For many people, their faith is a defining factor. What they believe defines who they are and how they act. Whole groups of people go to war for their faith and commit horrible atrocities in its name. This is not a unique characteristic of one faith, but rather it resides in any and all faiths that can spiral into fanaticism. This leads to the question of how and why we cling to religious ideals so closely.

How is it that someone’s faith can structure who they become? This happens often to subjects who do not realize what is going on. Children are indoctrinated into the beliefs of their family. They are raised to believe one thing and one thing only. Anything contrary to what they believe is wrong and cannot be right, for it would contradict everything they know.

This is the key issue into understanding how integral our faith is in our lives. What you do or do not believe or what faith you identify with changes who you are. Regardless of whether your faith is correct or not it plays an integral part in our psyche. People kill in the name of their religion and others heal and give everything they own away in the name of theirs. What you do with what you believe is ultimately your choice as defined by what you believe to be correct. This is the ultimate issue at stake here. Someone can be completely controlled by a religion. People allow their faith to rule their lives. They want someone to follow, a greater power to guide and something to make them feel as though they are not insignificant. This is how religious cults are formed. To this end, you even could argue that to some point all religious communities are cults. They are enclosed spiritual communities that all have one view on a religion as guided by the leader that they have chosen.

This is not something unique to westerners nor easterners. This is something that is unique to the human species. As a species, we crave that faith element. Our society reflects the rules and regulations of moral importance that take their cue from our communal moral conscience. This consciousness is shaped by the morals our communities have developed as guided by the religion of the group. This is how and why religion is so pervasive in all cultures. It flows through boundaries and is attractive to any human. If you are seeking answers, wondering on your own mortality or simply out of hope, religion is where we all turn. The reason for this is speculation and is open for debate. However, as a look throughout history and into modern times tells us, religion has been and will continue to be an integral part of human societies.