Written by: Mayowa Anowo
Religion is as important as life itself, as a matter of fact, we could say that religion makes the world go round. In every place where people live there will be some set of belief systems that will translate into religion. Religion’s presence makes an indelible impact on education, language and a variety of vita areas in life.
Officially, there are four thousand two hundred (4200) religions in the world with new ones evolving every time. These include denominations, religious bodies, faith groups, tribes, cultures, and similar setups. All the people account for eighty-three percent (83%) of the whole world’s population. Major parts of these religious affiliations fall under Baha’I , Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism and Zoroastrianism. The other eighteen percent (18%) consists of adherents of the other less known religions, atheists and agnostics. In Africa specifically, the three major religions are Christianity, Islam, and African traditional religion.
Religion according to Britannica is human being’s relation to that which they regard as holy, sacred, absolute, spiritual, divine or worthy of special reverence.
Also, Stories, myths, legends and history many times are the makeups that evolve into religion.
Religion and its institutions determine to large extent the moral fervency and the direction of a community’s moral. How does this happen? The major theme of most religions is the quest for good conscience; the battle of good against evil and rewards for actions and inactions by the supernatural. In light of these, the tenets of most faiths I.e. religions tend to have ready answers as to what social vices and virtues are and what they are not.
These religions exist by practices, moral conduct and belief systems. These tenets and beliefs become the framework that dictates the moral conduct of individuals in religious institutions and consequently the attitude of its people towards societal behavior. As an example, Christianity, Islam and some African traditional religion frown at Pre-marital sex and sex outside marriage. They have received names like fornication, Zina, Panshaga etc. The physical, spiritual or mental outcome for actions of pleasure or punishment, fear of ostracization and the human need for communal acceptance will in a large way dictate the behavior of adherents of different faiths.
From a Socioeconomic standpoint, there are character traits which reinforces the stability or volatility of an economy. Thriftiness, complacency, savings, hard work amongst others play a direct or indirect role on economic growth.
The relationship between religion and economics became an official observation in 1776 when economist Adams Smith through his book – Nature and causes of the wealth of the Nation showed that religious activities can be measured by cost and benefit, the same way the economy is measured.
In 2015, a study was conducted by the university of Washington found that companies headquartered in countries with higher religiosity had fewer instances of manager-bad-news-holiday and corresponding low levels of future stock price crash risk.
Religious practices like tithes, Sara, Sadagah and many more are religious obligations that involve giving. However, these gestures can be done voluntarily or non voluntarily. These remunerations go into the economic wheel to water it towards growth.
However on the other side of the coin, religion has subtly had a detrimental effect. We live presently in times of scientific and information revolution. Discoveries and inventions have shaken a lot of religious beliefs and proved age long doctrines wrong. Myths are being demystified and science is producing the facts to prove them. On April 12, 1633 Father Vincenzo Maculani da Firenzuola began the Inquisition on physicist Galileo Galilei. Galileo believed the world was round but the Catholic church thought otherwise. He was damned as a heretic only to be vindicated sadly three hundred (300) years later after science and the world proved the church wrong.
On a sad note, as much as adherents of different faiths through their practices help foster growth and advancements in certain capacities, they are also a cancer eating up the sanity of the human community. There are too many issues. Who serves the real God? Whose holy book is correct? The controversies these questions spark between different faith practitioners is unending. Wars are being fought because of this, good leaders have been deposed, genocides and many more terrors.
What then could be our standpoint on religion? I believe it’s a necessary evil that does great good. Religion should be studied intentionally with an aim to understand, manage and utilize its power for the greater good of the society. Religion has been in existence for too long, without reasonable doubt it is a compulsory microcosm of the human community.
