Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Sophie Lesando
Mrs. DeBock
English 4 Honors
November 2017
Dating back to the beginning of times, thousands of religions have accumulated. Religion
is something that people deal with all day everyday no matter if they realize it or not. Religion
can be positive to some people that can promote people in jobs, family life, and futuristic life
plans. People that have positive interactions with religion tend to have positive family lives as
well. To others, religion can be harmful, demanding, and be a setback in life. In some religions,
like Judaism, Jewish people tend to feel suffocated in their religion and can not have experiences
they desire without being disowned from their culture. Also, people not involved at all in religion
are also affected in life as well. Religion is something that has an effect on how people think and
feel towards certain issues. Politically, religiously inclined people tend to have certain opinions
on topics like gay marriage. In todays society, religion, no matter which kind, affects everyone
Religion is something that many people experience in the world. Many grow up in
religious backgrounds and have succeeded in life partly due to that. According to Eggebeen and
Dew, connections between religion and family life. Religious households tend to have an effect
on family life compared to non-religious families. This is because certain morals are intact in
certain religions that can either be positive or negative towards the families well-being. In
religions such as Christianity, family life tends to be positive and have a positive impact on
children. Children growing up in religious homes according to Eggebeen, usually have a positive
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homelife and therefore, tend to grow up and become successful. Also, according to Uecker,
Mayrl, and Stroope, people who grow up and have a religious background tend to follow a path
of marriage and conceiving children. This is interesting because religion can have such a positive
impact on peoples life whether they realize it or not. Along with the positive effects religion
plays on families and childrens outcome in life, religion can also have a positive effect on
relationships. In society today, married couples may return to religious communities in search
of religious teachings that can strengthen their marriage by giving it a spiritual purpose or that
can provide guidance and emotional support for relationships, pregnancy, and parenting
(Uecker, Mayrl, and Stroope). When relationships tend to be failing or when people in
relationships look for something to make their relationship complete, they tend to either return or
lean towards religious help. Religion can have such a positive effect on people but, sadly,
With that being said, religion can have a negative impact on a persons life, relationship,
and appearance. In some religions such as Muslims and Jews, religion can be pressing, harmful,
and negative. In some Muslim communities women go through harmful procedures like when
social justice activist Mariya Taher was 7 years old, she was subjected to female genital
mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in India while visiting family (Hassanein). Female genital cutting
is something that Muslims do in their religious culture where females labia and/or clitoris are
removed. Many women go through the procedure and sadly, some do not survive. According to
Hassanein, social workers are pushing to end this practice because it is considered child abuse
and gender violence. But, since it is a religious practice, not much legal action can occur. Along
with this harmful religious culture other religions such as Judaism, can also be negative on the
people apart of that religion. In Israel, orthodox Jewish families go through more negative
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aspects of religion than positive. In the Jewish religion, men and women are strictly segregated
at all ages. Marriages are, therefore, generally fully or partially arranged through a community
matchmaker system, between men and women in their late teens and early twenties
(Pirutinsky). Since marriages are arranged, many families are disconnected from each other.
According to Pirutinsky, this can lead to children growing up in a stressful situation where they
can not talk to their parents about certain aspects of life and therefore, become stressed. Due to
children growing up in this environment, their future can be impacted negatively as well. Along
with what religious attendees have to experience, religion can also require those attendees to
have to take on certain responsibilities. Those responsibilities (such as genocide) can negatively
impact society. So, therefore, religion can affect people in society even if they are not apart of
that religion.
Even though religion is a huge part of society, some people choose to not be apart of any
certain religion at all. The people that do not associate with religion though, tend to still have to
deal with it in some shape or another. According to Perry and Whitehead, same-sex married
people have to deal with religious influences in politics and society everyday. Gay people are
persecuted by religious believers because they believe it is not right. Also, same-sex marriage
was prohibited for a long time. This is because politics was based off of religious beliefs. Along
with religious persecution towards gays, religion tends to shape the attitudes towards others as
well. According to Kurien, the events of September 11, 2001, changed the attitudes of the people
of the United states towards turban-wearing Sikhs, who people tend to wrongfully associate with
Osama Bin Laden followers. This shows that people can also persecute towards other religions
as well. Non-religious people can not believe in a religion but they still are associated with
religion in some way. Non-religious people can dislike a certain religion because of the religion
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that person is associated with. So basically, religion controls society. The people persecuted may
not associate with religion but religion associates with them and the other way around.
Religion in todays society, no matter what religion, has affected millions of people
worldwide throughout their everyday lives. No matter the effect, whether positive or negative,
people are impacted by religion. Positively impacted religious people tend to experience positive
interactions throughout their lives. Jobs can be offered to religious people, family life can be a
positive experience, and people can be inclined to be successful in life with the presence of a
positive religion in their lives. On the contrary, religion can also be a negative experience for
connotation to the name of the religion the person is attending. Some religions are associated
with terrorists and therefore, cause distress to the person apart of that religion in certain
situations. Certain religious people can be denied access to jobs, facilities, and political statuses.
Also, people not associated with religions at all can be affected by religious peoples opinions
and rules. Whether people realize it or not, religion is something that everyone in the world
experiences either positively or negatively, because religion is something that is a part of todays
society.
Works Cited
Eggebeen, David, and Jeffrey Dew. The Role of Religion in Adolescence for Family
Formation in Young Adulthood. Journal of Marriage and Family, vol. 71, no. 1, 1 Feb.
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ825894&site=eds-
Hassanein, Rokia. Ending A Cycle Of Abuse. Church & State, Sept. 2017, p. 22.Points
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pwh&AN=125048508&site=eds-
Religion, vol. 75, no. 4, 2014, pp. 524536. Religion & Philosophy Collection,
EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rlh&AN=101036166&site=eds-
Perry, Samuel L., and Andrew L. Whitehead. Religion and Public Opinion Toward
Matter?Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, vol. 55, no. 3, Sept. 2016, pp. 637
2017.
Pirutinsky, Steven, et al. The Impact of Religious Conflict within Orthodox Jewish
Families in Israel. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, vol. 17, no. 7, Aug. 2014, pp.
Uecker, Jeremy E., Damon Mayrl, and Samuel Stroope. "Family Formation and
Returning to Institutional Religion in Young Adulthood." Journal for the Scientific Study
of Religion 55.2 (2016): 384-406. Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection. Web.
17 Oct. 2017.