POSITIVE AND

NEGATIVE
EFFECTS OF
RELIGIONS
Negative
1. Religion promotes division
2. Religion teaches dependence
3. Religion sanction’s barbarism and
violence
4. Religion instills fear
5. Religion infuses guilt
Positive
1. Religion helps man to bear his
sufferings.
2. Religion boosts self-worth and dignity.
3. Religion serves as a foundation of
societal harmony
4. Religion helps create disciplined and
beneficial citizens.
5. Religion promote social welfare and
development.
JUSTIFICATION
S OF POSITIVE
AND NEGATIVE
EFFECTS OF
RELIGIONS
NEGATIVE
1. RELIGION PROMOTE DIVISION
Some religions' doctrines, in
effect, cause division between
insiders and outsiders.
Teachings like these may
discourage or even forbid
intermarriage. These may also
promote the in-group and out-group
concepts in sociology.
 An in-group is a social
group united by common
values, that is, "a group of
people who show loyalty and
preferential treatment to one
another because they share
common interests, beliefs, and
attitudes“.
 Quite the opposite, an out-group
is a social group towards which a
person feels dislike, disdain,
disagreement, unfriendliness, and
disapproval-sometimes, even hatred,
contempt, hostility, opposition, or a
desire to compete. One's in-group
may be his or her religion, and the
out-groups are other religions or
sects.
2. RELIGION TEACHES DEPENDENCE
It is said that there is a relationship
between religiosity and resignation. For
instance, in some conservative sects of
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, women are
deemed as more righteous if they let God
manage their family planning. Famines,
poverty, and diseases are attributed to the will
of God rather than bad decisions or bad
systems. Believers depend on God's will and
laws to solve their problems.
 For some, this attitude is
harmful to society at large as
well as to individuals. For
believers, this attitude manifests
humility and submission to the
will of the mighty Creator who
knows best.
3. RELIGION SANCTIONS 'BARBARISM' AND
VIOLENCE.
Barbarism is often characterized by
superstition, ignorance, inequality, misogyny,
racism, and violence. Religions' sacred texts
are said to sanction these things, including
slavery, women and children being
possessions of men, brutal warfare, and
sacrificing living animals, agricultural
products, and even enemy soldiers as burnt
offerings.
 It is further claimed that a believer
looking to excuse his own rage, sense of
superiority, aggression, or prejudice can
find justification in texts that claim to be
authored by God. Nonetheless, doing so
exemplifies misapplication of sacred
passage. Even the conclusion that sacred
scriptures promote barbaric acts and
violence today is explained as
misinterpretation of holy books.
4. RELIGION INSTILLS FEAR.
On their doctrine about sin,
some religions teach that sins are
inherited and thus all people are
born sinners. Being impure souls by
birth and if they do not purify
themselves, they will soon be
condemned to hell, where they will
have to experience eternal suffering.
 People thus find themselves in a state
of fear. The fear of hell is continuously in
their mind, filling them with worry and
anxiety. Allegedly this may preclude people
to live spontaneously. When people
believe that they are being unceasingly
looked at by an all-seeing eye of God, they
will have to act in certain ways to please
Him. They may always be afraid whether
their deeds are right according to religion
or not.
 Religionists nonetheless
explain that nothing is wrong in
instilling 'fear of the Lord' if that is
the way for people to be saved
from eternal suffering. To avoid
hell, religion indeed requires that
individuals prove to God that they
are worthy of heaven by following
His will.
5. RELIGION INFUSES GUILT.
It is claimed that the demands that
some religions put on people are unrealistic.
Some denominations teach that people are
born sinners, sin is what people are made of,
and whatever they do is bound to be
corrupted in one way or another. At the
same time, religion is also teaches people to
behave in the best ways possible, in other
words, to be perfect.
 Many find it unnatural and difficult, if
not impossible, for people to be perfect.
And this can have some serious
consequences. When a person fails to do
what God has decreed, he starts becoming
guilty and hating himself. One may thus
begin to accept the idea that he is indeed a
bad person, corrupted, and not worthy as a
human being. This may result in one's life
becoming full of resentment, anger, and
bitterness.
