Quarter 1 – Module 3:

Influences of Religion
to Culture and
Society

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Introduction to World Religions and Belief Systems – SHS
Influences of Religion to Culture and Society - 1st Semester Module

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Every effort has been exerted to locate and seek permission to use these materials
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nor claim ownership over them.

Regional Director: Gilbert T. Sadsad

Assistant Regional Director: Jessie L. Amin
SDO Albay Schools Division Superintendent: Norma B. Samantela, CESO VI
SDO Albay Assistant Schools Division Superintendent: Wilfredo J. Gavarra
SDO Albay Assistant Schools Division Superintendent: Fatima D. Buen

Development Team of the Module

Writers: Suzette B. Balidoy – Sogod National High School

Content Editor: Juan A. Magdaong II – Daraga National High School
Language Editor: Rosemarie P. Esporlas – Bascaran High School
Layout Editor: Mark Joed Q. Matias – Oas Polytechnic School
Antonio L. Morada
Project In-Charge: Judith P. Restubog – EPS (EsP), SDO Albay

Quality Assurance Team:

Dr. Sancita Peñarubia Chief, Curriculum Implementation Division
Edison L. Mallapre EPS, LRMDS
Judith P. Restubog EPS, Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao

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 I. TITLE OF THE MODULE

II. INTRODUCTION

“Faith is like a Wi -Fi, it’s invisible but it has the power to connect you to what
we need.” Do you agree with that? If you do, this module will help you learn how
religions pave way to attaining the things we need and how it provided significant
positive impact to culture and society. You will learn how religion through faith and
positive beliefs and practices helped in influencing a person’s life. Aside from its
positive impacts, you will also learn the downside or the negative influences of
religion.

III. OBJECTIVES:

At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:

1. Analyze the influences of religion to culture and society.

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 IV. VOCABULARY LIST

Here are some of the words that you will encounter while reading this module.
Are you ready to add new words to your vocabulary? Let us begin!

Word Definition
- a religious or solemn ceremony consisting of a series of
Rituals
actions performed according to a prescribed order.
Scriptures - religious texts are texts related to a religious tradition.
- is a ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish
holiday of Passover. It is conducted throughout the world
Seder Meal on the eve of the 15th day of Nisan in the Hebrew
calendar.
- is a canonical festival of Islam, Eid ul-Fitr marks the end
Eid ul Fitr
of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting
- it is the ninth month of the Muslim calendar and the holy
Ramadan month of fasting. It begins and ends with the appearance
of the crescent moon.

VI. LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Look for an article or a video about how religion affected us negatively. You
may copy the link or paste the article in your journal. After watching the video or reading
the article, write a reflection on how these events provided a harmful outcome to our
society and our culture. Indicate also possible solutions on how these events could be
prevented and solved.

Processing Questions:

1. What did you learn from this activity?

2. What have you discovered about yourself after performing this activity?

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 VII. DEEPENING

Now that you have finished taking your pre-test, let us discuss further about the
positive and negative influences of religion to our culture and society. Here are
readings to help you understand more about our topic. After reading, there will be
activities that you need to answer. Write your answers in your journal notebook.

The most important aspect of religion is its relentless struggle to focus on the
dimension of depth in our lives. We are subjected every day to the pressure to attend
to the things we thought more important. We, humans have a need to make sense of
our experience in and of the world in which we live. Starting with human experience,
both objective and subjective, we seek to understand causes and effects and their
significance in our lives. Stemming from this search for meaning, any particular
religion is a culturally evolved system, in which the persons involved develop and share
common understandings, beliefs and practices and form community bonds of identity
and support. Many religions claim a "mentor" who is revered and remembered as an
"exemplar" for their beliefs, values, and practices. Mentors are called in many names;
Priest or Pastor for the Christians, Rabbi for the Jews, and Imam for the Muslims to
name a few. At its best, a religion can provide the following:
1. Meaning, Purpose and Hope, based on the beliefs, traditions, and values, often
expressed in myths and stories. These traditions are so diverse that they present
a wide range of responses and a variety of answers to the perennial questioning
of human existence. When we participate in these traditions, we join experientially
the on-going journey of discovery of what it means to be human.

