Introduction
The fact that religion has been an important factor in human society is difficult to debate. When religion is viewed as the phenomenon of institutionalized belief, it is apparent that it is a major element of human culture. It tends to affect and even shape multiple aspects of the life of a society, which will be defined here as a community or group of people. The factors that religion can affect include, for instance, customs, practices, values, as well as politics, economy, and some more tangible phenomena like art (Wu 106-109). Given that this scope of influence cannot be dismissed as insignificant, it can be stated that religion has been and remains important in varied societies all over the world from multiple perspectives, including economic, political, and cultural ones.
Main body
As it was stated, religion tends to affect the politics, economy, and culture of a community. For example, the study of Chinese religious beliefs demonstrates that Daoism has had a major impact on the country by bringing legitimacy to the power of the dynasty (Wu 109). Consequently, the rulers of China supported Daoism while Daoism supported them. Furthermore, Daoist rituals were used to develop frameworks for varied interactions, including economy-related ones; merchant guilds, in particular, were guided by Daoist principles (Wu 106). Wu does not make specific suggestions about the nature of such phenomena, but since they resulted in stability and established a functioning structure, they might be viewed as beneficial at least from certain viewpoints.
In effect, Wu points out that religious organizations of the country performed multiple functions, including “economic, cultural, political” ones (106). Examples of cultural effects include, for instance, gender-related expectations and norms, which defined the roles of men and women in the society of China (Wu 107-108). Thus, the review of the history of China shows that its religion is evidenced to have a significant impact on the development of its society from three perspectives. However, this study mostly considers the China of the past; an example of the modern-day influence of religion is also in order.
One of the religion-related issues that are noted by researchers nowadays is its impact on the attitudes of people towards various aspects of equality. The example of gender expectations and roles from the past of China can be complemented by the problem of acknowledging and tolerating (or accepting) homosexuality. Naturally, religion is not the only reason for individual or group intolerance. However, a recent study finds that the counties of the US that have a greater portion of conservative Protestants are more likely to have relatively negative attitudes towards homosexuality (Adamczyk et al. 11-13). In other words, religion can affect the values and perspectives of communities, and some of these effects can be rather deleterious. Furthermore, the study by Adamczyk et al. reviews modern-day societies, which implies that religion proceeds to have an impact on humanity. Thus, by using two examples of different countries in different time periods, one can prove that religion can and tends to affect human communities.
Conclusion
Whether negative or positive, the impact of religion on society is visible from the above-presented examples. Various countries experience diverse effects of the religions that are favored in them, and this tendency can be found in the past and present. Some of the factors that can be modified by religion include those that are related to such crucial aspects of human lives as politics, economy, and culture. In turn, such influence should be viewed as important. Thus, religion is evidenced to have affected the lives of human societies, which implies that it is of major significance to them.
Works Cited
Adamczyk, Amy, et al. “Place Matters: Contextualizing the Roles of Religion and Race for Understanding Americans’ Attitudes about Homosexuality.” Social Science Research, vol. 57, 2016, pp. 1-16.
Wu, Nengchang. “Religion and Society.” Review of Religion and Chinese Society, vol. 1, no. 1, 2014, pp. 104-127.