It is said that children learn through imitation. This means that what they find as normal within the family and community set up becomes normal to them. This means that if they grow up in a society where using marijuana is normal practice, they will grow up to be marijuana users who feel nothing wrong about the act. This has created some problems within ethical circles. It has resulted in an unwanted status quo where most people, who have grown within the same status find nothing wrong about it. In certain situations, cases arise where these contemporary issues with consideration to the status quo have a mentality of aligning up against something that is just or sometimes tends to favor something unjust. This paper will hence concentrate on religion as a contemporary issue and base on how it justifies some status quo which on the other hand subject other people to injustice. It will also highlight measures that can be taken to counteract the unfair side of the issue.
Religion is more or less an innate part of human life. Different people in the entire world have diverse religions all over the universe. For instance, some of the major religious groups include Muslims, Christians, Jews as well as Hindus. Each of these individual persons with their religions has different rules that dictate how the various activities are carried out in these institutions. These help them to strengthen their faith and enable them to cling to the various aspects of their religious beliefs. Each of these religions gives its conception on how individuals should worship (Esposito, 1998). For instance, Christians are greatly advised to worship God. However, Muslims as well as other different religions have their own beliefs on how they should worship. Here, all the actions are based on faith. They trust their God believing in marvelous actions done by the supreme beings. These activities cannot be practiced by any human being in real-life situations. The deeds are past man’s knowledge.
In my opinion, religion in itself is an injustice. By ascribing to a given faith, an individual is not always allowed to question the authenticity or legality of certain principles that form the pillars of these religions. As a result, people are forced to live unquestioningly under certain oppressive rules. Religion usually dictates a certain status quo of which a believer must accept. It plays an important role in the maintenance of things in society modern life. Some scholars have tried to point out how religion maintains a certain status quo. Communalists usually known as Marxists, fundamentalists, functionalists as well as feminists are groups of individuals who try to reveal their observations on how religion can conserve things the way they are in society (Boyer, 2002).
To begin with, feminists principally perceive religion as a conventional force. It, therefore, supports a lot of traditional concepts which with time could have been done away with. The perceptions of religious resources are usually read and what is read is practiced by different individuals all over the world.
One of the strongly believed and generally accepted positions is that men are superior to women. Therefore the status quo is maintained. For example, in Christianity, it is evidenced by the support of a certain quote. This quote opens out that “‘Our Father’ is mainly seen as a male figure and Eve was created as a ‘friend’ for Adam” (Daniel, 2000, p. 18). From this excerpt, it is relevant and thus concluded in a traditional perceptive that women in society are less important as compared to men. This is exactly what is exercised in today’s world.
According to Marxists, for instance, Karl Marx, religion validates the governance of the individuals who were given the responsibility of being rulers. Religion also offers solace and relief to individuals who are subjects to the system of governance. Hence, religious conviction rejects social revolutionization. Based on Marx’s conception of individuals being governed “religion is ‘the opium of the people. It provides consolation for the misery of oppression by offering false promises of external happiness in the next life” (Lincoln, 1999, p. 24). Concerning individual leaders governing their subjects, religion usually legitimates their leadership in governing the people. It, therefore, revealed religion is a vessel of conservation that upholds things the way they are. Marx sees religion as “largely shaped by economic factors. As part of the superstructure of society, religion reflects the infrastructure or economic base”(Durkheim, 1985, p. 29). This statement may act as evidence towards the Marxists’ view of religion as a conservative that maintains the status quo.
Different religions have various activities that are practiced but are full of injustice. However, these activities are not always expected and accepted too in religion. There have been a lot of suggestions from individuals all over the world on the conformity of the civil and moral war. Some have mentioned that it is only the objective moral law that can define whether an activity practiced is right or wrong. The absence of conformity between civic and moral law results in an unjust law. Some religions have permitted the practice of different forms of segregation. It is disappointing that civic law has legitimated these practices.
The legalization by the civic law and the implementation of these unjust practices is very unacceptable. These acts include abortion, slavery, and the marriage of individuals of the same sex as well as euthanasia. These practices are contradictory to the purposes of the ethical law. “Human law is law in as much as it is in conformity with right reason and thus derives from the eternal law. But when a law is contrary to reason, it is called an unjust law; but in this case it ceases to be a law and becomes an act of violence” ( Heburn, 1958, p. 14).
Since it is impracticable to appropriately govern any nation devoid of God’s guidance and scriptures from the bible, these practices need to be done away with. It is also clear that for prosperity in politics, there is a need for obligatory support from ethics as well as religion. For these injustices to be eradicated, civil law must first take its path. When civil law will declare these practices illegal then religions will follow suit. These injustices in religion can therefore be deterred.
The increase in the rates of hate and crimes is also one of the emerging acts of injustice in religion. Hate is a crime, typically violent aggravated by chauvinism towards a fellow individual or towards a certain religion (Fitzgerald, 1999). Hates are imparted through several means. For instance, in a situation where an individual believer attends a particular religious meeting and expects to get challenged by the sinful activities he has been doing. However, while the preacher is delivering the sermon, he goes out of the topic and then starts criticizing some other religious doctrines and part of the individuals in the church. The believer will be prompted to develop some hatred towards colleagues and other religious doctrines. This is an injustice in religion.