2. Community gathering for rituals of worship and symbolic celebrations of

religious holidays. Observances like festivals and pilgrimage (a journey done for
a religious purpose) focus on the stuff of everyday life and set it in the framework
of more profound dimensions of life. One example of a pilgrimage is the Hajj which
lasts approximately 5 to 6 days depending on the lunar Islamic calendar, is a
mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their
lifetime by all adult Muslims who are physically and financially capable of
undertaking the journey, and can support their family during their absence.

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 Muslims surround the Kab’ah in Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Source: [Link]

The Seder meal reminds Jews that they are shaped by a very long history, a history
that gives them identity; the Eucharist which people share bread and wine as a
symbol of the last supper and the death of Christ, signals to Christians that
the center of life’s meaning is giving oneself for the welfare of others; in the Eid ul
Fitr, Muslims give thanks after the month of Ramadan-fasting that teaches
patience, spirituality, humility, and submissiveness to God.

3. Personal identity as part of a group with similar world views, beliefs, values,
practices, and lifestyles relationships of commitment to giving support and caring
critique to one another. Buddhists cultivate practices of mindfulness, peacefulness,
and compassion. In one form or another, all religions inculcate these practices.
The Jewish teachings about mitzvoth, the obligations to perform moral acts,
particularly acts of kindness, and Tikkun olam (repairing the world) have inculcated
over the centuries an intense commitment to social justice. Giving to charity is a
fundamental mark of Islam. Such practices are constant reminders that there is
more to life than the moment, more than individual, selfish “getting ahead.”
Opportunities in community to identify and provide needed action and service to
meet needs of the wider community and the world. Lastly, religion provides the
opportunity to live within an ethical framework, as a way of putting the world and
modern life within the perspective.

4. Rituals of giving thanks and appreciating one’s blessings that helps with
emotional health and happiness and celebrating the goodness of life and practices
experienced in community for life transitions of birth, commitment, forgiveness, and
death.

5. Educational opportunities providing history and understanding of religious and

cultural traditions and beliefs translation of religious symbols based in the
scriptures, metaphors and language into contemporary experiences and language.

All of them have a negative side that needs to manage well for human
community mental health. Example of which are as follows:

1. Promotes backward and harmful policies. Religion has been used to defend
slavery, just like how the Spaniards took advantage of some our ancestors, racial
segregation, and sexual discrimination. Although these policies have no
justification aside from religious dogma that was invented centuries ago to address
a very different context than the one, we face today. Absolute ideals not only lead
to fanaticism but are unrealistic in a complicated world.

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2. Dissuades Societal Improvement. Other religious leaders argued against
improvement as it distracts from spiritual priorities. Believers are encouraged to
accept the fatalism of human suffering as part of the cosmic order or the will of
God.

3. Participation in religion supports harmful regimes and institutions. It often

requires financial or moral support to be given to countries and institutions that use
this influence for questionable purposes. For instance, performing pilgrimages in
some countries provided wealth into the economy that can be used by repressive
regimes that export extremism and terror.

4. Resource consumption. The Philippine Constitution grants religious and

charitable institutions exemption from real property tax on all lands, buildings, and
improvements. This creates a bias of benefit for the religious, since other social
groups may not be tax exempted or have a higher burden to attain tax exemption.

5. Religious Wars. For example, Holy crusade for Christianity and Jihad for Islam.
During the Marawi siege, the primary aim of the Isis is to establish an Islamic estate
in the Philippines. This therefore threatens the Christians living in the area.
They even burned and wrecked a Catholic Church and kidnapped a priest along
with its staff. Another example is the Holy Crusade. These events took many lives
and properties which sometimes over acts the principles and dogma of their
religion and sometimes commonly sees their religion superior to the other.

