Religion, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is the belief in and worship of a superhuman power, especially a god or gods. Most human beings in one way or another belong to a particular religion. A major debate that has been ongoing for years is the idea that religion has been harming our society. However, although it is true that religion has impacted our world in negative ways, I believe that the good outweighs the bad. To elaborate, religion strengthens social order, gives purpose to life, and finally, religion causes greater psychological and physical well-being. Thus, I think religion is an important piece in determining a well-connected and powerful society.

Religion is an agent of social control and therefore empowers social order.  Of course, religion teaches people moral behaviors. This is shown through the Judeo-Christian religion which involves the Ten Commandments. “Thou shalt not kill” and “Thou shalt not steal.” These two commandments tell believers that committing evil crimes that go against other people is wrong and immoral.  Likewise, attending religious services is connected to reduced crime among minors. Government welfare programs have found that there is a 57% decrease in the likelihood to deal drugs, and a 39% decrease in the likelihood to commit a crime among young, black inner city population if they attend religious services. These percentages prove that attending religious ceremonies lower the crime rate amongst minors, which ultimately improves the quality of life within a society. Lastly, religious families are proven to be closer and more stable. According to Brad Wilcox of the University of Virginia, husbands that frequently attend religious services have happier wives than those who do not. Similarly, parents who attend religious services tend to foster a safer and more active style of parenting.  In the end, religion has been proven to strengthen social order by lowering crime and encouraging healthy bonds/relationships. 

One of the main purposes of religion is to guide believers to a meaningful purpose in life.  This is shown in the Bible verse, Jeremiah 32:19 states,” Great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds.” This Bible verse means that you have an important purpose in life that can be accomplished through your actions. It isn’t just the bible that preaches about a purpose to life, but also the Quran which states, “Those who remember Allah while standing or sitting or lying on their sides and give thought to the creation of the heavens and the earth..”  This verse means that Allah, the God in Islam faith, gave thought and purpose into everything and that includes you as an individual. In today’s highly scientific age there are still many mysteries to life and death, and religious faith helps most people make sense of things that science cannot. For example, science can’t prove if there is an after life, so religions make those for us. To summarize, Christianity has Heaven and Hell, while Islam has Jannah and Jahannam. To conclude, I believe religion is good for society because, religion helps guide and comfort people who are in search of a meaning for their life, it also gives reasons to unexplainable things.  

Another function that makes religion important is its ability to enforce a better psychological and physical well-being into people.  Religious faith and practice can enhance psychological well-being by being a source of comfort to people in a time of distress.  This is proven in a study released by the Pew Research Center in 2019, which states,” In the U.S., for instance, 36% of the actively religious describe themselves as “very happy,” compared with 25% of the inactively religious and 25% of the unaffiliated.”  Religiosity also apparently promotes better physical health too, and some studies even say that religious people live longer.  This is shown in a study by researchers at Ohio State university who conducted two surveys studying more than 1,500 newspaper obituaries first from Ohio, then from across the United States.  In both samples, the study showed that those who had lived a religious lifestyle lived 6.48 and 5.64 years longer respectively than those who did not.  Religion affects people mentally in and physically in a variety of ways.  For example, it enhances people’s social interactions in places of worship.  This is incredibly important because social interaction can help recover from things such as anxiety, social interaction also promotes healthy eating, physical activity, and well-being.  In short, religion has been proven to dramatically improve people’s psychological well-being through social interaction, while also boosting peoples health and life-span. 

While some people may argue that religion is harmful for society because it turns people against themselves, my position is that there is no study to have proved a cause and effect relationship between the two.  This argument is based on a correlation between self-esteem and religion.  In fact, there have been many studies proving the opposite.  For example, in 2019, the Pew Research Center released findings showing that, across a variety of countries, people are more likely to call themselves happy if they are religious.  

In conclusion, religion has been holding our society together for thousands of years with no end in sight.  Religion has taught people to act with a purpose and to live a meaningful life, along with that, religion has been proven to help elevate people’s mental and physical well-being.  Although people may try to say that religion separates people from themselves and others, this is false and unproven.  Religion has been researched and confirmed to invoke a positive mindset and helped develop positive habits into its followers.  Feeling down and lost is normal, but if you want to fix it, religion is a clear solution.

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