Religious Traditions

Ron Cosman
History 134 / 142961
12 December 2014

Through the course of history, it is very evident that religion played a major role in much of
how the people thought and acted. There is even proof to show us that people from ancient times
incorporated practices such as the worship of gods into their daily lives. As we look back in
history, we can see how religion was an integral part of civilizations. In fact, I would say that
religion is where many societies of today get much of their traditions and morals from.
If we take a look at ancient Mesopotamia, we can see how the worship of gods was
integrated into their daily lives. Small statues with hands clasped have been found in temples to
indicate a constant prayer to the gods on ones behalf. There is even the popular stone stelae
from ancient Mesopotamia that shows King Hammurabi receiving a set of laws from the Sun god
Shamash. One of his more popular laws is an eye for an eye. So as we can see, even during
this ancient time, religion was playing a major role in the laws on how man was to act and
showed that worship to gods was a part of everyday life.
Later during the medieval time period, it is then that we can really start to see a change in
religious beliefs with the rise of Christianity. During the reign of Constantine, Christianity
started to flourish. As Constantine embraced Christianity more, polytheism started to decrease.
Embracing the Christian faith meant to also embrace Gods laws, ten of which are key to the
Christian faith which many know as the Ten Commandments. I would say that many of these
commandments are integrated into our society today such as thou shalt not steal and thou
shalt not kill. These are just two commandments that God gave to Moses to help guide people
morally in doing what is right and are still looked at today to help direct mankind. I would argue
that it is from religion that societies get much of their moral beliefs from. Religions give people
their sense of what is right and wrong. There is a standard that is set and it is not one set by man,

but by a God or gods, depending on ones beliefs. One can go back thousands of years to find out
why it is that we have certain traditions, such as Passover for example in the Christian religion.
As we move forward in time we can take a look at the Chinese philosophy of legalism. In
this we see the founder of legalism, Hsun Tzu, making the claim that humans are inherently evil
and are so inclined to do evil. It is with this thinking that the elders are said to have come up with
a way for man to have morals by habit and punishments. In fact, the Merriam-Webster dictionary
defines legalism as strict, literal or excessive conformity to the law or to a religious or moral
code. So here we have more evidence of how religion was affecting the way in which man
interacted with one another. However, it is not just in the Chinese culture that legalism is used,
but we also see it used in Christianity today.
We can see more evidence of Christian tradition still in action today as Cardinals gathered
just last year at the Sistine chapel looking to vote in a new Pope. One of the major roles of the
Catholic Church is that of the Pope. But how exactly does one become the Pope? Once again,
this is a tradition that goes back centuries. Although some changes may have been made over the
years, the process of voting is still used in selecting todays Pope. In the city of Viterbo in 1271,
the cardinals elected Pope Gregory X. At the time, Gregory (then still Teobaldo Visconti) was
off on crusade and wasn't even a priest. He was elected because the cardinals had spent the last
three years arguing about who should be pope. (Perry 1) So we can see here that voting in the
next Pope has been a tradition that has gone on for many years.
William H. McNeill takes a closer look at human history in his article Why study History?
(1985) and has this to say in regards to how and why people act the way they do: Each such
group acts as it does largely because of shared ideas and beliefs about the past and about what
the past, as understood and interpreted by the group in question, tells about the present and

probable future. He also says that the way things are descends from the way they were
yesterday and the day before that. To me, this is basically saying that much of our traditions are
passed down to us from generation to generation. This most importantly includes religious
beliefs, since religion appears to be a very active role in almost every society.
As we study history we learn not only of the past, but more about ourselves. History can give
us a deeper insight into where we came from, why we do certain things, and why we have our
traditions and values. History is a lesson: a lesson of intentions, movements, experiments, and
human production; a lesson that builds integrity and character within our children. (Postma 1)
By studying history, we can gain a deeper understanding of our beliefs, values and culture as a
whole.
We can look at history and see that our histories tell us much about what we presently value,
as much as they tell us about what was valued in the past. (Hodges 12) If there is one thing that
I have learned in this class, it is that religion seems to be a common denominator that all
societies seem to value. In fact, people have fought wars in the names of gods and religions.
Whether one is worshipping one god or many gods, much of what is learned came to us through
tradition. Having morals is something that we as a society even today value. We can see
evidence of this in how courts try to uphold certain laws and in how parents try to teach their
children right from wrong. These moral values have to originate from someplace, and I would
say that they have their beginnings in religion.
Having a belief in God has been a part of my life since I was a child. It has been through
the passing down of Christian beliefs that have led me to act and believe the way I do today.
Certain examples of this would include things such as not lying, stealing, and treating others how
I would want to be treated. Much of what we as Christians believe today have been a result of

