Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the

rulers as useful.-Edward Gibbon.

One evening while I was checking my Facebook, I saw a post on a group named
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign- Class of 2018. The post in particular was an
interesting one. It was by an incoming freshman who had a very unusual query. It read I think
you all seem pretty friendly, but I am a little worried about the presence of non-Christians on
campus. Are most of you followers of His word? Also are there living groups where Christians
can avoid atheists and the like? I'm not prejudiced, lol, I just don't want immoral classmates
The last sentence in particular was a shocker. Everyone has the right to free exercise of
religion, but this right here was blatant discrimination by her. Just like me, quite a few others
seemed disturbed by her post on a public forum. She seemed to believe that every atheist/non-
Christian was immoral. This post in particular was one of the prime reasons that I decided to
research on the topic religion is not just a personal belief but is also an interference and a key
factor in todays world.
Religion has a very big impact on our daily lives. Whether we realize it or not, everything
that we see around us, believe in and do is in some way connected to religion. Marriage, birth
and death ceremonies, various food restrictions, are all due to religious beliefs. Religious
influence in laws and social customs exist in almost every society in the world. Democratic,
Socialist or Monarch, irrespective of the type of governance in place, we can see that the laws in
all of them are influenced by religion in one way or the other.
History has taught us as to how the world was once completely dominated by religious
doctrines and overtime has slowly started moving towards free thinking and atheism. Religion
has always interfered or dictated the way things in which things should be done in the world
around us. We say that democracy gives everyone free exercise to religion and secularism
ensures that the state is not biased towards any religion, but is it really so? The purpose of this
research paper is to talk about how religion today is still a major factor in every persons life,
whether he or she is a believer in God or not.
Almost everyone we see around us today was born into a family that followed a certain
religion. 1 out of a 100 actually chose their religion. Religion is mostly thrust upon people by
their parents and society through birth and this has been happening for years now.
As much as we would like to claim that religion would make our life better and improve society,
we have seen revolutionary thinking and atheism for quite some time now. Right up from the
reformation movement in Europe to the increasing atheist populace in the United States of
America and around the world. Interference of religion in daily life isnt just restricted to a
country or two. It affects the whole world. Some of the instances in the essay will corroborate
my thesis.
Firstly talking about Religious interference in politics, its a widely known saying in a
country like India, that politics is the last refuge of scoundrels, and religion, the opium of the
masses. A nexus between the two would spell doom.
An article from the National Archives of the UK named the road to partition sheds better light
in this regard. The end of the British Empire in India in August 1947 resulted in the creation of
two separate countries, namely India and Pakistan. The division was solely based on religious
lines, with a Muslim majority in Pakistan and a Hindu majority in India. This event was to result
in the biggest mass migration in history leading to the migration of over 18 million people and
the death of over a million people because of communal violence in the process (Background,
Road to Partition; National Archives of the UK).
18 million people displaced and over a million dead, all because of a direct result of political
mismanagement. Politics, to be perfect should be void of religious and social considerations and
must be solely based on the constitution, but when religion interferes into politics, we have this
incident as a good example as to how it can lead to a disaster.
We could say its a thing of the past, but the same thing affects us even today. Apart from the
political aggression of the past, India, which is the worlds largest democracy, is believed to be
split on religious lines in the case of politics. From an article that was published by Reuters,
which claims that the favorite for this election is the BJP party, which is Hindutva party,
largely because of its pro-Hindu agenda and the large Hindu voter base, we can see how many
people still vote based on religion and caste rather than on the manifesto and policies of a
political party. (Gloves off as Indias BJP woos the Hindu vote in northern heartland, Reuters)
Secondly, religion plays a large role in legislation in many countries around the world.
Some countries claim to be secular and abide by their religion neutral constitution, but it can be
see that many countries have their constitution based of religious beliefs.
For instance, the anti-gay religious freedom law signed by the Governors of Mississippi and
Arizona has cause quite a stir throughout the rest of the United States. From an article obtained
from USA Today, Kansas lawmakers are considering a bill that specifically gives legal
protection to businesses that refuse service to gay individuals on the basis of religion. That bill
faced fierce opposition but was approved by the Kansas House of Representatives before dying
