What kind of impact does religion have on an individual's behavior?

Answer 1

I actually wrote an essay over beliefs and its impact on our behavior.... I think it is about 600 words... then you may or may not read it all, but the end is what counts...

>>>>>>>>>>>.
>>>>>.
>>>.

The Power of Beliefs

Based on “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller



Beliefs, strong viewpoints toward personal values, can be either beneficial or dangerous; yet on both possibilities belief appears powerful and unstoppable. In the play “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, beliefs mark the main conflict between the characters and the authority. This play is based on a true event that took place in Salem Village, Massachusetts, in 1692. During that period, the villagers of Salem had strong Puritan beliefs as well as their current authority.

At the beginning of the play, the village’s children are found by a reverend, Paris, dancing in the woods in a ritual-like atmosphere; and the villagers’ belief of dancing as a pagan obsession placed them on a never-ending conflict with the whole village, and even with a possible conflict with the authority, if they can prove the ritual version of the event. Because of this problem the reverend rapidly called for help from another reverend, Mr. Hale, thinking that maybe the “devil” would have entered their world. By doing this, the children, girls, were threatened with a possible authority’s procedure of hanging all probable witches if they don’t testify against any other “probable witches”. This lynching of people without any concrete and proven fact is an example of how beliefs can blind authority and kill innocent people.

Mr. Hale arrived and found out that one of the girls was supposedly “possessed by the devil”, and began a deep investigation about who might have had call the devil in the beginning. Then a suspect “Tituba”, a black woman, was interrogated about the dancing in the woods. With the fear of being hanged by the authority, Tituba then without thinking started lying, making up a story and giving out names to save her own. Subsequently after her, the girls themselves with the same fear started giving out names to save their own, “I saw Goody Hawkins with the Devil!”, “I saw Goody Bibber with the Devil”. All this shows how beliefs started fear among the girls making them lie and at the same time take advantage of the situation to obtain vengeance over people by cursing their names.

Throughout the entire play this initial conflict ridiculously rises over unimaginable highs giving birth to a myriad of sub consequently conflicts between almost all villagers and the girls. This event on history clearly shows how dangerous beliefs can become. They threaten society and all human nature as a whole, by assuring conflicts over no proven “facts” among people. Strong and dangerous beliefs have flooded Human history with a myriad of battles, persecutions, lynching, and even wars. People have to have fate and believe in something, because beliefs and fate give people goals to seek, and in most cases strong ethical values; yet a boundary between this personal beliefs and society have to exist to keep peace. Personal fate and beliefs have to be limited in certain way that they may never affect others in a negative way.

Beliefs, powerful, yet sometimes dangerous and even deadly can end with the life of many and even more frightening, they can break peace between people or even countries. Still on the other hand, beliefs can give birth to hope and humans’ ethical values key for human development. Thus people have to have beliefs and at the same time be careful and keep them from trespassing others’ “rights” as humans.

Answer 2

Deadly Impact

Answer 3

religion to the best of my knowledge should have a calming effect on an individual's unbecoming actions,internally and externally.