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Volume 4, Number 2: May 2020 | Essay
“Religions generate loyalty. Whereas, such loyalty could be adopt in both positive and negative ways. Several times throughout history, powerful actors use religion as a tool to incite the general population.”
There are an estimated 10,000 distinct religions worldwide. Religions have long played a huge role in the society. Some countries, such as Thailand, even display it as symbol representing the country on the national flag. Religions can creates an ethical framework and direct its followers what they should or should not do. However, when talking about ‘national development’ the questions often revolve around national income — how to produce more efficiently, how to generate more public saving, how to stimulate investment, etc. Whereas, religions, the institution which shapes people’s norms and values, are not given so much attention. Modernisation and secularisation causes the impacts of religion nowadays to be sidelined in development theories, even though it is embed deep in the root of all areas of the society. In this article, we will illustrate how this faith-based institution can encourage development as well as be a barrier to it.
The strength of religions is that they stimulates the well-being of individuals, families, and the community. Religion teaches you a set of practices to live by, such as being kind to others, having empathy or sharing. While the capitalist modern world operates on profit maximising basis, religion is what offsets it. Almost every religion discourage greed and exploitation, it teaches its disciples to love and treat the other the way their wish to be treated. This leads to social harmony, and drives the society more towards an ideal community where people cooperates and leave no one behind. According to Fagan (2006), the practice of religion of Americans is correlated to the reduction in the incidence of abuse, crime, and drug use. It also leads to more concerns for the disadvantaged and the probability to distribute wealth to those in need, in forms of charity. Religion contributes to the gathering of mass population with the same beliefs, creating larger and larger charity organisations worldwide. Economic participation by the great mass of people, allow such inclusive community to make the best use of their talents and skills. Moreover, lower crime rate facilitates the implementation of property rights. When one feels secure about their possessions, it is likely that they will have the incentive to produce or develop more, for their own use, as well as the society’s. These evidences indicates that the religious society provides positive impacts in various aspects of social concern.
Nonetheless, the disadvantages of religions to development remains obvious. Religions were developed on the foundation of norms existed thousands of years ago. For instance, the most popular legend of Theravada Buddhism, Vessantara Jātaka is a story of a prince who donates his kingdom and family members as an action of merits. The prince even donated his children to be servants in a rich family. It is believed at the time that such giving would yield the greatest merit, but today, such action would be considered child labour, slavery and human trafficking. The more realistic approaches are for instances, the Buddhist practices restricted only for straight men, the Muslim approach against birth control and the Catholic Church view of homosexuality as sin. As mentioned above, not all practices developed two thousand years ago can be applied to the modern world. Thus, when religion is perceived as sacred and unchallengeable, revolution is undermined. Strict religious disciples could sometimes be in the way of improvement for the better society, as the result of religious restrictions. Especially when they lack knowledge or understanding in particular area, they can be propagandised and used as an instrument of power concentration for the elite.
Religions generate loyalty. Whereas, such loyalty could be adopt in both positive and negative ways. Several times throughout history, powerful actors use religion as a tool to incite the general population. Most of the time, it is the ruling class who wishes to expand their territory, extract resources, and exercise their power. The class would then gather the lower classes to fight for them, using religious security as an accuse to invade, kill, rape and torture. The Crusade War, the South Thailand Insurgency, the war between Palestine and Israel, and the Sri Lanka War are great evidences of the statement above. In the end, most sufferings go to the ordinary people who fought for their values, not the elites who started the disaster. Religion has long been an effective tool for suppression and achieving what the upper-class wants.
In conclusion, a religion itself does not have the power to cause harm or exploit anyone. Every individual have absolute right to either obey or disobey it. Every human has their own moral standards, and some of which are incompatible with others. As far as we are concerned, the objectives of all religions are to bring about social contract of which its followers could live peacefully under. Nevertheless, if one is not wise about what they believe in, and refuse to seek the truth, religion can be applied by men to blind us, even without our recognition. Therefore, it is important to thoroughly understand religion, and follow the social contract it provides, but always be skeptical about it. Because questioning the existing system is one of the factors that lead to changes for the better. If the system is not generated on behalf of the majority, then it is the majority’s duty eradicate it, even if it requires breaking such social contract.
