Religions effect on todays society

[jrdn]

wondering how people would view religions effect on society today?positively or negatively

[littlemissattitude]

It depends on the religion (or the denomination) and the society, I think. I don't think this is a question with a simple or clear-cut answer.

[I, Brian]

Whoah! That's the sort of question that could take an entire book to cover.

The really short answer is that religion always affects society, in different ways, both on the collective and individual level. Religion isn't something that exists in isolation - it is part and parcel of human civilisation, and always has been.

And welcome to CR, jrdn.

[Friend]

Salaam
I think the effect will be positive if people follow the basic rules of their religion .also we see many social problems because people now doesn't applied the religious tenets and their relations with their religions just by the name .

[Jaiket]

Originally Posted by jrdn

wondering how people would view religions effect on society today?positively or negatively

Any specific religion and society in mind?

[arthra]

Originally Posted by jrdn

wondering how people would view religions effect on society today?positively or negatively

I think enlightened religion has always had a salutory effect on society.

It's when various rulers, dictators or tyrants and some of those who exploit religion for their own purposes try to harness it's power as a social force that it can be distorted and serve malevolent ends...such as forcing conformity or attacking people of other religions as a scapegoat as Hitler did against the Jews, Gypsies and other minorities.

Terrorists will also claim that their cause is a "true" Jihad say in Islam... conveniently ignoring that Jihad was originally purely defensive in nature and forbade killing innocent civilians or noncombatants.

Mixing patriotism and religion also is dangerous. Religions that seek to augment their power by capitalizing on hatred toward an enemy in time of war or aligning themselves with clearly partisan organizations run the risk of being discredited later as the political fortunes change.