The Importance Of Religion In Society

Religion is dying. We live in a world where society has now changed. Women can get married to women, men to men, men can be women, and women can be men. It is a beautiful thing to see how we have grown.

But sometimes, it is a bit scary because we now brand people of faith. At first, it was the people of faith doing the branding, but now people who never met the status quo before a few years ago brand the people of faith. Funny how we millennials claim to be the generation of free speech, free love and acceptance, but I noticed that we do not live up to that claim.

We brand the people of faith; Muslims, Catholics, Jews, scientologists, etc. We judge them all in one way or another: Muslims are terrorists, Jews are stingy, Catholics are homophobes, etc. Millennials now shy away from religion. It is something I don’t understand.

All religions are a foundation for morals and beliefs; it helps shape us and determine what we see as right and wrong.

I am Catholic. I was raised to respect everyones beliefs, even if I do not agree with them. I feel as though millennials are growing up and deciding to keep away from religion because people of any faith were branding those who did not fit their molds.

But, if we are the generation that teaches the next one that religion is wrong, religion itself will die out. We would lose beauty, lose stories, lose something so valuable to everyone–faith. Religion builds communities. It brings people together. Yes, religion can divide us and tear us apart, but only if we chose to ignore the perspectives of others.

As a child, I listened eagerly to the stories the priest would tell during mass, and I would connect it to things that were going on in my life. In many ways, the stories would give me advice in a way I felt others could not.

I do not want to imagine a world without religion. If we millennials continue to push away our religions, we will be the hypocrites because we choose not to listen. Rather than accepting the religions we come from, we turn them away because we try to include an “open mind.”

We can be the generation with an open mind. We can have it all. We can still be Christian, Jewish, etc, and still include everyone, if only we chose to listen and accept others perspectives.

Religion is beautiful. They’re the reasons why we know right from wrong. They made communities and built cities, caused debates, and brought people together. To see religion die because our generation choses to be closed minded would be hypocritical.