in the Senate(USA Today), we can see how politicians are using religion as a basis to
discriminate, and stealing basic human rights of citizens. Religion, once again, has interfered in
lives of citizens who might even be atheists, but irrespective of their religious beliefs, they would
have to follow the law.
Religious interference in Saudi Arabia however, has reached an all new level. A brief
background of laws in Saudi Arabia would tell us that it is a country which probably is the best
contrast to the United States.
Religious edicts are crushingly enforced by state, mosque and society. Movie theaters are
banned, as are concerts and just about everything else related to entertainment. Women, even
foreign women, must cover themselves in public. Unrelated women and men arent allowed to
mix anywhere. Even Starbucks coffee shops are segregated by gender.
Men have it rough, but women have it much rougher. According to Wahhabi Islam, men must
obey Allah and women must obey men. Fortunately for men, House writes, Allah is distant,
but unfortunately for women, men are omnipresent. (Closed Kingdom, NYT)
Recently, another law was passed by the King of Saudi Arabia. The King of Saudi Arabia
declared that atheists and people who call for secular reforms are terrorists and will be
punished for up to 20 years in jail. This is a very fine example of how far religion has gone in
dictating the lives of people. Laws that imprison people for expressing basic human rights are set
forth only because of religious beliefs. Sometimes there exists a lot of self-oppression too.
In another case that was widely spoken of in recent times in the media, the death of a doctor
named Sunita Halappanavar because of a miscarriage was largely due to the existence of a law
that was based on religious beliefs. She was refused abortion, which complicated her situation
leading to her death. While trying to explain to Mrs Halappanavar, a Hindu of Indian origin,
why she could not have her pregnancy terminated Ann Maria Burke, the hospitals midwife
manager told her it was because Ireland is a Catholic country
Thousands of Irish women travel to neighboring England every year to get abortions, because of
the strict laws in Ireland. Although Sunita wasnt a follower of the catholic faith, she died
because of a law that was based off a religious belief. Again, these are not cases in few countries.
In one way or the other, religion affects us all in whichever part of the world we choose to be,
whether its a multicultural society like India, a western country like Ireland, a very religious one
like Saudi Arabia or even a democratic, developed country like the United States of America.
Sadly, politics and legislation are not the only victims of religious interference. Religion
affects modern society too. Social acceptance is something that everyone wants. Millions of
people around the world are denied their basic human right just because of the fact that they are
homosexuals. US researchers have found evidence that homosexuality is linked to genetics. In an
article that was published by The Guardian, its said that the researchers have found that it is a
combination of genetic and environmental factors that largely decide a persons sexual
attractions before they are born. Such findings would further support the argument that
homosexuality is a natural thing and hence must be considered normal (US researchers find
evidence that homosexuality is linked to genetics, The Guardian). As this article states,
homosexuality is a very natural thing, and same-sex marriage is only a matter of the right to
freedom of expression. Unfortunately, in many societies around the world like India and Uganda
which recently passed laws in this regard, this isnt understood. Most of the reasons range from
homosexuality being unnatural to religious criticism. In both these countries, the anti-
homosexuality reforms were called for by religious groups and leaders. Last March, three
American evangelical Christians, whose teachings about curing homosexuals have been
widely discredited in the United States, arrived here in Ugandas capital to give a series of talks.
(Americans role seen in Uganda, NYT)
The fact that many people believe that homosexuals need to be cured, and done so by religious
heads is proof enough of the fact that religion still controls not only how people live in their
homes, but also the basic human rights of people.

Religious belief is something that is very close to peoples hearts. Religion is something
that has both positive and negative impacts on our lives. In the many examples provided above,
we can see as to how religion impacts our lives in many ways, whether we choose to follow
religion or not.
Everyone has the right to practice their religion and express it too, but the problem arises when
religion is enforced on people and people are discriminated upon because of certain religious
beliefs.
To end this research and in support of my thesis, Id like to say that we must all consider religion
to be a part of our lives and not our lives altogether. Religion is part of who we are, it isnt us
completely and it shouldnt define us.









Outline
1 Quote
2. Introduce the topic and talk about religion and provide the thesis
3. Introduce Personal experience and need for the topic
4. Give a historical perspective
5. Issues those are persistent
A. Issue 1(Source 1)
B. issue 2 (source 2)
C. Issue 3(Source 3)
6. Corroborate thesis statement by using the given issues and the sources
7. Contrast it with the growing situation
8. Conclude by providing another supporting statement towards the thesis statement.