Religion Essay, Research Paper
Religion has been a very important part of cultures here onEarth. Since the formation of human civilizations religion hasaffected world events. While most civilizations have differentreligions, many of them have several things in common. Many ofthe religions have some of the basic beliefs while the religionswere created at many different times in history and many of themhad no contact with the others. While the basic beliefs aresimilar, many of the more advanced beliefs are different givingEarth a great diversity. The diversity in religions has broughtabout many events in history such as: wars, peace andrevolutions. Religion on Earth has existed since the beginningof record history and will most likely exist until the human raceno longer exists. While religions have come and go with theircivilizations there has always been a new religion to take itplace. Diversity of religions on Earth is mostly due to the factthat most religions were built to help control the overall publicand keep the current ruling body in control. Some religions aresetup so that the average person would see the ruler as eitherthe son of a god or a god themselves. Others were setup that thegods would give out blessings to those who deserved it and punishthose who deserved to be punished. But each civilization had itown god or gods so that it was separated from the other religionsand with different gods the religion had its own character andthe people could say that it was all theirs. Also time played arole in the diversity of religions because the current time playsa role in how the religion deals with the surroundings and thecurrent events in time. Time also effects religion because thereligion changes and updates as time goes on. Diversity inreligions is also due to the different locations where thereligions were formed. The local land plays a role in whereimportant events occurred in the history of the religion whichhelped to shape it. Also, the local land events can affectdifferent parts of the religion. Certain natural events thatoccur would be integrated into the religion so that the gods werethe ones that were causing the events. There are many morereasons why there is such a diversity in religions. The mainreason there is such diversity is that the religion is madespecific to the people that fall under it. This is becausereligion has to be something that the people under it must beable to believe in it and follow its teachings. If the peoplecannot believe in the religion then the religion is not doing itsjob and it is lost most of the time it is replaced by anotherreligion. Another reason for the diversity is the fact that mostof the human race needs something or someone to believe in. Evenif they do not believe in a religion, they believe that religionsare false so by believing that they are false they end upbelieving in something. Through time most religions were attachedto a certain civilization but in very recent history religionshave spread beyond the just controlling people to a civilizationbut instead the new religions taught just the way to live. Thesenew religions slowly took over the old civilization-basedreligions. As the new religions spread, they played a moreimportant role in world affairs because the religions spannedmore than just country or state. Also these new religions didnot stress compliance to a certain society so they can out lastthe society in which they were created giving the religion theability to adjust over time to changes that occur. All of thesereasons have lead to the great diversity in religions on Earth. All this diversity has left Earth specked with religious tombs,shrines and other artifacts that still to this day are studiedand look after for their historical importance. Also thediversity has brought about many advancements in overall humanlife and it has also brought about stops in the advancement.
Diversity in religions is good from the stand point that oneperson has so many different religions to choose from but thisalso causes problems in inter-species relations. Overall thoughdiversity has been a good thing in Earth history. Though there is great diversity in religions many of themhave some of the basic beliefs in common. Most have a SupremeBeing which can be one person or several people with one leaderor head god. The god or gods are the ones that create the world. The creation of the world though is usually considered a holyevent. The first thing created is light, and then usually thecreation of water and its creatures follows. The basic outlineof the creation is usually the same and is constant for most ofthem. The creation of man is usually so the gods can havesomeone to spend time with. The gods are lonely so they decideto create something that can spend time with the gods and givethem praise. Many of the stories set the people that it is foras the main people and the people that the world was created for. Creation is not the only thing that religions have in common. The basic beliefs are also similar such as: it is not right tokill someone or robbing someone is not right. The basics arewhile being similar has different things about them. Underdifferent religions the punishment for theft is different. Beside the basic beliefs on what not to do but what should bedone for a day to day life. The basics are the same while themore advanced rituals and customs are very different. While allthese things are in common, the most fundamental is the fact thatall religions have a god or gods. God is a being that is greaterthan humans and controls the overall actions that occur on Earth. All major religions have a Supreme Being which the people whobelieve in it worship and follow. This being is the one who setsthe beliefs and is also the creator of the world. Most of thetime this being is all powerful and all knowing. A Supreme Beingis the fundamental unity of religions on Earth. The question might arise how can there such diversity whilethere such astounding similarities in all the religions. First,human beings have what can be best called a built-in belief insomething larger or greater then themselves. That is where thefundamental unity comes from. This built-in belief does notpoint to the same god or to just one god as a matter of fact. Some of the religions have more then one god but the gods arestill greater beings. Human beings have this deserve for agreater being because when a person looks around and sees whatdestruction the human race can do they have a hope that there isa greater being that is more graceful and kinder. The human racealso sees how for no matter word low we are so there must besomething greater then us. The similarity in basic beliefs canbest be described as inter desire in humans to be good. Thisdesire is not as strong in some as others. Religions just copywhat is built into the normal human. That is why those beliefsare common in most religions. Now the similarities in thecreation stories can be explained in many ways. The most commonway is that all these different religions came at different timesso the religions after the first one took what the peoplebelieved easily and adapted them to their needs. The peopleeasily believed the creation story so other, later religions tookit and used it. All the similarities are easily explained nowbut at the time no one actually saw those similarities. Religions on earth have always played an important part inearth’s history. Religions have come and gone and they willprobably continue to come and change as time goes on. While thegreatest part of religions on Earth is different for eachindividual person because each person relates to the religiondifferent and they understand different parts of the religion indifferent ways. Though the basic beliefs of most religions areclosely related even, they are interrupted differently for eachperson. Even though to this day religions are adapting tochanges the overall concept of religions can be understood andgive great insight into the human race.
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