Religious values reflect the beliefs and practices which a religious adherent partakes in.

Most
values originate from sacred texts of each respective religion. They can also originate from members
of the religion.

Members of particular religions are considered to be a prime embodiment of the particular religion's
values, such as leaders or adherents of a religion who strictly abide by its rules. Each religion has
similar and differing values. Being religious does not indicate that certain religions are opposed to
particular attitudes or encourage them. These values are also evident in secular society as it shares
similarities.
Various aspects of the significance of religious values have been considered with respect
to novels, their relevance to a particular religious group (the Jains for instance or Latin Americans),
and in relation to human society.
Religions influence areas of living in society such a how they treat money. Money is used more
ethically by religious adherents than those who are not. Care of the environment is also a religious
moral based on values of creation. There are issues in society such as abortion which religious
values impact as well. An adherent's attitudes on homosexuality are also affected by religious
values. If divorce is taken as a path in marriage or not is affected by how religious the individuals
are. Even an adherents consumer behavior can be shaped by their religion.

Origin of Religious Values

Religious values are usually based on values reflected within religious texts or by the influence of the
lives of religious persons.
Known as the ‘Indigenous Religious Values Hypothesis’, the origin of religious values can be seen
as the product of the values held by the society in which the religion originated from. The beliefs of
an individual are often centered around a religion, so the religion can be the origin of that individual's
values. When religion is defined heuristically, it can be used by individuals, communities or societies
to answer their existential questions with the beliefs that the religion teaches. Values develop from
the answers religions give to those existential questions.

Significance of Religious Values

Every individual does not consider religion to affect the actions and thoughts of a person. Though in
some communities secularization is considered dominant, it does not mean that religion is
insignificant in those communities

Money shapes religion in one way or another

Monetary Intelligence is greater among individuals who have a lower interest in making money but
are more religious, along with those who wish to make ethical decisions. In a study by Thomas Tang
on monetary intelligence found that making ethical decisions in the study was related to recalling
the Ten Commandments, which are a Christian set of ethical teachings from which Christian values
are developed. These developed values are uniform across many religions, though not all of them
from the Ten Commandments.

Environment
The Roman Catholic leader, Pope Francis wrote an encyclical called ‘Laudato Sí’. It focused on the
environment and it was thought that it would change the attitudes of Roman Catholics. A study by
Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research and Yale University researchers, found
that 40% of American Catholics were only aware of the encyclical and the encyclical did not produce
much of a difference in their reaction to climate change.

Abortion
A study done by Harris and Mills found that those who associate more with values of self-
determination are more likely to agree to abortion than those who associate with values which reflect
responsibility for others. Persons who associate with values of self-determination are not as religious
as those who identify with values of responsibility for others.
Joseph Tamney and his colleagues conducted a study to create a model representing the reasons
why or why not individuals support legalized abortion in the American population. They mention
that Judaism and Christianity possess values which limits an individual's freedom. Christianity values
the preservation of natural processes and human life. This is why adherents of Christianity oppose
abortion.

Homosexuality
A study investigated the role of religion in how attitudes about homosexuality is shaped in 33
countries. Some countries have liberal policies while others punish homosexuality. They found that
nations who value self-expression are more accepting of homosexuality than nations who are
focused on survival. Nations which survival values are not tolerant of ideas that are not
traditional. Being self-expressive allow more opportunity for personal religious beliefs to be
displayed. Muslim nations have harsher punishments for those found guilty of homosexuality. Their
attitudes are no different to countries that are Buddhist, Protestant or Orthodox whose penalties are
not as harsh. Just living in Muslim countries encourages inhabitants, including those who do not
adhere to the religion, to have these attitudes about homosexuality than living in a Catholic country.

Divorce
Religious values are against divorce unless during a situation of abuse or adultery. Studies show
that this is due to the fact that religions benefit from marriage. The value of family is evident in many
religions, especially Christianity. Christian teachings, which mainly originate in the Bible, consider
divorce to be a sin. This is why marriage is considered to be sacred and in need of preservation.
Religion is considered to promote sustaining marriage and traditional sexual norms. Being religious
indicates that marriages are more likely to be stable and be happy. Religious couples are not likely
to cheat on their spouses than non-religious, married individuals. Married couples who are religious
are less likely to separate or divorce. A study held by Joshua Tuttle and Shannon Davis found that
religion decreases the occurrence of infidelity in married couples. They claimed that this was
because religions promote traditional sexual and marital norms and discourage extramarital sexual
activity. They also found that being religious did not stop marital infidelity from occurring, but it also
did not change the chance of divorce. Marital infidelity also does not appear to have an effect of the
chance of divorce in long-married couples.