A group of Filipino bishops visit the devastated Catholic Cathedral of Marawi

Source: [Link]

Can you still recall the lesson you learned yesterday? What are the positive
effects of religion when it comes to community gatherings for rituals of worship and
symbolic celebrations of religious holidays? What are the negative effects of religion?
Do these bring about events in history? Here are some of the evidences that religion
brought about events in history:

1. The Reformation or Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was the 16th-century religious, political,

intellectual, and cultural upheaval that splintered Catholic Europe, setting in place the

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structures and beliefs that would define the continent in the modern era. In Northern
and Central Europe, reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin and Henry
VIII challenged papal authority and questioned the Catholic Church’s ability to define
Christian practice. They argued for a religious and political redistribution of power into

the hands of Bible- and pamphlet-reading pastors and princes. The disruption
triggered wars, persecutions and the so-called Counter-Reformation, the Catholic
Church’s delayed but forceful response to the Protestants.

It was the greatest religious movement for Christ since the early church. It was
the revival of Biblical and New Testament theology. “The Reformation of the sixteenth
century is, next to the introduction of Christianity, the greatest event in history. It marks
the end of Middle Ages and the beginning of modern times. Starting from religion, it
gave, directly or indirectly, a mighty impulse to every forward movement, and made
Protestantism the chief propelling force in the history of
Modern Civilization.” (Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church).

Counter-Reformation, also called Catholic Reformation or Catholic

Revival, in the history of Christianity, the Roman Catholic efforts directed in the 16th
and early 17th centuries both against the Protestant Reformation and toward internal
renewal. The Counter-Reformation took place during roughly the same period as the
Protestant Reformation, actually beginning shortly before Martin Luther’s act of nailing
the Ninety-five Theses to the door of Castle Church in 1517. Pope Paul III is
considered to be the first pope of the Counter-Reformation. It was he who in 1545
convened the Council of Trent. The council, which met intermittently until 1563,
responded emphatically to the issues at hand. Its doctrinal teaching was a reaction
against the Lutheran emphasis on the role of faith and God’s grace and against
Protestant teaching on the number and nature of the sacraments.

2. Badri Masjid or Mosque Case (1992)

It was a particularly important event that happened in Indian History which

taught people that how can the base of religion dispute of Hindu and Muslim in India
can destroy kindness and humanity of people. The dispute arose, as the previous
Emperor “Mir Banki” destroyed a temple of Hindu god “Lord Rama” and built a mosque
after Emperor Babar “Babri Masjid” the place called Ayoshya which is lord Rama
birthplace. This issue was taken up strongly by Bhartiya Janata Party which is a
political party in India to win in elections. But as the religious sentiments were aroused

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in the people, riots were created, and the mosque was demolished by the people itself
and more than 20,000 innocent people lost their lives in this dispute which mostly
included Muslims.

3. People Power Revolution

People Power also called “Rosary Revolution” refers to nonviolent popular

protests that took place in the our country leading to the removal of President
Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and President Joseph Estrada in 2001, and one
manifestation of Filipino participation in civil society and liberal democracy. The
catalyst for the 1986 protests was the arrest of defected military leaders and buoyed
by public calls to protest by Catholic Cardinal Jaime Sin. Hundreds of thousands of
protestors blocked the Epifanio De Los Santos Avenue, also known as the EDSA.
Marcos called for military action against protestors on the second day of
demonstrations, but soldiers refused to fire on non-violent protestors; iconic images of
nuns praying the rosary and offering flowers to soldiers captured global imagination.
Marcos resigned the following day. The 2001 protests, in which Cardinal Jaime Sin
again played a prominent role, were organized in opposition to corrupt President
Joseph Estrada, who was subsequently impeached.

Read and answer the following questions. Write your answer in your journal.

1. What concepts have you learned?

____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________.

2. What are your realizations after reading these evidences?

____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________.

Here are some of the practices of the different religions that promoted
community gatherings and brought positive impact to the society.