 Nonetheless, religionists
pronounce that having guilt is a
good sign and can be a good
start of striving to lead a new
life. Religionists also qualify
being 'perfect' as practically not
in the same literal way as Christ
is.
POSITIVE
1. RELIGION HELPS MAN TO BEAR HIS
SUFFERINGS.
Religion explains and justifies human
sufferings and grief. It teaches, for instance,
that everything happens according to the
grand design of the omniscient God, and
ultimately, one's sorrows will have meaning.
Religion also gives hope that people, in due
course, can be freed from all miseries, pains,
and fear.
2. RELIGION BOOSTS SELF-WORTH AND
DIGNITY
Religion explains that a person,
regardless of his social and economic
status, is important in the sight of God
who considers him or her as His
beloved child. It states that being
unsuccessful in a profession or career
does not take away one's hope to
receive eternal life.
 Such kind of guarantee
inspires believers to continue
to play their part in society.
Religion thus helps people to
endure their frustrations and
integrate their personality.
3. RELIGION SERVES AS A
FOUNDATION OF SOCIETAL HARMONY
Religion is a source of social unity
and cohesion. By providing socially
accepted values and ethical norms,
religion influences people to control
their behaviors so as to maintain peace
and order in the community.
• Children should obey their
parents
• Women should be faithful to
men (and vice versa)
• People should not tell lie
• People must be honest and
not deceitful
4. RELIGION HELPS CREATE DISCIPLINED AND
BENEFICIAL CITIZENS.
As religions encourage members to live in line
with the precepts of religious traditions, they
provide models for ideal living. For instance,
Christians strive to be Christ-like; Buddhists imitate
the Buddha; and followers of the mystical "Tao'
(the Chinese term for the ultimate way of the
universe) observe noninterference with the natural
course of things. Moreover, religion also affects the
economic life as it teaches diligence, hard work,
patience, and industry.
5. RELIGION PROMOTES SOCIAL WELFARE AND
DEVELOPMENT.
Religion also performs altruistic services to humanity.
Religions promote literacy, education, and research by
putting up academic institutions. Some religions sponsor
charitable institutions for the underprivileged like
hospitals, homes, and other social welfare centers. During
calamities, religious groups also provide response and
rescue operations. (For instance, an indigenous Filipino
religion, the Iglesia Ni Cristo, has received international
recognition and multiple Guinness records for its various
'aid to humanity' programs, especially for the victims of
calamities in various countries, like those devastated by
the super typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines.)
HISTORICAL EVENTS BROUGHT ABOUT BY
RELIGIONS
History can provide pieces of
evidence that religion brought about
significant events. These historical
events include the so-called crusades
and the recent move from various
religions to end slavery.
 CRUSADES
• Were a series of religious wars sanctioned
by the catholic church between the 11th
and 16th centuries.
• Were also launched for many other reason
to take back Christian territory, defend
Catholics in non-christian lands and
resolve conflicts.
• Term crusades includes religiously
motivated catholic military campaign.
 “The first crusades arose after a call
to arms in a 1095 sermon by Pope Urban
II. Urban urged military support for the
Byzantine Empire and its emperor,
Alexios I, who needed reinforcements for
his conflict with westward migrating
Turks in Anatolia.
 Although one of Urban’s stated aims was
to guarantee pilgrims access to the holy sites in
the holy land that were under Muslim control,
scholars disagree whether this was the primary
motivation for urban or for the majority of those
who heeded his call. Urban’s wider strategy may
have been to unite the eastern and western
branches of Christendom, which had been
divided since their split in the East-west schism
of 1054, and establish himself as head of the
unified church.
 Similarly, some of the hundreds of
thousands of people who became crusaders by
taking a public vow and receiving plenary
indulgences from the church were peasants
hoping for Apotheosis at Jerusalem, or
forgiveness from God for all their sins. Others,
historians argue, participated to satisfy feudal
obligations, gain glory and honour, or find
opportunities for economic and political gain.
Regardless of the motivation, the response to
Urban's preaching by people of many different
classes across Western Europe established the
precedent for later crusades."