Consumer Behavior
Religion influences consumer's purchase. Some religions do not allow the consumption of certain
foods such as Islam, which does not allow pork and Hinduism which does not allow beef. Those who
are adherents of Islam may shop without much thought and research of the product they
purchase. Muslims are also more likely to try new brands and new stores as their religious
philosophy is that the outcome of their actions are God's will. Hindus are more likely to be rational
with their purchases, which follows their religious philosophy. Adherents of Catholicism are more
likely to purchase popular products and from well-known brands. Catholics are also likely to research
their products and actively search for their desired product. Nittin Essoo and Sally Dibb found in their
study that religious consumers were more practical in their shopping than devout shoppers, focusing
more on the deals on the price and the credit which is available. They also found that adherents of
Catholicism had a more demanding shopping behavior compared to the shopping behavior of
Hindus and Muslims shoppers. When analyzing Hindu behaviors when shopping, Essoo and Dibb
described it as fatalism which sided with the religion's beliefs of self-control, calmness, detachment
and compassion, which the researchers claimed explained their passive shopping behavior. The
studies result suggested that Hindu consumers were less demanding, less thoughtful of their
purchases, they were less traditional, less practical with their purchase and their shopping behavior
was also less innovative compared to Muslim and Catholic shoppers. This meant they were less
likely to put effort into purchasing and were more accepting of poor service and high prices.

Gender Discrimination
In Australia, the Sex Discrimination Act does not allow gender discrimination in any organization
except in religious grounds. Due to this, religions are allowed to not allow women to perform certain
duties or actions, such as the Catholic Church's refusal to allow women to be ordained as
clergy. Woman are not allowed to sit at the front of religious places of worship in some religions.
Some religions do not allow the entry of women into places of religious worship.

The Study of Religious Values

William Schweiker points out that religion, unlike philosophy, is influenced by the lives of persons
significant to a religion, places which are considered important and principles which are unique to a
religion, differing one religion from the other. Religious values can be studied with different
approaches. Schweiker mentions five of these listed below:

 Formalist approach
o When a group of values, practices and principles are considered to be part of a ‘Religion’,
focusing on the moral implications on an individual's life through this manifestation of
qualities is called a formalist approach.
 Sociolinguistic approach
o Studying the ways in which communities live.
 Ethical naturalism
o Where propositions of ethics by the world is examined to define general ethical concepts.
 Hermeneutical
o Looks at the perspective of traditions on any given situation.
 Multidimensional
o Is similar to a formalist approach, only differing in that it is more perceiving of how
knowledge and disciplines were made among the specific labels given by the formalist
aspect of this approach.

The Practice of Religious Values in Society

Law in Countries
Saudi Arabia and other countries enforces Islamic law. The public practice of religions other than
Islam is illegal, however private practice and religious texts only for personal use are permitted.
Pledging at Court
In Australia, witnesses and jurors who appear at court are asked to make either an oath or
affirmation upon any religious text if they wish and by any god recognized by their religion, if they do
identify with one. Court Services Victoria detailed the pledge on their website:
“I swear (or the person taking the oath may promise) by Almighty God (or the person may name a
god recognized by his or her religion) that the evidence I shall give will be the truth, the whole truth
and nothing but the truth.” (para. 3).

Clothing
Female adherents of Islam are advised to wear the hijab in public (in-front of anyone they could
marry), which is a veil covering their hair. It is compulsory in countries such as Saudi Arabia and
Iran.
Some Christians wear a cross as an indicator to their beliefs.

Environment
The Mosques and Schools in Jordan are nearing 100% powered by renewable energy, using the
energy for activities such as lights and heating water.

Charity
 Caritas Australia is example of a religious affiliated charity, based on Christian values such as
justice and equality.
 Shamayim is a Jewish animal welfare organization, encouraging religious communities to go
without meat for at least a year.
 Jewish Initiative for Animals (JIFA) is another animal welfare organization which focuses on
Jewish values to promote ethical eating.
RELIGIOUS VALUES IS

 The Faith in God

 An attempt to understand God
 Fear of divine worth and thinking
 Believing and behaving according to ethical codes prescribed in the religious books, religious
leaders and teachings.
 The religious values are expressed through behavior are going on pilgrimage, worshipping God,
and speaking the truth.

According to Swami Krisnananda – “Religion is the language of the spirit in man. It is the urge of the
soul within, the response of the whole that is man to the call of the Absolute.”

Bertocci (1951) says, - “The essence of religion is the personal belief that one’s most important values
are sponsored by, or in harmony with enduring structure of the universe whether they are sponsored by
society or not.

According to Gandhiji’s view – “Religion is the expression of the permanent nature of man. Religion
purifies and elevates one’s nature. It arouses in man a sense of spiritual restlessness, a kind of thirst
which enables the individual to cultivate and develop a sense to the right and good and make him truly
moral man.”

Vivekananda says, -“Of all the forces that have worked and are still working to mound the destiny of the
human race, none certainly is more potent than the manifestation of which we call religion.”