References
Fagan, P. (2006). Why Religion Matters Even More: The Impact of Religious Practice on Social Stability. (Report No.1992). Retrieved from https://www.heritage.org/civil-society/report/why-religion-matters-even-more-the-impact-religious-practice-social-stability
Thank you for your article. Reading about both of the aspects of religion is quite refreshing, especially when people tend to opt out from writing it due to the sensitivity.
Firstly, I would like to agree with your arguments that religion could be beneficial yet harmful to the economic development. From the current context of deteriorated stance of religion in the society in relative to older days, I feel like religion play less significant role in propeling and shaping humans’ action. Yet, it is undeniable that religions still embeded deep in our social norms and unconsciously dictate us. The loyalty that the followers devour to the religion can definitely be abused if the leader of the religion abuse their power and deviate from the essense of peace and social harmony.
However, with your statement of one can always choose, I simiply think think it is not true. People are born into a family holding a particular religion and their daily influence can engrave in one’s mindset in an irreparable manner. Once this happened, one may not ever be able to break out of the religous circle they are in.
I believe, in order for the religion to benefits more than harm, selection of the religion leaders should be extensively scrutinized to minimize negative impacts on those who blindly rooted into religions and do not halt and doubt it. Religions should to a certain extent be regulated to ensure that no advantage taking will take place.
Yes, I absolutely agree. I may have not included some aspects. Although religion is generally considered as personal choice, it may not be a choice everyone can make. There are several cases when those who decide to deviate from the religion practiced by their societies ended up being banished or brutally punished.
Fascinating topic. I would normally stray away from this topic as I am neither a strong believer nor feel informed enough to argue against it. Seeing someone write about it is a nice change.
I fully acknowledge all of your points from both sides. Religion is an instrument that shapes belief while also being reinforced by it. In my opinion, this makes religion a very powerful tool as it seem to be infallible. Additionally, religion has an added benefit of being thousands of years old. Religion works as an unchanging guide on morals and how to live which is a useful standard for a civilised world (i.e. to not kill, steal or lie) these values should remain. However, it’s unchanging nature is also the thing that is holding us back. Religious values has been used as a justification for discrimination and conflict. It has been the main argument against same-sex couples and has also been the motivating force for wars.
As you have somewhat identified, we are talking about the redefining what is right while arguing against the guideline for “what is right”. It will feel like an uphill battle as we are up against the status quo. However, I remain hopeful that change will happen as it has, most notably in the acceptance of LGBT and legalisation of same-sex marriage. It is slow but it will happen.
“Religion works as an unchanging guide on morals and how to live which is a useful standard for a civilised world. However, its unchanging nature is also the thing that is holding us back.” I love the way you put it.
In my opinion, religion is one of the sensitive topics to discuss in Thai society. Most of Thai people try to not argue about this topic to avoid causing the issue. However, it is very interesting that you show both sides story of religions.
I agree with you that religion has both advantages and disadvantages to society. Religion has played the big role in the society for ages and it influences society in many ways. It affects our thoughts and actions. However, I would like point out that religion can also lead to exploitation. For example, some religious belief that ‘by giving more, you will get more’, causing huge exploitation of people’s money and community. Therefore, to belief in which religions, we should think carefully since it can affect the development of society.
After I read this essay, religious beliefs matter for economic outcomes. They boost up the characters such as hard work, honesty, thrift, and the value of time. On the other hand, its compensators are such as belief in heaven, hell, the afterlife, which can increase productivity by motivating people to work harder in this life. Therefore, I would like to agree with the arguments provided in this essay, religion could not harm the economic development. I also think that religious increases in church attendance tend to reduce economic growth. In contrast, given church attendance increases in some religious beliefs. However, I think that people spend more of their productive years at work rather than in religious activities. The influence of religious participation and religious beliefs on life expectancy can be positive