what was taught thousands of years ago from the teachings of Christ. The Bible gives us a moral
guideline on how to act and treat others. We can even see evidence of moral values in society
today in the court system. Courts try to uphold laws such as penalties for stealing and murder.
Gods laws in the Bible help to give people a moral compass by which to act, for without it
people are free to believe or act in whatever way they want. Without something like the Bible,
what standard would man have to go by? Who would be the one to say what is right or wrong?

Works Cited

Hodges, Blair. "Hodges- Final Essay, On Rhetorical Uses of History to Understand the
Present." Academia.edu. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.
McNeill, William. "Why Study History? (1985)." Why Study History? (1985). Web. 12 Dec.
2014. <http://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-andarchives/archives/why-study-history-(1985)>.
Perry, David. "How History Can Help Us Predict the Next Pope." The Atlantic. Atlantic
Media Company, 12 Mar. 2013. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/03/how-history-can-help-us-predict-thenext-pope/273945/>.
Postma, Michael. "What Can History Teach Us Today?" ASCD Express 6.22. Web. 12 Dec.
2014. <http://www.ascd.org/ascd-express/vol6/622-postma.aspx>.

Annotated Bibliography
1. Perry, David. "How History Can Help Us Predict the Next Pope." The Atlantic.
Atlantic Media Company, 12 Mar. 2013. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/03/how-history-can-help-uspredict-the-next-pope/273945/>.
In this article, Perry first starts to talk about the resignation of Pope Benedict and then
proceeds to talk about how the Cardinals will be looking into voting in a new Pope.
He mentions how voting has been a practice even in medieval times and was used to
elect even emperors. He talks about how in years past Cardinals have been locked
away for days at a time in order to agree on just the right Pope and that there was a
process to the whole way of electing in the next Pope. Towards the end of the article,
he looks at two specific areas that the cardinals look at in regards to voting in a new
Pope which are administrative and intellectual.
2. McNeill, William. "Why Study History? (1985)." Why Study History? (1985). Web.
12 Dec. 2014. <http://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-historyand-archives/archives/why-study-history-(1985)>.
Here in this article, McNeill poses the question of what can we learn from history? He
tells us that it is through history that we find our identity as an individual and as a
society. One thing in particular that much of what we learn and know of our
institutions of today are because of our past. He points out that there are three areas of
history that can extrapolate from our past: Personal local history, National history and
Global history. I particularly like how he concludes his article talking about how in
the search of history one can begin to understand ones own history.

3. Postma, Michael. "What Can History Teach Us Today?" ASCD Express 6.22. Web.
12 Dec. 2014. <http://www.ascd.org/ascd-express/vol6/622-postma.aspx>.
In this brief article Michael Postma starts off by talking about the world of today and
that many jobs out there are STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math)
related. He goes on to ask the question then of what can history teach us today then if
what much of what jobs out there are looking for are STEM related. He tells us that it
is through history that we can discover ourselves more and we can find a greater
meaning in ourselves. He tells us that it is from history that we can learn from our
pasts and build a better future.
4. Hodges, Blair. "Hodges- Final Essay, On Rhetorical Uses of History to Understand
the Present." Academia.edu. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.
Hodges begins her paper essentially by talking about the fact that much of what we
are today is a result of what we were yesterday, that it is the past that helps us to learn
from in order to do things for today. She examines what some philosophers ideas are
about history and what they say we can learn from it. She gives viewpoints of people
such as John Stuart Mills and Nietzsche. She points out that Edmund Burke agrees
with Mills about needing that past to understand our present. An interesting quote she
uses is by John Jay talking about history is that it gives us many useful lessons. We
may profit by their experience, without paying the price which it cost them. She
references Madison and some of his thoughts on history. She then goes on to talk
even more about how much like the people who founded our country, we rely upon
our past to help us shape our present and future.