist., Pagadian City, Philippines
Document Title:
ISO 9001:2015
HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
SELF-LEARNING MODULE
the instructions and are unclear view and highlighting signs; but that
examples of positive and understanding of the effects these elements are not
negative effects of religion of religion properly arranged to show
neatness.
8 Only some of the total Collage is not organized Possesses artistic elements
number of pictures and is hard to see the like color, borders, and
posted follow the important concepts highlighting signs; but that
instructions and are these elements are not
examples of positive and
properly arranged to show
negative effects of religion
neatness.
4 Very little to no pictures Collage is not organized Does not possess artistic
posted follow the and is hard to see the elements like color, borders,
instructions and are important concepts and highlighting signs
examples of positive and
negative effects of religion

------Scoring Rubric------
Points
Content
5 Answer(s) are highly relevant
to the question asked
4 Answer(s) are highly relevant
to the question asked
3 Most points in the
discussion of the answers
are relevant to what is asked
2 Most points in the
discussion of the answers
are not relevant to what is
asked
1 The answer is not related to
what is asked
(for Essay Questions)
Criteria
Comprehensiveness
Discussions are highly specific
and connected to the question
Discussion are specific but
contains some points of
vagueness
The connection between the
question and the discussion of
answer is unclear
The connection between the
question and the discussion of
answer is unclear
The connection between the
question and the discussion of
answer is unclear
Clarity
Has very good sentence
construction and does not provide
any vague statements.
Has a good sentence construction
with little grammatical mishaps
and vague statements
Has a good sentence construction
with little grammatical mishaps
and vague statements
Sentence construction has a
moderate number of grammatical
mishaps and ague statements
Poor sentence construction and no
idea can be easily understood.

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Reflection

What did you learn most from this topic? Discuss your learnings/insights comprehensively.

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Reference(s)

Atim, B., C., N. (2016) DIWA Senior high school series: introduction to world religions and
belief systems. Philippines. DIWA LEARNING SYSTEMS INC. pp. 41-47
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