Religion has a massive impact on human behaviour. It determines day to day living and affects how people treat individuals and groups of people.
Religion determines how a person will be judged in the ‘afterlife’, or gaining a place in heaven. This results in peoples fighting each other to gain their celebrated place in heaven. Is this an oxymoron? Perhaps it is. The supreme reward for many, especially those of the Christian and Muslim faiths. Indeed killing in the name of religion is allowed and encouraged. Thou shall not kill is also one of the Ten Commandments.
Religion is truly confusing and can be interpreted in any way, from the highest religious figures to the lowliest religious follower.
Millions of people have been slaughtered in the name of religion and continue to be. When at war each side professes to have their god on it. The impact of religion is truly phenomenal. Inculcated into the minds of the masses usually from early childhood, not to be deviated from or divine retribution will be wreaked upon them. No wonder people are confused.
Some, or maybe all religions, preach that god is all forgiving and loving but will also wreak revenge on any adversaries. Then there is ‘Turn the other cheek’ and ‘An eye for an eye.’ It appears that whichever way a person wants to interpret for example, The Bible, then they can.
Human behaviour influenced by religion is complicated in the extreme. Confusion must surely reign in the minds of the religious. Confessing of sins attains absolution for Christians. The act of admission of sinning and asking for forgiveness and being absolved means that now your soul is free from sin, go, and sin no more. Surely, if God exists, he/she will know how repentant a person truly is and whether or not they are confessing for the right reasons.
Asking God for forgiveness, through his guide here on earth, may be preferable or easier than asking the person against whom a sin has been committed to forgive the perpetrator. Human behaviour can vary greatly thanks to religion. People are easily lead and eager to follow.
Religion has massive impact on the poor of this world. Catholicism still advocates large families and prohibits contraception. By instilling fear into people religion gets what it wants. The more followers it has the bigger it becomes. The poor and uneducated are easier to control and expect less from life.
Bigotry is often a byproduct of religion. Each religion professes to be the right one, therefore an opposing religion must be wrong.
When people are encouraged to believe that they are God’s chosen people their understanding and treatment of others, not having the same beliefs, must be tainted. This is also contradictory to what religion professes to be – that of tolerance, love and forgiveness.
Human behaviour is dictated from birth. Aside from nature, nurturing a persons way of life can be just as detrimental as beneficial. Mistaken, unfounded beliefs can prove dangerous when taken to the extreme.
