How Does Religion affect ones life?

By Udai Chopra(2012114), Vivek Raj(2012120), Ashish Rawat(2012027)

INTRODUCTION
Religion has a huge impact on the daily life of almost everybody, far bigger than most people realize. Our society is built on religion so even if you are not a believer yourself the fact remains that most of the way that society works is based on religious teachings. The result is that almost every aspect of your daily life has been influenced by religion. Probably the biggest influence that religion has on everyday life is that the laws and the social customs that exist in society are almost all based on religious teachings. While it could be argued that similar laws would be made by a society that had no god the fact remains that the laws as they exist are mostly an extension of religion. These laws form the basis of society as we know it so religion has had a massive impact on the world as we know it. Since these laws govern almost all of your daily behavior you are being influenced by religion in almost everything that you do. A lot of people would suggest that the modern standard of living that we enjoy is largely the result of religion which is another way that it influences your life. The belief is that in order to reach the level of development that we have it has been necessary for people to cooperate. The problem is that people are by nature selfish. Our ability to get along and work together is largely the result of religious teachings. Without religion we would never have been able to develop the modern world that we inhabit. Religion affects our family life as well; marriage is after all a religious convention. While it is possible that couples would pair bond for life without religion the evidence would suggest that this is unlikely in most cases. The idea of a couple staying together for life seems to be largely the result of religion. Without it the most likely scenario is that they would have relatively short term relationships that last until one of the parties decides to move on. Clearly this would not be a good situation for the children involved and the use of a religious marriage ceremony appears to be what keeps people together. One of the aspects of religion that has also influenced people in daily life is the idea of clean living. Almost all religions teach this in some form or other and it has been a major factor in the general level of health that we have and how long we live. Without religion it is likely that we would not eat a healthy diet or get adequate exercise. It is also likely that we would engage in unhealthy acts like drug abuse. Certainly religion has not prevented this from happening in all cases but it has certainly had an impact.

THE EFFECTS OF RELIGION IN OUR DAILY LIFE

One of the major questions which stuck in my head after I had trawled through all this data was Religion could have been invented by man to explain the unexplainable at that particular point but was religion also invented by man to keep a check on himself so to speak ? So is religion just a way to keep man under control, to protect him from himself? A scientific case study was undertaken where it was concluded that religious references when dropped subtly, reduced the amount of junk food that people ate. The study, published in January 2012 in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, where researchers exposed students to references of God in tests and games. Compared with students who saw references of pleasant but non-religious objects, the religiously cued participants felt they had less control of their future careers, but were also better prepared to resist the temptation of unhealthy treats. In other words, the researchers wrote, thinking of God could be either a burden or boon for self-control, depending on what part of your life you're trying to master. Religion has also been said to help people ease tension that builds up in their daily lives. The knowledge that there is a higher power controlling everything appeases people to a certain extent. Frankly speaking, the thought of a celestial being or beings controlling human lives, in fact the whole universe does not seem a realistic concept. It all comes down to the fact that People need someone to trust and put their faith in, even if that someone is an invisible celestial being in the sky. Could this be because our nature has deteriorated to the point where individuals in society no longer trust each other? It has been said that in King Asokas time, nothing was kept locked, everyone trusted each other. A different time maybe Religion plays a vital role in our personal life from the day we are born. All the traditions and practices are directly or indirectly dependant on religion. Even the way we get married shows how important religion is. When we die depending on our religion we are buried, cremated etc. Even the ceremonies performed are dependent on our religion. According to sociologists over the years, religion is not just a factor in social and personal life, it is the factor. Emile Durkheim (1965) contended that, in religious life, people celebrate the awesome power of their own society. Karl Marx (1964) claimed
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that religion served ruling elites by legitimizing the status quo and diverting people's attention from the social inequities of society. Peter Berger (1967) viewed religion as a social construction, placing everyday life under a "sacred canopy" of meaning. These sociologists agree that religion has a major importance for the operation of society.

RELIGION IN INDIA
Somebody said that it is impossible to know the various religions in India without knowing the religious practices and beliefs first. In India, religion is not a split-off part of your life that you attend to on Sunday. It is integrated into every part of your life-you offer your food before you eat it, meditation and yoga are both practices which have their roots in religion, daily prayers are a common practice, various days of the week are attributed to certain gods and practices such as vegetarianism and teetotalism is practiced on those days or throughout ones lives. In fact the highest caste in the caste system the Brahmins are basically priests. This shows how important religion is in India. So religion in India affects people (of the top of my head): What one eats (vegetarian, non-vegetarian) specific foods such as onions etc. What one drinks (alcohol, non-drinker). To whom they pray (a particular deity/god is the norm). They may also perform and follow certain rituals such as - when they can wash their hair or when they are allowed to bathe. They will probably celebrate certain festivals throughout the year depending on where they live and what sect they come from. Pilgrimages to holy places. Fasting on particular days or before particular events.

This in short is a major part of an individuals personal and social life.

COLLECTED DATA Sample of 45 people

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Religion Distribution of a sample of 45 people

Q Do you believe in God ? Sample of 45 People

To what extent would you say that religion influences your life ?

Sociologists study religion as both an institution as well as a belief system. According to prominent scientists, religion has the following elements:

Religion can be said to be an institution, in short religion is not just a set of beliefs, it can be likened to a car which runs on fuel, the fuel here are the age old beliefs and practices which society sets as norms. Religion is more than just one person; in fact people become members of a religion. Religion is present in every group, in a specific community or a group of people a certain religion (common) is generally followed. For e.g.: In a certain community there is always a majority and a minority religion: Catholics and Protestants generally dont mingle in a single community. Generally the word Sacred is attributed to the beliefs related to religion. Sacred animate or inanimate objects which hold special significance in religion are known as totems for e.g.In Hinduism, the cow has a special place as it is

considered the sacred symbol/animal of the goddess Parvati. Idols are also considered sacred as they are representations of god to which prayers and absolutions are offered. Religion is considered the basis of all belief, morals and values. For e.g. The accepted norm when u meet an elder is to greet him with Namaste and to
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touch his feet as a gesture of respect. This has been derived from the sacred texts like the Mahabharata and the Ramayana where touching someones feet was considered a gesture of respect.
Religion can be considered as the answer to those questions which dont have fixed answers, like what is the meaning of life?, there are secular beliefs which are generalized but generally the religious beliefs have more of what one could call a supernatural element.

In India, Religion also plays a primary role in political matters. Religion is used by different candidates and different political parties as a kind of factor by which votes can be swung in their favor or against them. Basically religion has become a type of vote bank. For e.g. Muslim minorities sentiments are played for by candidates in order to win more votes in certain districts. Hinduism is the majority religion in India. 80+% of the population is Hindu. Though Muslims are a minority, India still boasts of the second highest Muslim population in the world.

CONCLUSION
Hence we can conclude that society and its beliefs, morals and values are all based on religion. In fact, even the individual is influenced by religion to a large extent.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
The following information was derived from primary sources (questionnaires) as well as secondary sources (the internet and books on sociology).

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Sociology The Essentials www.wikianswers.com www.yahooanswers.com www.tutorace.com www.credong.org

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank Dr Duru Arun Kumar as well as those who filled up our questionnaire, without the information and guidance this project would have been incomplete