At first when I came up with this subcategory I thought it would be too similar to my initial question but with the help of Shireen Hilmi's article " "Culture and Religion: A mixed race relationship" , I found that they were similar but her article gave me a lot of clarity. Hilmi states "A religion is a system of beliefs based on ideas regarding origins, existence and purpose. And a culture is a network of values and practices based on the similar beliefs of a population.", this stood out to me in her article because I realized that religion and culture affect the world and make the world what it is today even though they are extremely different aspects of life. Religion and culture have a bigger impact on the world than you would think. In a worldly aspect, yes religions differ depending on the religion, but one single religion has hardly changed over the years, while culture is forever changing. Cultures yesterday are different than cultures today and tomorrow culture will be different as well. That's one way culture affects religion and everyone's own personal faith because, while cultures are constantly changing it challenges you to make life changes regarding your religion or if you don't practice and you want to start practicing. I think people tend to get caught up in culture and the changes it makes, and their faith starts to suffer because they fail to remember that religion's are a steady, solid ground for someone to turn to. The culture we decide to surround ourselves with forces us to make conscious decisions about our faith and how we will go about practicing. It also can have an affect on our mood and well-being. In "Why Religion matters: The impact of religious practice on social sustainability" by Patrick Fagan, he talks about how pursuing a relationship with God or with a higher figure bigger than yourself has tended to improve relationships with themselves and others around them. In his article Fagan wrote "Religion has a significant effect on happiness and overall sense of personal well-being", this has a lot do with culture because we choose our own culture and we decide who to surround ourselves with, which also plays a role in our happiness and well-being. Now Fagan was not saying that religion is the end all be all to provide you happiness in your life, he was just making a point when he said that people who are religious and pursue a faith are more likely to be happy and have a better overall well-being in their daily life. These two sources have helped me see that both religion and culture bring many people happiness, but when you have both you can be even more happy compared to if you only had one of those aspects in life. As I am doing this research I am beginning to learn and realize that religion and culture are effecting the world in similar ways they just have different methods, since religion is a sturdy, hard ground that you can lean on and that will not change and culture is never the same as it was before. You get to decide what kind of culture you live in.
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AuthorJessica is a junior at Metea Valley, who plays soccer and basketball. She is also very curious about religion and culture in the world today. |