Since the earliest humans walked this earth, people have wondered where they came from and why they’re here. Many religions attempt to answer these questions, providing followers with structure, a code of ethics, and a sense of purpose. They also offer a belief in an afterlife, which helps individuals cope with life’s stresses. Research shows that religion is good for families, communities, states and the nation: it increases health, learning, economic well-being, self-control, and empathy.
Religion is a system of human conduct that maps out the terms for sanction and reward, approval and disapproval, inspiration and ideation. It does so primarily because, from the beginning of time, humans have understood their lives to be projects aimed at acknowledged but largely unknown futures: the religious system provides a framework within which evaluation is built into the formation of all human action.
Religions are also the source of many of the most beautiful and moving of all human artistic creations — from architecture and music to dance and drama. They have also provided, both directly and indirectly, the major resource for exploration of the cosmos – the explorations which eventually issued as the natural sciences. Religions, however, have also been sources of fear and terror, of oppression and exploitation, and of all kinds of violence and war. It is this dimension of their role which is now being called into question, and which must be addressed, if the human project is to continue.