POSITIVE AND

NEGATIVE EFFECTS
OF RELIGION
Positive Effects

 Charitable giving

 Promote ethics in political life

 Religion brings people together in a community

Religion provides inner strength

NEGATIVE EFFECTS
 Religion is filling people with fear

 Religion is turning people against each other

 Religions seek power

 POSITIVE EFFECTS
 Charitable giving
People are fairly good at making an
effort to be casually kind to those who are
in need. Many religions teaches the value
of sharing in order to receive plentiful of
blessings. Religion teachings emphasize
the need for serving our fellow man.
 POSITIVE EFFECTS
 Charitable giving
People are fairly good at making an
effort to be casually kind to those who are
in need. Many religions teaches the value
of sharing in order to receive plentiful of
blessings. Religion teachings emphasize
the need for serving our fellow man.
Promote ethics in political life
A high message of religion is
that man is equal before God. This
principle has inspired some religious
reformers to campaign against
injustice. For example, many of the
opponents of slavery in the 19th
century were motivated by a belief
that racism and slavery were
incompatible with religious teachings
on the inherent divinity of all men.
Religion brings people together in a
community

It allows people to share a

common goal of the religion and will
make them feel united.
Religion provides inner strength

Religious faith has often been a

source of courageous action and can
be a source of courage to fight
oppression.
 Religion
is filling people with fear by SOFO
ARCHON

The fear of hell is continuously in one’s

mind, filling them with worry and anxiety,
and this does not allow them to live
spontaneously. As a result, most so-called
religious people become neurotic and in
some cases even schizophrenic.
 To identify with a religious ideology, and
call it the only truth and way, leads to
tremendously negative consequences –
hatred, racism, and all kinds of violence. Just
think of how many wars have been carried
out throughout history in the name of God
and religion.
 Religions are man-made institutions, just
like for-profit corporations are. And like any
corporation, to survive and grow a religion
must find a way to build power and wealth
and compete for market share
Religion can provide the following
1. Meaning, purpose & hope, based on the beliefs
& values, often expressed in myths & stories
2. Community gathering for rituals of worship &
symbolic celebrations of religious holidays
3. Personal identity as part of a group with similar
world views, beliefs, values, practices & lifestyles,
relationships of commitment to giving support &
caring critique to one another
4. Opportunities in community to identity &
provide needed action & service to meet needs of
the wider community & the world.
5. Rituals & practices experienced in community
for life transitions of birth, commitment,
forgiveness & death.
6. Private rituals that support identity, calmness,
stability & hope
7. Educational opportunities providing history &
understanding of religious & cultural traditions &
beliefs, translation of religious symbols,
metaphors & language into contemporary
experience & language
8. Guidance for living in “right relationship” *with
other persons (respect & caring for the “out
group” as well as the “in group”)
*with the natural world identification of personal,
cultural & environmental needs which inspire
concern & motivate responses of outreach &
service.
Harmful Outcomes of Religion
1. Promotes backward & harmful policies
2. Dissuades societal improvement
3. Magical thinking
4. Mythology
5. Teaches conformity
6. Participation in Religion supports harmful
regimes & institutions
7. False authority figures
8. Resource consumption
9. Rituals
10.Reinforces segregation
11.Creates negative peer groups
12.Teaches judgmental ideas
13.Teaches postponement of enjoyment
Conclusion
Finally, with an understanding of
the positive and negative effects of
religion, it is easier to realize why
religion stands out throughout all
history as an undeniable power and
force. It is also now possible to see how
religion has had a great influence on
everything from government to social
order and family relationships.