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Sophie Lesando

Mrs. DeBock

English 4 Honors

November 2017

Effects of Religion on Human Lives

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

daily throughout his/her lives in positive and negative ways.

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,

religion can also be negative.

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

some. Religion can be negative by being pressuring, harmful, or by having a negative

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.

2009, pp. 108121. ERIC, EBSCOhost,


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search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ825894&site=eds-

live&authtype=uid. Accessed 17 Oct. 2017.

Hassanein, Rokia. Ending A Cycle Of Abuse. Church & State, Sept. 2017, p. 22.Points

of View Reference Center, EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pwh&AN=125048508&site=eds-

live&authtype=uid. Accessed 17 Oct. 2017.

Kurien, Prema. Immigration, Community Formation, Political Incorporation, and Why

Religion Matters: Migration and Settlement Patterns of the Indian Diaspora.Sociology of

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-

live&authtype=uid. Accessed 17 Oct. 2017.

Perry, Samuel L., and Andrew L. Whitehead. Religion and Public Opinion Toward

Same-Sex Relations, Marriage, and Adoption: Does the Type of Practice

Matter?Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, vol. 55, no. 3, Sept. 2016, pp. 637

651.Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/jssr.12215. Accessed 17 Oct.

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.

665679. Religion & Philosophy Collection, EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1080/13674676.2014.898629. Accessed 17 Oct. 2017.


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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.

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