Religion is a guide and a set of rules by which to live a “good” and purposeful life. It explains how to live a certain way, why that way is best, and why it is what every individual truly wants and needs. Religion is aimed at creating and nurturing peaceful and virtuous individuals who come together to create a family-like, loving, and courteous society. It is important to recognize, however, that although this is the goal, it is not always an accurate depiction of religion’s value in the 21st century. On a smaller scale within individual communities, this value still holds true. However, once those communities interact with others on a global scale, the perceived positive value of religion is often replaced with and negated by the hate, war, and destruction that we see today from clashing religious views. Regardless, religion at its best can be one of the most valuable aspects of an individual’s life. It can serve not only as a guide to finding the light at the end of the tunnel, but it can also be a source of purpose and inspiration to go an extra step further to being the best individual possible.
In general, religion has the capability to accomplish all these incredible things. However, the value of religion changes according to the individual and the religion itself. These changes have to do with differing belief systems, morals, standards, practices, and overall structure amongst religions. For example, in Hinduism, the ideas of karma, cycles, and reincarnation are three major central themes. These themes are used to explain where our bodies and souls come from and go to before and after life. However, in Christianity, it is believed that, after death, an individual goes to heaven or hell, depending on how virtuously they lived their life. Each of these ideas provide both an explanation and a sense of purpose to believers. Both religions explain where we come from and where we go after death along with the motivation to live a better life. Accordingly, in Christianity, people are motivated to be a better person in order to make it to heaven. In Buddhism, people want to be reincarnated into a human again rather than a goat or an insect, and eventually, to escape the cycle of life and death completely, so they are motivated to live virtuously as well. But what does it mean to live virtuously? How do individuals know how to make it to heaven or to escape the cycle of life and death? Another main similarity amongst religions is the laws and guides put in place for individuals to follow. These laws explain a general purpose of life and how to achieve the main goal of the religion. For example, Hinduism incorporates the Laws of Manu, the Buddha taught the four noble truths and the eight-fold path, Judaism has the 10 Commandments (613 in total), and the Qur’an itself is a list of rules, laws, and commandments.
Although these similarities in motivation, purpose, and guidance exist across many religions, Abrahamic and Eastern religions have some stark differences when it comes to values and contributions to society. For example, Buddhism focuses greatly on the self through self-enlightenment, individual improvement, and focus within. Page 922 of "The Norton Anthology of World Religions" discusses how eyes promote desires and the negative connotations of this. Buddhism holds a strong focus on using one’s mind for insight rather than one’s eyes. The Buddha says that having a self is only an illusion, and to reach nirvana one must look in at his or herself and see who they are and who they are not. These focuses use mindfulness and equanimity as their guides. On the other hand, many biblical stories focus on sight. For example, Moses seeing a burning bush, or Mary seeing the angel Gabriel. Accordingly, Abrahamic religions such as Islam hold a more substantial focus on worship and submission. This focus stems from the associated religious texts and how they were written. Much of Abrahamic religious texts are focused on historical occurrences and lessons from those events. Abrahamic religions also have one all-powerful god who can dictate rules, lessons, laws, and basically anything else. This shifts these religions to a more submissive state while the Eastern religions of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Daoism have a wider range of acceptance and are open to the idea that there are many paths to achieve the same goal.
The submissive nature of Abrahamic religions seems to create a more communal feel where individuals who worship come together and worship as groups in churches, synagogues, and mosques while Eastern religious people often worship in a more individual setting because of the focus on self-enlightenment. These differences in worship substantially change the value of the religion to the individual. Because of this, depending on the individual, some people may say that one religion has more value than another. However, this is not true. Eastern religions are focused on the self, while Abrahamic religions are focused on God. Some might say that focusing on the self is selfish, while others might say that focusing on God does nothing for an individual, and following a divine being blindly only decreases decision making and individuality. Every religion has its own value in different areas, and every religion has pros and cons to it.
Accordingly, the submissive nature of Abrahamic religions makes the violence amongst these religions more logical. It is more common to hear about religious battles in Abrahamic religions than it is in eastern religions. In the 21st century, religion has been a significant conflict in regards to war. It is logical that a religion with an all-powerful god who dictates everything and one general path to the life goal (i.e. heaven, enlightenment) would have more conflict than a religion where many paths are accepted. David Kang discusses the differences in inclusivist and exclusivist religions and how this affects the tendency towards violence and why less religious-related violence is seen in eastern religions than others. With that said, it is important to recognize that in general, within their communities, these religions are capable of doing great things, and it is only the interaction with others and the idea of the supremacy of their religion compared to others.
The value of religion decreases substantially as individuals across different religions interact with each other. This is related to the comment that the stronger an individual’s belief in something is, the more likely he or she is going to be willing to fight for that belief. These cross-religious fights occur when one group of individuals believe they are right and must do the work of God to prove to others the truth. Dr. Khondker said that “humans have a tendency to put words into the mouth of God.” This quote pertains directly to the violence created by religious groups’ attempts to bring truth to others. Religion at is worst is just that; it is violent narcissistic individuals shoving their thoughts down the throats of others who would otherwise be living a happy peaceful life.
When perfectly isolated, groups of religious people share similar beliefs and create empowerment, growth, and a sense of purpose in one another. In this situation, religion is a positive force, bringing knowledge, learning, and experience to all who are involved, along with a community of individuals with shared values, beliefs, morals, and traditions. At its best, religion gives people a sense of purpose, a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel, inspiration to help others, guidance through tough times, a sense of community, and even an increase in self-esteem. It creates virtuous and resilient individuals with strong values and a robust sense of what is right and what is wrong. It motivates people to “be the bigger person,” and most of all, it teaches people to love. All in all, religion has the potential to be either extreme, but in the end, it’s what you make of it that dictates the true value.
