5.2 The influence of religion on society

 People's belief in religion, like a beacon, illuminates the way forward for mankind, so religion has played a guiding or even leading role in world civilization and culture, especially the role of the three major religions in the world in world civilization and culture. History has proved that religion did play such a role in the past, and it still plays such a role now. For example, Catholicism has brought fundamental changes to the whole Roman Empire and a high level of culture (mainly in politics and literature and art) to Rome. However, incorrect understanding and adherence to religion will lead to some bad customs, such as slavery, discrimination against women and various superstitions and heresies.

"Religion" has a deep historical background, and each different religion has its own different symbols and many legends. The intriguing stories have brought different attractions to modern people, so modern religious music, religious movies and religious books frequently appear in our lives, and some even triggered global discussion and research on religion. For example, Dan Brown's works Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Secret Symbol, etc. all involve a lot of contents of religion, theology, religious symbols and legends, which have caused a sensation all over the world, but there are different opinions on them, but it fully proves that "religion" still has great influence on the world today.

The influence of religious belief on life has two sides. Although religious belief can have a positive impact on an individual's life, we can't just emphasize their enthusiasm and go to extremes, that is, we hope that religion can solve problems in life. The positive aspects are as follows: first, religious belief can provide people with the pillar of the value system, but it is easy to form conservative values, lead people's understanding of time astray and hinder people's adaptation to the times and social changes. Religious belief can adjust people's psychology and reduce people's psychological imbalance, but at the same time, its contents such as "past cause and effect" and "God's arrangement" are easy to make people have fatalistic thoughts, passively rely on and be at the mercy of fate and make people escape from reality. Second, religious belief can bring hope to life, but it can also make people immersed in the fantasy of skipping and blindly optimistic, reducing their possible behavior and social aspirations. Third, religion can promote the socialization of individuals and social interaction among individuals, but it has great limitations. Belief in religion will prevent the emergence of a new sense of identity that is more suitable for the self. The sense of identity brought by religious belief will be deeply embedded in people's personality, which will make people have an exclusive character of not compromising with their opponents, which may lead to conflicts between individuals, nations or countries with different religions.

The negative aspects are as follows: first, it is easy to make people have fatalistic thoughts, passively rely on and let fate push them around, and make people escape from reality. Second, religious belief will prevent the emergence of a new sense of identity that is more suitable for the self. Make people have an exclusive character of not compromising with their opponents. Third, make people immersed in the fantasy of skipping and blindly optimistic, and reduce their possible behaviors and social aspirations.

Historically, in some early human societies, religion has assumed various functions such as explaining the world, judicial trial, moral cultivation and psychological comfort. Therefore, religion has great influence and force on the world in history and now. Even in the modern society with high development of science and technology, it still has unparalleled influence. Although science and justice have been separated from religion in contemporary times, most religions still have the function of moral cultivation and psychological comfort, and even some religions have greater force.

Religion can resonate with many people's perception and inner self, and although it will also bring some cultural and civilized conflicts, everything has two sides, and religion is no exception. Religion has a dual nature, and the world today is facing great confusion. Religion has a great influence on international conflicts. Therefore, people should know and understand "religion" more, so that religion can play a greater positive role in contemporary social life.