The Seder meal reminds Jews that they are shaped by a very long history, a
history that gives them identity. Seder, (Hebrew: “order”) religious meal served in
Jewish homes on the 15th and 16th of the month of Nisan to commence the festival of
Passover. Though Passover commemorates the Exodus, the historical deliverance of
the Jewish people from Egyptian bondage in the days of Moses, Jews are ever mindful
that this event was a prelude to God’s revelation on Mount Sinai. For each participant,
therefore, the seder is an occasion to relive the Exodus as a personal spiritual event.
The religious nature of the seder with its carefully prescribed ritual makes the dinner

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quite unlike family dinners held on civil holidays. Reform Jews and Jews in Israel omit
the second seder because they limit Passover to seven days.

The Eucharist which people share bread and wine as a symbol of the last
supper and the death of Christ, signals to Christians that the center of life’s meaning
is giving oneself for the welfare of others. Another one is Christmas, the longest and
happiest of the Filipino festivals. Christmas in the Philippines commences on
December 16 and ends in the first Sunday of January (or the feast of Epiphany).For
the nine days preceding December 25 (Christmas Day), masses popularly known as
Simbang Gabi or Misa de Aguinaldo are held starting at four o’clock in the morning.
After the mass, the people hurry to the tiny stalls which sell fresh rice cakes and other
native delicacies, with free steaming cups of tea. On the eve of Christmas Day, families
dine together in what popularly called Noche Buena. On the eve of
New Year’s Day (December 31st), the families make as much noises they can by
lighting firecrackers, beating pans and cans, and blowing horns and whistles up to
midnight. They then dine together again for the Media Noche. The Lantern or Parol
has become the most popular symbol of Christmas in the Philippines. It is a visual
expression of a creative and imaginative mind. In the evenings especially, you can see
displays of beautifully lighted Christmas lanterns.

In Eid ul Fitr, Muslims give thanks after the month of Ramadan fasting that
teaches patience, spirituality, humility, and submissiveness to God. Ramadan, in
Islam, is the ninth month of the Muslim calendar and the holy month of fasting. It begins
and ends with the appearance of the crescent moon. Because the Muslim calendar
year is shorter than the Gregorian calendar year, Ramadan begins 10–12 days earlier
each year, allowing it to fall in every season throughout a 33-year cycle. Ramadan,
however, is less a period of atonement than it is a time for Muslims to practice self-
restraint, in keeping with ṣawm (Arabic: “to refrain”), one of the pillars of Islam (the five
basic tenets of the Muslim religion). Although ṣawm is most commonly understood as
the obligation to fast during Ramadan, it is more broadly interpreted as the obligation
to refrain between dawn and dusk from food, drink, sexual activity, and all forms of
immoral behavior, including impure or unkind thoughts. Thus, false words or bad deeds
or intentions are as destructive of a fast as eating or drinking.

In a world where there are so many who demonstrate so much ego and
selfglorification, religion always allows individual to conquer their own sense of self
towards a larger end. The idea of being able to do good for others in the name of
something larger can only help to make society and the people within it better. The
con or potential negative attribute is when individuals believe that their form of religious
worship compels them or drives them to interfere with others. Some of the very worst
actions and human behavior has been done in the name of religion, this is here the
potential bad side of religion sets in. It is here where some level of change is needed
in terms of how people advocate and show zeal towards their religion.
Lastly, love and respect for each other’s belief and practices is the key in attaining a
harmonious and peaceful society.

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Read and answer the following questions. Write your answer in your journal.

1. What is the most important concept that you value from these readings?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________.

2. What have you discovered about yourself in relation to such concept?

____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________.

VIII. APPLICATION

APPLY WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED!

Every one of us went through challenges. These challenges can be surpassed

with the help of people around us and of course by our religion. Copy the cloud in your
journal and write down your significant experience and how your religion helped you
surpass them. You may indicate your experience during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Processing Question:

1. What is the most important concept that you value after doing this activity?
2. What have you discovered about yourself after performing this activity?

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 Rubric for the Reflection Paper

Above Meets Expectations Approac Below

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 The The reflection articulates The The
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1. How did the activities enrich your knowledge, understanding and appreciation
about the negative and positive effects of religion?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________.

CONGRATULATIONS!

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