 To convince people to join the first
crusade, Pope Urban II pronounced that the
knights of France who embarked on the
mission would be absolved of all sins and
escape the possibility of going to hell. Over
60,000 people responded to the call and it
took four years for them to assemble and
reach Jerusalem. Numbers of both knights
and peasantry perished along the way.
 Crusaders were driven by the faith that
the Christian God wanted them to eliminate
unbelievers in order to reestablish
prosperity to Europe. Because of this, "the
First Crusade is often cited as the beginning
of anti-Semitism in Christians. While the
crusading knights often relied on Jewish
merchants for financing, crusading peasants
saw Jews as an enemy of Christianity and
slaughtered thousands on their journey
through the Rhineland"
 This massacre of Jews in a campaign led by
Count Emicho in 1096 resulted in tense relations
between Jews and Christians, Catholic armies
also"slaug men, women, and children by the
hundreds on their way to capture
The 1099 conquest of Jerusalem was
triumphant, but it also the numerous deaths of
both Muslims and Christians. Some of the aspects
of the Crusades which lasted roughly from 1095 to
1270 included not only the massive loss of life, but
also financial burden that weakened European
nobility, a growth of hostility between religions,
and the looting of Constantinople:
 "Crusading chronicles describe the amount of
blood on the battlefield as reaching as high as their
horses' knees. The fundamental rift between
religions created by the Crusades has been
cemented throughout the ensuing centuries
Christian armies suffered numerous defeats
throughout the Crusades. For instance, the armies
of King Louis VII of France and King Conrad III of
Germany were defeated during the Second
Crusade at the hands of Muslim armies in
Damascus.
 The Crusaders that occupied Jerusalem were
conquered by Muslim ruler Saladin, which
prompted the Third Crusade...The pillaging of
Constantinople occurred during the Fourth Crusade.
Pope Innocent III toppled Alex III of Byzantine in
favor of his nephew, who would later become Alexius
IV. Alexius' attempt to impose Roman authority over
Byzantine was met with resistance, and he was
subsequently killed. The Crusaders declared war on
Constantinople, which resulted in the conquest and
looting of the city. Churches were also pillaged, and
many people were killed ... The struggle to finance
the Crusades also reformed the economy of Europe
 While the weakening of the
nobility and the rise of the merchant
class that resulted from the Crusades
can be seen as positive in some ways,
it resulted in the formation of a new
tax system, which created a heavy tax
burden for the common people."
Religions' Anti-Slavery Commitment
In 2014, high officials of world's major
religions gathered at the Vatican to commit
to working together for the abolition of
slavery by 2020. The gathering comprised
Jewish rabbis, turbaned Sunni imams and
Shia ayatollahs, Catholic Pope Francis, the
archbishop of Canterbury, a Hindu guru,
robed Buddhist chief high priest of Malaysia,
among others. and the orange-robed
Buddhist chief high priest of malaysia.
 For just a couple of hours, they
realized something on which they
could agree: that slavery in its various
contemporary forms is a sheer evil, a
disgrace to God, and a dishonor to
humankind.
 The meeting involved a signing of a
declaration in which religions'
representatives committed to working
together for the extermination of what the
Catholic Pope has called a crime against
humanity. They set a deadline of 2020.
The goal may look ambitious as
"almost 36 million people are trapped in
slavery of some kind. But the declaration
is intended to give the issue a higher
international profile"
 The extraordinary assembly in Vatican
also included a shaven-headed
Vietnamese Zen nun, the Venerable
Bhikkhuni Thich Nu Chan Khong, and an
Indian holy woman wearing a nose stud,
Her Holiness Mata Amritanandamayi,
considered by her followers as a saint and
known to them as 'Amma, or 'mother'
 She said finding traffickers was like trying
to catch "a black cat in a dark room," but
practical steps could be taken. As children in
poor countries were usually entangled using
mobile phones given to them by traffickers, she
said she would like to see mobile operators
mounting awareness campaigns about the issue.
On the other hand, the archbishop of
Canterbury, Justin Welby, proposed a number of
other ways ahead, including consumer pressure
for more information about slavery supply
chains.
THANK YOU!