Jakelinne Capella Aponte

Professor: Wijitha Banda

RELS-2300-403

December 7, 2017

Through the times, religion has been always a matter present in the peoples lives as

something natural in the coexistence of human beings. By the time of the Enlightenment era, in

Europe, and in the need to understand religion, not as a way of life but as a subject of study,

scholars (in the 18th and 19th centuries) of different specialties started studying about this matter

and its influence in the society. As a result, three different currents predominate in this study.

The materialists, as the name implies states that the religion is a human invention, while the

functional theory observes that religion is a good thing for society. However, the faith view

believes in an Ultimate Reality, something that is not necessarily perceived by reason.

The Functionalist point of view expresses the idea that religions exist in different cultures

because is something good for the society as keeps people together. Therefore, scholars from

different specialties such as sociology, biology, psychology, among others, showed interest in

studying religion and its impact on society. For example, the sociologist Emile Durkheim (1858-

1917), asserts that religion is important in human life because the message of compassion, love,

and interest in the well-being of others, which keep people together interacting in an organized

society. In the same way, the scholar and Biologist John Bowker states that religion is an

important means to preserve the continuity of human race by promoting the union of couples for

the procreation. He also suggested that religion could be genetically inherent to mankind. (Fisher

and Rinehart, pg. 6).

 Nevertheless, Sigmund Freud (1856-1938), a psychoanalyst, defines religion as wish-

fulfillment, an illusion, an excuse to elude the sufferings, anguish, and neurosis of human

being. Freud affirms that those sentiments are alleviated by a God, who will save or punish the

individuals depending on how they behave in society. He describes it as an analogy of childhood

when the parents approved or disapproved their good or bad behavior. In contrast with Freud,

psychoanalyst Erich Fromm (1900-1980), affirms that the human being as a social entity needs

to function in an organized and safe environment; the religious practices and their values offer

them that stability. In addition, an Indian spiritual teacher, Mata Amritanandamayi states that

believe in God allows people to lead a more pleasant life when facing a world full of calamities

and evil. Moreover, believe in God allows people to practice good moral values, such as love,

compassion, and harmony. When God is not in our lives, says Mata, the person does not find

peace, does not find stability in his/her life. For him faith is a higher principle.

Another great representation of this theory was Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), a pacifist

revolutionary that helped India to get freedom from the British rule. For Mahatma, Religion is a

tool to transform peoples inner strength to manage their difficulties. He himself was an example

of this change, in becoming one of the great figures of his country despite having been a shy and

an introverted child. In contrast, Mahatma said, the non-believers find themselves alone in the

universe causing them anguish and desolation. He became aware of this transformation

meditating the Bhagavad-Gita Hindu Scripture which gave him the strength to strive for the

independence of his country. (Fisher and Rinehart, pg. 7).

On the other hand, the faith perspective concerns about the Ultimate Reality, something

that cannot be perceived in the real world or through the senses but, is there and exists in our

consciousness. It is saying that the ultimate reality is the human expression by most
institutionalized religions. Also, faith is the result of humans profound reflection in God, which

can lead us to have mystical experiences beyond human senses, something out the limits of the

mind. As a result, William James (1842-1910) a philosopher, put into words that in addition to

our rational consciousness, there are other potential types of consciousness that have not been

entirely explored, rather, they have been ignored No explanation of the universe has to be final

and these kinds of consciousness cannot go unnoticed.

The mystical experiences have been known with different names, to say: enlightenment, achieves

wisdom through direct contact with the Ultimate Reality; realization, a personal knowledge of

the existence of Unseen reality; awakening, the beginning in the direction of self-knowledge;

gnosis, the spiritual reality that is perceived by intuition or through meditation, prayer, etc.

A variety of religions, practice a different kind of meditation techniques that allow the individual

to go away from the worldly to transcend to the inner-self by feeling in communion with the

Ultimate Reality. (Fisher and Rinehart, pgs. 9, 10).

I think that Functionalist and Faith points of view theories apply when there are common

beliefs in a society. I meant, that religion is not so much the glue that keeps society together or

the different steps that a person has to accomplish the enlightenment, when in that society there

are one or more groups professing different beliefs, and one of those groups belongs to the

majorities. The case of Myanmar, where the Buddhist majority oppresses and murder the

Rohingya people, a Muslim minority, is not the only one, throughout the history of the humanity,

there have been many cases where the majorities subjugate the minorities regardless of the

religion they professed. The knowledge we have about the Buddhist practice is that of peace and

harmony whose primary principle is the no-violence. Then, what makes them move away from

that principle? According to Erich Fromm, the human being as a social entity needs to function
in an organized and safe environment and the religious practices and their values offer them that

stability. But when the values, identity, or ethnicity are threatened, that stability is affected and

this is the moment when the feelings of xenophobia and intolerance surface regardless of the

principles practiced by any religion. Also, if religion and politics come together, there is a risk of

losing the religious identity of compassion, love, and nonviolence, to give way to nationalist

feelings of rejection, aggression, and oppression against minority groups. When fanaticism and

intolerance take over the people, the people will respond with violence.

Consequently, through the history human being has always been trying to explain things

that go beyond of their understanding, and religion is one of these matters. Philosophers,

astrologists, psychologists, sociologists, and so on, are expressing their ideas and theories that

may be valid but not absolute, trying to explain the unexplainable like the mystical experiences

many people have in their walk, but something that scholar rejects because cannot be proved in

the material world they belong to. Anyway, I celebrate the fact that religion is the glue that keeps

people together, with good moral values that allow them to bring compassion and love to the

others. Also, due to the variety of theories about this matter, in our times, people (mostly young

people) are looking for religious practices that are different to their parents expressions or they

are not practicing any religion at all. No matter what decision a person takes, will always belong

to an organized group, since humans are a social being that need to interact with each other.
 Works Cited

Eisenman, Debra. Explainer: What's Happening to Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims. Asia

Society, February 24, 2017, http://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/explainer-whats-happening-

myanmars-rohingya-muslims, Accessed 11 Dec. 2017.

Fisher, Mary Pat, and Rinehart, Robin. Religious Responses. Living Religions, 10th ed.,

Pearson Education, Inc, 2017, pp. 5-10

Rohingya Muslims: what is happening in Myanmar? YouTube, uploaded by Channel 4 News

3 Sep.2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHXPVg9a8RY.