RE: Why should religion have any influence on our lives?
October 3, 2014 at 7:51 am
(This post was last modified: October 3, 2014 at 7:52 am by Michael B.)
(October 3, 2014 at 4:17 am)MusicLovingAtheist Wrote: I'm gonna raise my hand next time the sociology teacher talks about religion's influence on society and say "you talk a lot about how religion influences society, but you never mention that it's completely unnecessary for a functional society". See how many kids get outraged at that.
I think perhaps all you'd be showing is some misunderstanding on your part of what sociology is. Sociology is the study of societies as they are, and the formation of theories as to why they are as they are. As Rexbeccarox says, it deals with facts, and not with your own personal preferences of how you'd like society to be. Like it or not, society is rarely exactly what any of us would like it to be; but we start by accepting it for what it is, understanding why it is the way it is (that's where sociology helps), and then work to influence it in the direction we want it to go. For many of us our effective sphere of influence is in the way we live our lives, and how we touch the lives of others. So, for example, if you are concerned about the welfare of the poor, doing something to help them will change the world in a small but important way (probably much more than looking for political change, unless you are one of the few especially gifted rhetoricians).
