Religion is one of the most wonderful concepts mankind has come across
According to the dictionary, it means the belief in the worship of superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods. But in my opinion, it's more than just that.
Religion has many good effects on the culture of the people and the overall wellbeing of its believers. Most religions offer a vast variety of festivities and form an environment of joy and celebration. These activities help in the better mental health of the people by spreading good vibes and forming a strong bond within the community. There have also been multiple religious figures that inspire people to take a stance against injustice and work towards peace and prosperity. For example, the Dalai Lama, Deepak Chopra, and Pope Francis.
The most important contribution of religion in the modern fast-paced world is the sense of belonging that religion provides to its believers. There are times in peoples’ lives when they feel lost or they lose hope and give up, but their religion can help them regain that strength just with the power of believing in their god and the power that their God possesses. The belief that ‘God will take care of me and make me prosper’ actually helps people to regain self-confidence and work towards their goals. Although the main reason for a person’s success was always, they themselves, they believe system created by almost all religions of the world help in boosting a person’s abilities and help them grow.
One of the many cons is that religion controls people's lives and determines how they think and act. Which takes away a certain level of freedom but also restricts humans from showing their true and sinful nature. Another con is that religion makes people lose control over their lives by making them less accountable for their actions (good or bad). It makes them praise God for something good and blame the devil when their actions are negative. Yet without the religious concept of heaven and hell, there would be no alternative way to maintain peace in an ancient civilization because without repercussions to their actions in the afterlife human nature would run wild and cause chaos.
Since governments have enforced law and order, there is no real requirement of such concepts. In fact, more problems related to religious practices are being created and being brought to light due to the presence of law and order. For example, Cardinal George Pell has been credibly accused of several acts of sexual assault, including one of rape. In fact, in our country religion has motivated crime on many occasions. The rate of crime motivated by religion has been surprisingly rising according to a survey done by factchecker.com there has been a tremendous rise in religion-motivated hate crime resulting in the death of 65 Muslims, 27 Hindus, and four Christians, since 2009. while the deaths by these causes have risen from near 0 in 2011 and 2012 to as high as 27 deaths in 2018, the number of incidents has had even higher growth from near 0 in 2011 to 90 incidents in 2018.
In the midst of such a situation, when a person tries to address the problem and show criticism to the ways of religion, they are labeled as haters and judged on the basis of what religion they follow resulting in more hate crime. Currently, there are more problems created by religion than there are solutions offered. There is still hope for change since religion itself was constructed as a concept that brings about peace and harmony no matter the region or the type of religion. By addressing the problems and working towards a solution based on the current law and order that our governments have sheltered us under, we can eliminate the cons of this beautiful concept and provide people with the true intent of their respective religions.
In conclusion, there are too many factors that come into play when it comes to what religion really is. But for the most part, it is subjective in nature hence has more than just one for the sure conclusion. In my opinion, religion is mankind's greatest blessing to itself and mankind itself can turn it into its greatest curse.