In another case, individuals may also be misled by the prophets. This is verified when individuals go for prayers and on arriving, the believer is informed about a certain neighbor who was or had bewitched him. This activity is attributable to prophets who had never undergone some training in the job thus lack knowledge and proficiency dealing with fellow believers. The believer will develop an unnecessary hatred towards his neighbor. Hatred may also develop between preachers who are competing for the same believers. Some individuals also develop hatred in comparison of his achievements to those of some other fellow individuals from different religious doctrines. This is an injustice in religion.
To counteract this injustice in religion, first I may prefer that individuals who are identified with hate crimes should face serious punishment. For instance, politically, hatred crimes on a racial basis are dealt with similarly. “A normal graffiti would not be punished so severely, but if a swastika was sprayed onto a Jewish temple, there is clear racial hatred behind the crime and the person would be punished much more severely” (Smith, 1989, p. 20). This can be also applied in all hate crimes including those related to religion. This system of justice is mostly applied in the united states of America.
There is a need for enforcement of rules and regulations as well as qualifications for individuals who require become preachers (Mark, 2001). This will facilitate the escape of believers from incitements as well as misleading information from unqualified pastors. Qualified pastors will have the knowledge and proficiency in dealing with fellow believers who could have come for prayers. They will know how to express points to the believers and also what they are to be told in case of anything.
Discrimination based on religion is also among the injustices that are experienced by believers from various religious doctrines all over the world. There has been a tendency of individuals teaming up in groups and then starting up discussions that criticize some other religious doctrines. This has spread widely to also affect different aspects of life such as employment, schooling as well during times when violence erupted. On considering employment, some companies and other working institutions offer vacancies for jobs to only individuals of the same religious doctrine. One must have noticed at least one company in every town of different nations that offers chances for jobs to only people of a particular religion. For example, companies for only Muslims.
Discrimination in terms of religion has also taken routes in the field of education. The administration of specific schools concentrates on sending invitation letters of admission to only individuals having names of a particular religion. In addition to that, educational institutions all over the world have now been identified with the inclusion of names of religions (McCutcheon, 1997). This is direct evidence of discrimination in the fields of education.
However, this does not only end on education, but it also applies in marriage. Members of a particular religion are always advised to choose their marriage partners or partners of intimate relationship from their religions. This religious discrimination activity in consideration to marriage is mostly practiced among the Hindus. Therefore discrimination is an injustice act in religion (Overman, 1967).
Discrimination is a widely spread form of injustice in terms of religion. To counteract this unjust activity, there is a need for some encouragement that could motivate individuals to form organizations that specialize in the creation of awareness to all the people all over the world on the negative impacts of discrimination. The organizations should be free for anybody interested to join. The government should however be ready to provide all the funds to cater for the members’ sustenance.
On totting up, the concerned governments should take the responsibility to declare to its citizens the abolishment of discrimination based on religion. Stern measures to be put in place against those who break the declaration. If these two practices were implemented then the rate f discrimination of individuals based on religion will be discovered to have reduced from the present situation.
Conflict and violence are some other acts witnessed today to be highly attributable to religion. Different religions usually have opposing ideas on diverse aspects of life. Some other practices done by one religion are not practiced by the other. Cases emerge where individuals from different religious doctrines are supposed to contribute to a certain topic giving out their different perspectives. In these situations, most of the ideas will be found to be contradicting to each other. This mostly affects individuals who are Christians and those who are Muslims (Murata & William, 1994; Schaeffer, 1982).
Through these contradictory perceptions, conflicts tend to arise from individuals of different religions. These conflicts might at last lead to the emergence of violence-related activities. Wars, as well as terrorism activities, erupt from this. This is however a reflection of the increase in the occurrence of violence-related activities in the world accountable to religion.
This mostly affects individuals with different religions who live at borders of each other. In addition to that, it has been discovered that the religion with the highest number of individuals is Christianity. This religion is closely followed by the larger numbers of Muslims. It is therefore anticipated that Islam is a religion that is giving greater competition to Christianity. This has enhanced hatred and wars between individuals of Christianity and those of Muslims. These two religions have ended up terrorizing each other and thus violent (Smith, 1991). These activities act as evidence of conflict, violence as well as terrorism as injustices in religion.
These wars, hatred, violence, as well as terrorist activities, are not necessary. They even lag the economic growth of a country. A nation that is divided cannot grow economically. As stated earlier, a country cannot prosper in the absence of God’s guidance and instructions from the bible. Since the bible emphasizes unity, people should unite irrespective of their religions so that the good plans God has for the country can be fulfilled. However, the union between the antagonistic religions may not be easier and fast to be achieved. The government should therefore encourage the collaboration of songs by musicians. For instance: collaboration between a Muslim and a Christian. This unity will with time spread to accommodate all citizens.
In conclusion, this paper has discussed religion. The paper has justified religion being a dictator of an unfair status quo. Recommendations have been given to curb these acts of injustice. These acts of injustice are noticed to have negative impacts in various fields and aspects of life. In general, unjust acts are unnecessary. They cause a lot of harm rather than benefits to individuals in society. Therefore, if the unfair acts are done away with, then the economy of the country may be boosted at large. The benefits may not only be for the nation but all the individuals.
Reference List
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