Positive and Negative Effects of

Religion
 RELIGION

POSITIVE NEGATVE
EFFECTS EFFECTS

Promotes Social
Affirms Social
Harmony
Hierarchy

Provides Moral Causes

Values Discrimination

Provides Social Triggers Conflicts

Change and Fight
 Serves as an Economic
Explains the
Tool for Controlling
Unknown
the Masses

Impedes Scientific
Gives Positive G0al in
Success and
Life
Development

Gives People a Sense Obstructs the Use of

of Belonging Reason
POSITIVE EFFECTS OF RELIGION

There is no doubt that religion has an important role in

society. In fact ,lit has become so closely intertwined
with other institutions such as political and economic
systems that religious beliefs sometimes became the
basic of political legitimacy. This is the very reason why
the principles of separation of state and religion was
established in many country.
Religion Promotes Social Harmony

 Religion believes in supernatural beings and powers.

It practices a set of rituals and ceremonious rites of
passage and rites of intensification. It also regards
religious leaders such as priests, priestesses and
shamans in high esteem. These characteristics help
advance social harmony by assimilating and stabilizing
cultures and nations.
RELIGION PROVIDES MORAL VALUES
 Perhaps one of the most significant function of
religions is that it encourages moral values. It
provides a systematic model of the universe, which in
effect determines organized human behavior. By
providing moral values, one is able to distinguish right
from wrong, good from evil. It also provides a system
of reward and punishment that administers and
standardizes people’s behavior in society. Some
people believe that it is sometimes more effective
than the laws implemented by the state, since most
people give more importance to the reward and
punishment in the afterlife.
Religion Provides Social Change
Religion Provides Social Change
 Since religion is a source of moral values, religion provides
social change. It can be very effective in lobbying and
campaigning for certain social issues using its own moral
teachings as a basis of argument . For example, the Church in
the US has been active in the campaign for civil liberties as
well as the antislavery movement. In the Philippines, much
credit has been given to the Catholic Church for the success
of the People Power Revolution in 1986 when Archbishop
Jaime Cardinal Sin urged the people to join the protest rally
to oust dictator, former president Ferdinand Marcos.
 Religion Reduces Fear of the
Unknown
 Religion was developed from man’s need to have a
sense o origin and destination; to discover where they
came from and where they are bound to go to when
they die. Religion provides answers to phenomena and
questions that science or reason cannot explain. Myths
about the origin of people abound with stories of group
people being created by gods and goddesses
perpetuating the notion that people came from supreme
beings and will eventually go back to them in the
afterlife. More importantly, religion has provided
assurances as to where spirits will go when people die.
Religion Gives Positive Goals in Life

 People were inspired by the stories of different prophets from their

own religious affiliations, like that of Moses, Gautama, and
Muhammad. These people showed how ordinary people like them
were given important missions in life, and how they struggled to
carry of their respective missions. Moses was ordered to liberate the
Hebrews from slavery in Egyp and lead them back to the promised
land; Mohammed was chosen to challenged the supremacy of the
ruling class in the desert by preaching equality and founding the
Islamic religion; while Siddharta Gautama gave up his wealth and
power to find the solution for sickness, poverty, old age, and death.
Their narratives---perpetuated through religion--- may give people a
sense of meaning in life; that they are not placed in this world
without a purpose; that each and and everyone has a mission to
fullfill and it is up to them to fathom what their missions in life are.
 Religion Gives People a Sense of
Belonging

 Just a family, ethnicity, or nationality give people a sense of belonging, so

does religion. For some, religion provides people with personal identity as
part of a group with similar worldviews, beliefs, values, practices, and
lifestyles. It provides communities with prospects to recognized and offer
vital action and service to provide the needs of larger community.
Belonging to a particular religion ---whose members share the same
beliefs, practrice the same rituals, and workship the same god--- gives
individuals a sense of being in the right place with the right people. It also
provides them with a sense of security because other people who belong
to the same religious group will tend to support and help each other in
times of crisis . A religious group or community can provide counsel, help
the sick and underprivileged, and give other services on a more personal
level than the government. Member of a religious community can have
the assurance that they can rely on other people’s help in times of need.
They can also expect to have other people rejoice with them in times of
succes. Religion can provide a sense of personal identity and belonging
 A good example of religion giving people a sense of belonging
is the Sikh principle of Seva, also known as Sewa, from the word
Karsevawhich means”selfless services.” Sikhs are expected to
perform work or service without expecting anything return5.
they are