Religion

Religion plays a major role in the lives of millions of people, and even those who would describe themselves as atheist are in one sense followers of an atheistic religion. But religion is not only a major source of spiritual comfort and guidance for followers: the role of religion in history has shaped the very world we live in today. Western countries, particularly those areas once under control of the Roman Empire, traditionally follow a Judeo-Christian monotheistic religion, as do many other parts of the world owing to the imperialism of many western European nations: in particular, the Americas. Despite a shift towards rationalism and the religion of science and liberty followed in many western European nations, the grounding for many laws and moral codes of conduct can be traced back to the Judeo-Christian principles that spread throughout the Roman Empire. The founding of countries as they stand now was done in arguably more religious times, and as such a Judeo-Christian morality is the grounding for our legal and moral systems.

Religion is also the cause of serious misunderstandings between cultures. Different approaches to the same religion can result in bitter conflicts that are kept alive through a nominal religious fervour. In other instances, major differences between big world religions can lead to centuries of unresolved conflict and murder, for example the Crusades during which Christians attempted to take back what they saw as the Holy Land from Muslims; or the conflicts in the middle east between India and Pakistan, or Israel, Palestine and other Arab nations.