Religion in Society

I find that religion can play a huge role in society. It started the Crusades. It caused millions of Jews to die in the Holocaust. It causes numerous of genocides and deaths. And yet, religion is a requisite necessity. It is something that the world cannot live without and it is something that humans desperately need. Because when everything is gone, taken away, destroyed the only thing that is left is that measly bit of hope and the crumbling beliefs that a better time will come. While, the role of religion in society has already been discussed many times in Night, I still am compel to “rant” more on this because I feel as though the few times we had gone over this in Night was definitely not enough to satisfy my hunger to understand.

In the mistress of the Art of Death, religion first fueled the animosity for the Jews of Cambridge by the Christians. Not only was it that, but it even fueled the rivalry between Christianity itself. The monks from Saint Augustine were displeased with the nuns from Saint Radegund’s while the nuns over in Saint Radegund harbored an aversion for those from Saint Augustine. And this was only because these two for from two different monastery. They shared the same faith, the same religion, and the same cause and yet they disliked each other because the other was not them. Because of “religion” people were divided up and conflicts could easily ignite from any single spark.

And when that single sparked was created by the murder of the four children, people didn’t bother to resist the temptation of accusing each other to consign the other’s importance and greater their own. Many accused the Jews because they were easy targets. They became the scapegoats so that in a way these people could avoid suspicion them selves. According to the people, the Jews were the one who had killed Jesus Christ and so they were just as evil as the devil himself. And if they were truly that evil then why should it not be their fault? This was their logic. And because of this, innocent people were condemned to death. Other innocent people lost their homes while some lost their parents, or siblings, or relative. Because of religion, many innocent people died. Because while religion might be a good thing but in the hands of some people, religion could be turn into the greatest of all weapon because no one dares to disclaim it for fear of being accuse them selves.

Because of this, religion becomes a part of humanity that can never be extinguished. No matter what, religion will always impact society as long as society remains.