Life Without Religion Is Meaningless

As a student of religion I have learnt that religion is an indispensable part of human life. History shows that every religion, it may be revealed or not, has risen in the crucial moment of the human history. According to the Semitic tradition human history has began with Adam and Eve, first prophet in Abrahamic tradition. In Indian tradition, though God is omnipresent but he directly intervened into this world, what we called Avatara, to make a clear distinction between right and wrong. In primitive society also people’s lives were highly motivated with religious affiliation.

In every point of human history, we observe, a common scenario of religious activities is to establish peace. The way of religion to establish peace may be different but the ultimate aim of human life according to every religion is to harmonize environment with justice. To hold justice every religion offers a code for its followers. This code is nothing but a regulation of human life. It includes everything of human life, one’s behavior also. The great contribution of religion in history is promoting morality. Every religion stands on its strong commitment of morality. In today’s world, we talk so much on humanism, focusing on human values and concerns. In this connection I may mention a religious code in Islam which says that “None of you has faith until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself." (Bukhari.) Here brother means mankind. The Holy Quran declared that “O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into races and families so that you may know each other. The most honored of you in Allah's sight are those who best keep their duty." (49:13)

Question is : what is religion? In theology definition of religion is a debatable issue. To define religion J.S. Mackenzie, a British philosopher, wrote that “It may be enough to regard religion as meaning the spirit of devotion to the perfection of human life.” (Outline of Social Philosophy, p. 210) Eric Von