Essay on Religion and Society
Religion, in the contemporary world, can be defined as a set system of independent practices which are related to other established cultures involving, socioeconomic, political and scientific aspects. It is also referred to as the belief in, and worshiping of the almighty God who is understood to be the creator of all that exists on earth.
Religious practices emphasize on beliefs, which focuses on the doctrines of theology and philosophical formulations which are found in the religious books. A group of people devoted to a particular religion is referred to as believers. Practice and belief are regarded as sub-sets of religion and their mutual conflicting relationship influence each other.
According to Martin Riesebrodt, Religion has faced a tremendous challenge imposed by Secularization of late, which is a new emerging trend. Secularism is a fact of world renewal of the religion. In the recent past, societies have inescapably moved away from religion to secularism.
The religious and secular, as societal, cultural aspects have become inversely proportionate in that, Religion is seen to be declining with an increase in Secularism. Graham, alludes that Religious human beings are regarded as competent actors in the sense that, they act religiously, with a good understanding of their deeds with a genuine reason behind their actions.
On the other hand, those who are found to be part of secularism are referred to as Non-religious i.e. the profane and lack a sense of control in their deeds. However, Religion is a complex system of practices and ideas which can work to legitimize both authorities and privileges. The religious and non-religious practices can be distinguished from each other based on the three assumptions. The first aspect is that there exist a superhuman power. Secondly, the aforementioned power greatly affects the human life beyond control.
Finally, through thoughts and ideas, there is possibility of gaining access to these powers so as to help in minimizing the risks and uncertainties which are associated with them. Based on the three aspects, the righteous are likely to increase the knowledge and understanding of themselves and the world in ways that other practices can hardly manage.
There are three major categories of religious practices globally, which include inteverntive, discursive and derivative (Riesebrodt). These classification results in the formation of cultural infrastructure in which the religious rituals are built on. Through the linguistic approach, they are also used to effectively communicate religious matters to one another. Finally, the three components implicate the mechanisms in which religion can as well be extended to other activities that may not be considered meaningful to religion, such as ethical conduct and socio-cultural relationships regarding the ordinary lives of human being.
In Summary, religion in the contemporary world has various meanings. It refers to a system of set independent related practices which encompass the values of faith and belief. Moreover, it can be referred to the religious way in which believers worship their God and reveal their faithful devotions in serving him. However, in the global domain, Religion has faced challenges as a result of the emergence of secularization, a non-religious sect.
The secular culture has led to a significant increase in the number of non-religious compared to religious. The power of religion in the world is diminishing day-by-day to a smaller number with most individuals handling religion as a private matter. This has prompted calls for complete privatization of religion in the world.
