Does Humanity Believe in God Because of Fear?
The perception that is held by most people is that God is sovereign and he rules over the mankind. There is a strong belief that all the creations are ruled by God and they should therefore adore, honor and worship him. The above ideas are not something that we can decide to do or not but God demands that we must do them because He rightfully deserves worship, honor, respect and adoration. They are many explanations that are used to explain the link between God who is supreme and mankind which is inferior to God. There is a strong perception by Christians that faith links us most to God since faith, believes in something we don't see (Kierkegaard and Hannay, 2002).
The other theory that is used to explain why mankind believes in God is love. t is believed that the creation of man resulted from the love that God felt for him. When man was created by God, there was demand for obedience and unconditional love for the creator. Man fell by sinning against God, yet he has never deserted him but continued to show his love (Kierkegaard and Hannay, 2002). There is a strong perception that men believe in God out of fear. This is quite evident because even if man was created in the likeness and image of God, the two are very different. God demands that man should honor, respect and obey him failure to which a punishment is expected. There is always fear for eternal damnation and this makes humans to fear God and believe in him. This proves that most people believe in God, more out of fear than love and faith.
Sociology Description of Religion
Sociology describes religion as an institution which is social and is given the mandate of tending to an individuals spiritual need. It also serves as an extensive source of knowledge about cultures. A key role of differentiating between wrong or right is played by religion. Identities pertaining to people formed on religion, ensures provision of continuity and coherence in the lives of individuals, through the unique episodes that happen to them in the course of their lives. Religious identities of individuals are reaffirmed through rites such as baptism, weddings, bar mitzvahs and confirmations.
Affiliation to religions has been rendered unstable in America in the recent times due to the society's structural changes. The tradition religions have experience a major decline over the last decade (Hamilton, 2000). The loss o f members of the churches does not mean that religion has lost its influence in the American society socializing, but these churches are loosing their members to new religions that are emerging constantly in America.
There are many religions that are non-Christian that have emerged in America today fuelled by immigration. These include; Buddhism, Muslim, Hinduism and Taoism among others. Though the face of religion has changed in the last 50 years, it still remains a fundamental agent in socialization in America, unlike in many other European nations such as Canada, Britain and Australia.
Religion has also become entrenched in the American politics with most presidents ending their speech with the popular phrase of, "God bless America". There is a strong believe that religious leaders have a lot of followers, who no political aspirant can doubt are overwhelming in number. Recently, President Obama got a lot of support from many African American churches as he was officially endorsed by the likes of Jesse Jackson and T.D Jakes. This promulgated most of their followers to vote for him something that played a key role to euphoric win. Most conservative religion are believed to have voted for George bush in 2004 resulting to his reelection (Hamilton, 2000).
Finke and stark, who are both sociologists, confirmed that 62 percent Americans belong to a certain religious body and out of these, only 25-30 percent attended religious services. This means that although many Americans belong to a religious group, most of them prefer individual worship and thus there is an increase in privatization and personalization of religion. Most of the churches that are emerging today are laying a claim on spirituality more than religion. They oppose doctrines and habits that were common in the traditional religions such as recital of rosary by Catholics but instead grasp spirituality. The American population has been immensely influenced towards spirituality than towards religion.
This move is seen as an effort to either oppose religion or as an effort to replace it with spirituality. There is a large gap that has been created between individual spirituality and the institutions of religion. Robert Wuthnow, who is a sociologist, explains that the mode that is universally used in relating to divinity by people is what is commonly referred to as spirituality. Spirituality is seen to comprise all values and beliefs that are predominantly present in the culture that is wide and this makes it less of a creation by an individual (Hamilton, 2000).
There is an argument that most spirituality is constructed from the resources within our culture which is clearly evident as some religions are more commonly adopted by certain people living in certain parts of the world. Islam is predominant in the Middle East, which is commonly inhabited by Arabs while it is extremely hard to find Taoism being practiced by people from Africa as it is an old religion associated with the Asians.
The circumstances that we experience socially will not by any chance dictate our spirituality but these circumstances have a direct impact on the kind of spirituality we are likely to adopt. Most people are likely to adopt a certain form of spirituality that does not contravene their culture as this lessens the conflict that arises between culture and religion (Hamilton, 2000).
This was evident when Christianity was being spread in Africa where most indigenous communities worshiped traditionally through song and dance. They found it hard to be assimilated into Christianity which forbade them from dancing while worshipping God. When it became clear that this was hindering the spread of Christianity in Africa, the whites allowed the Africans to form their own indigenous churches which incorporated some African traditional forms of worship and Christianity.
Many sociologists however harbor an attitude that is dismissive towards religion. The thesis of classical secularization has made a suggestion that the importance of religion in the modern society is on the decline. There is a notion that religion may no longer hold any significant importance in the society in the future. This theory explains that as modernity found its way into the society, more complexity is experienced and this makes more societies to think rationally. This rationality will make people to be more individualistic and thus less religious. The differentiation of social institutions has resulted in the rationalization o f social life of many societies and the plausibility and power of beliefs in the institutions of religious is lost.
The secular institutions have been established and developed to provide social services, counseling in matters pertaining to morality and in provision of other services that were formerly vested on the church which made it lose some of the social functions. Most educated people who are exposed to a lot of diversified knowledge and interact with people from all over the world, make the largest component of people who have doubted their traditional beliefs in religion. This trend is likely to continue with globalization that has made most people (even those in third world countries) to have access to modernization due to the increased sharing of information. It is evident that the significance of religion to humanity is waning and this trend is likely to continue as modernization is on the increase. According to sociology, religion has changed in every aspect during the last two centuries and this is likely to continue (Hamilton, 2000).
Humanity Believes In God Out Of Fear
There are many reasons given as to why human beings believe in God. Some of them includes; faith, which manifests itself through the nature of the world. Though scientists have used many theories to explain the formation of different geographical features in the world, most of them are not so convincing and the theory of creation seems more truthful. Most people have tended to believe there is a supreme being who watches over the world and thus faith is one of the basis of believing in Gods benevolence.
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