Why Study Religion?

Why Study Religion?

  • Submitted By: salwan919
  • Date Submitted: 12/10/2010 11:21 AM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 585
  • Page: 3
  • Views: 1

Why Study Religion

Religion plays a major role in many people’s lives. Religious text, scriptures, rituals, and traditions all help shape different cultures. I believe that religion is a mirror of culture. One’s culture greatly influences decisions made in everyday life. Studying religion helps in understanding different cultures and traditions as well as building religious tolerance.
Studying religion is extremely important in promoting religious tolerance. Every person views the world according to their background which entails some sort of bias. Becoming conscious of others beliefs can allow for more acceptances of other religions. It can help people understand why others dress or behave in certain ways. Some people in the world are not exposed to different religions, but the United States is a cultural cesspool in which religious tolerance must be practiced in order for citizens to coincide peacefully. Today our American society is showing great intolerance towards my religion, Islam. I believe that if more Americans actually studied the culture and religion it would play an important task in our society moving forward in understanding and accepting the religion of Islam as a peaceful religion instead of the way it has been portrayed.
Studying different religions can help show the differences and commonalities between them. As an example, the three Abrahamic religions which include Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, are all based on a monotheistic perspective. These three religions have intertwining histories with some parallel stories. Although they have some similarities, their beliefs and practices are quite different from one another. There are also some underlying concepts that mostly all religions bring such as peace, tolerance, unity, and harmony. Concentrating on the similarities of other religions to your own can also bring people together and stop religious intolerance.
Another reason we study religion is because it assists in the...

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