Positive and

Negative
Effect of Religions
Kelvin Paul B. Panuncio

Identify the positive and negative

effects of religions
Postive effects could be that it brings
people together, gives them a
community for supporting each
other, focuses their attention on God.
It provides a moral framework,
comfort for those in need, the
promise of an afterlife... and so on.

 the postive effects of religion is that

it brings people together in a
community, allows people to share a
common goal of the relifion, makes
them feel united, gives them
something to believe in, provides
meaning to life, explain any
questions they may have, allows
people to believe in something
greater than themselves and lets

 Negative effects are that the

different religions can be seen to
inspire conflict in the world, some
might say that they focus people too
much on religious things rather than
on day to day things.

 the negative effects of religion are

that it creates conflict, people
disagree on issues, it creates
discrimination and prejudice between
people and it means that generally
people cannot see beyond certain
factors in other people.

 In third world countries such as Brazil, India, Africa etc. religion is very
important as from religion they can make 'sense' of life. Religion
answers: Who they are? What is their purpose of life? What is life and
death? and many other question. In this countries science has not
arrived thus religion answers all of these questions.
Other people follow religions (i.e. Buddisum) as they believe in their
way of life. By this I mean although they do believe science, big bang,
evolution etc. they also want to be vegetarians or do not want to have
alcohol or do not want to gamble etc. So religion can be like a border
line where the follower must not cross if they do so they will be
punished in the going to hell in Christinaty and Jewism or having a bad
karma in Hindisum and Buddisum.
But mostly religion brings people together for example, Chrismas or
Diwali or any other festivals can be like an excuse where family meet
(after long time), have fun and share memories as well as thinking
and praying to God. Similarly it bring people in a community together.

 positive:. you can socilaise with

new people in your communtity.
it brings people togther. also
gives them something to belive
in. you all have something in
common. you all come togther
and pray for one God
negative:. people may not
understand your religion. it can
create wars and arugemnets

 The starting point of religion isfear. Religion is

based on the idea of sin: all people are born
sinners, impure souls, and if they dont purify
themselves, they will soon be condemned to
hell by God, where they will have to
experience eternal suffering.
In order to avoid hell, religion demands that
people prove to God that they are worthy of
heaven. How? By following the dogma of
religion. Naturally, when people are put in
such a situation, they find themselves in a
continuous state of fear. They are always
afraid whether their actions are right
according to religion or not.

Provide evidence that religion

brought about an event in history
Buddhist Burma
Human sacrifices were still occurring in Buddhist
Burma in the 1850s. When the capital was moved
to Mandalay, 56 spotless men were buried
beneath the new city walls to sanctify and protect
the city. When two of the burial spots were later
found empty, royal astrologers decreed that 500
men, women, boys, and girls must be killed and
buried at once, or the capital must be abandoned.
About 100 were actually buried before British
governors stopped the ceremonies.

Thuggee Murders
Members of lndias Thuggee sect strangled
people as sacrifices to appease the
bloodthirsty goddess Kali, a practice
beginning in the 1500s. The number of
victims has been estimated to be as high as 2
million. Thugs were claiming about 20,000
lives a year in the 1800s until British rulers
stamped them out. At a trial in 1840, one
Thug was accused of killing 931 people.
Today, some Hindu priests still sacrifice goats
to Kali.

Mountain Meadows Massacre

The Mountain Meadows massacre was a mass killing of the
Fancher-Baker wagon train at Mountain Meadows in Utah
Territory on September 11, 1857, by a group of Mormons
and Paiute Indians. The Arkansas emigrants were traveling
to California shortly before Utah War started. Mormons
throughout the Utah Territory had been mustered to fight
the invading United States Army, which they believed was
intended to destroy them as a people. Initially intending to
orchestrate an Indian massacre, two men with leadership
roles in local military, church and government
organizations, Isaac C. Haight and John D. Lee, conspired
for Lee to lead militiamen disguised as Native Americans
along with a contingent of Paiute tribesmen in an attack.

The Inquisition
The Medieval Inquisition is a series of Inquisitions (Roman Catholic
Church bodies charged with suppressing heresy) from around 1184,
including the Episcopal Inquisition (1184-1230s) and later the Papal
Inquisition (1230s). It was in response to large popular movements
throughout Europe considered apostate or heretical to Christianity, in
particular Catharism and Waldensians in southern France and northern
Italy. These were the first inquisition movements of many that would
follow.
Torture was used after 1252. On May 15, Pope Innocent IV issued a papal
bull entitled Ad exstirpanda, which authorized the use of torture by
inquisitors. The Inquisitors were forbidden to use methods that resulted
in bloodshed, mutilation or death. One of the more common forms of
medieval inquisition torture was known as strappado. The hands were
bound behind the back with a rope, and the accused was suspended this
way, dislocating the joints painfully in both arms. Weights could be
added to the legs dislocating those joints as well.

The organization is still active today under the name

of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Prior
to becoming Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Ratzinger
was the head of the congregation.

The Witch Hunts

When Puritans settled in Massachusetts in the
1600s, they created a religious police state
where doctrinal deviation could lead to
flogging, pillorying, hanging, cutting off ears,
or boring through the tongue with a hot iron.
Preaching Quaker beliefs was a capital
offense. Four stubborn Quakers defied this
law and were hanged. In the 1690s fear of
witches seized the colony. Twenty alleged
witches were killed and 150 others
imprisoned.

Roman Persecution of Christians

Christians were first, and horribly, targeted for
persecution as a group by the emperor Nero in 64 AD. A
colossal fire broke out at Rome, and destroyed much of
the city. Rumors abounded that Nero himself was
responsible. To divert attention from the rumors, Nero
ordered that Christians should be rounded up and
killed. Some were torn apart by dogs, others burnt alive
as human torches. Over the next hundred years or so,
Christians were sporadically persecuted. Then in the
mid-third century, emperors initiated even more
intensive persecutions. This, The Great Persecution, is
considered the largest. Beginning with a series of four
edicts banning Christian practices and ordering the
imprisonment of Christian clergy, the persecution
intensified until all Christians in the empire were

Aztec Human Sacrifice

The Aztecs began their elaborate theocracy in
the 1300s and brought human sacrifice to a
golden era. About 20,000 people were killed
yearly to appease gods especially the sun
god, who needed daily nourishment of
blood. Hearts of sacrifice victims were cut out,
and some bodies were eaten ceremoniously.
Other victims were drowned, beheaded,
burned or dropped from heights. In a rite to
the rain god, shrieking children were killed at
several sites so that their tears might induce
rain. In a rite to the maize goddess, a virgin
danced for 24 hours, then was killed and
skinned; her skin was worn by a priest in

Islamic Jihads
Islamic jihads (holy wars), mandated by the Koran, killed
millions over 12 centuries. In early years, Muslim armies
spread the faith rapidly: east to India and west to Morocco.
Then splintering sects branded other Muslims as infidels
and declared jihads against them. The Kharijis battled
Sunni rulers. The Azariqis decreed death to all sinners
and their families. In 1804 a Sudanese holy man, Usman
dan Fodio, waged a bloody jihad that broke the religious
sway of the Sultan of Gobir. In the 1850s another
Sudanese mystic, Umar al-Hajj, led a barbaric jihad to
convert pagan African tribes.
This article is licensed under theGFDLbecause it contains
quotations from the Wikipedia articles:Mountain Meadow
Massacrew, andMedieval Inquisition. Other sources:
Religions Death Toll, by James A. Haught [1990]