The religions are considered utterly different in their beliefs and values; however, their similarity is that they all shape society and at the same time greatly influence it. It is well known that Christianity has played a pivotal role in shaping the Western community throughout history. The churches have been the center of various social services, such as healthcare and education. Furthermore, it has had a significant impact on other aspects of peoples lives: traditions, culture, and politics. Therefore, it is fair to claim that Christianity is strongly connected to society, as any other religion to their believers. The community changes along with Christianity, and, as a result, both seem fully interrelated.
It is evident that religious people strongly believe in Christian morals, which leads to them impacting every sphere of human life. For instance, religion shapes society’s viewpoints regarding politics and social factors. To be more particular, the religious community is responsible for inventing numerous political terms, “democracy was invented by religious people, but so were theocracy and the Divine Right of Kings” (Chaves 21). However, it is impossible to “decide whether, in general, religion’s capacity for social and political good outweighs its capacity for social and political ill”, but it is fair to claim that religion indeed has a notable influence on the community (Chaves 21). On the whole, the political and social spheres are still affected by the religion’s morals and values, even for people who do not believe in God.
As stated previously, Christianity was involved in shaping the European community in terms of its art, culture, philosophy, literature, and education. To be more precise, society was inspired and driven by religion to develop these aspects of their lives (Tsymbalyuk 103). However, many people tended to question and doubt these morals during challenging periods and eventually became opposed to religions (Tsymbalyuk 103). Yet still, the modern community might trace the bibliological ideas in paintings in Louvre or literary pieces of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Alan Paton, John Irving, and other famous classical writers. Religious beliefs surround society; however, people tend to frequently percept them in different ways.
In other words, the misinterpretation of Christianity is common even among the modern community. As an ancient book, Bible is arduous to comprehend, and therefore, it “can be misunderstood by ordinary people and even by professional theologians” (Tsymbalyuk 104). Furthermore, the information from Bible is to be continuously researched and not blindly followed. For instance, the Bible states that “the earth is in the center of the solar system”, though the scientist, Nicolas Copernicus, proved that the sun is its actual center (Tsymbalyuk 105). Overall, sometimes religious people do not doubt the ideas of Christianity and blindly believe in them even when they are not entirely truthful (Tsymbalyuk 105). Once again, such an example proves that society is heavily dependant on religion and is strongly interrelated with it.
Moreover, Christianity has a considerable impact on peoples personal lives regarding their orientation and partners as a result. In modern society, gay people are not entirely supported by the Christian community, especially its elder members. However, according to Bible, God’s intentions were always related to the fulfillment of “the need for wholeness, freedom, and selfhood for society” (Wenzel 724). Therefore, modern Christian communities fight to reach equity in the rights of every religious person as God always desired. For instance, in Minnesota, heterosexual people despised gays since they reckoned that “physical assault, queer-bashing, and civil rights violations” were their doings (Wenzel 724). However, Christians united to tackle the issue of discrimination of gay individuals as they believed in Christian morals and ideas of believers finding their freedom and social acknowledgment (Wenzel 724). As a result, religion plays a pivotal role in solving modern problems, even though some are entirely uncommon for Bible stories.
Thus, people are united in their beliefs, values, and priorities through religion. However, it does not mean that societies are shaped separately according to what Creator they support and worship. It is clear that communities are evolving with their differences in religions together (Li 273). It seems fair to claim that societies should embrace each other with support and admiration. For instance, Catholics played a vital role in settling Christianity in Asia (Li 276). As a result, the nation is changing with religions, and therefore, communities should not be opposed to accepting the existence of other Creators. Christianity is the power that influences humans by shaping their beliefs and values according to God’s intentions of true unity.
To sum up, it seems fair to claim that religion is capable of shaping communities and is strongly interrelated with them. Christianity plays a pivotal role in society’s perception of every aspect of life. Bible ideas surround people daily in politics, social spheres, art, education, culture, and traditions. As a result, the community is strongly affected by Christian ideas, though sometimes people might comprehend them in different ways. Nevertheless, faithful people strongly believe in God’s desire to reach equity in people’s rights, social acknowledgment, support, and respect for non-traditional sexuality or different Creators. Overall, religion shapes the community enabling its evolvement through accomplishments and sometimes mistakes.
Works Cited
Chaves, Mark. “Moral Teachings and Religious Sensibilities.” Society, vol. 42, no. 4, 2005, pp. 20–22. Crossref, doi:10.1007/bf02687426
Li, Ji. “Mobility and Identity: Christianity and the Making of Local Society in Northeast China, 1840–1945.” The Catholic Historical Review, vol. 107, no. 2, 2021, pp. 253–76. Crossref, doi:10.1353/cat.2021.0013
Tsymbalyuk, Oleg. “Editorial.” European Journal of Theology, vol. 29, no. 2, 2020, pp. 103–08. Crossref, doi:10.5117/ejt2020.2.001.tsym
Wenzel, Joshua I. “A Different Christian Witness to Society: Christian Support for Gay Rights and Liberation in Minnesota, 1977–1993.” Church History, vol. 88, no. 3, 2019, pp. 720–50. Crossref, doi:10.1017/s000964071900180x