Stephanos Reglis

ENGL 1001

Multimodal Essay

14 December 2023

Religion in Society and the Soul

Religion is something that has been a part of human society, almost since its birth.

Humans have always wanted answers to questions that they themselves could not comprehend,

and those answers were found in their religions. But what kind of role does religion play today;

and what role has it played? What are its benefits on both large and small scales? How important

is religion? These are the questions I seek to answer in this essay.

As well as often being beneficial for a larger society, religion is also often beneficial to

the individual. It often calls for people to not only prioritize and protect their souls, but their

minds and bodies as well. One mental benefit of religion is that it gives people a purpose.

Whether their purpose is as involved as becoming a minister or missionary of their respective

religion, or something as simple as attending the services, there is always some purpose for those

who follow a religion. In addition to this, there is also the fact that the many rituals employed by

countless religions provide a structure for people to follow. This helps the mind because it

introduces a feeling of familiarity after a while which would help one feel more at home when

partaking in one of these rituals. There is also the fact that many religions promote and require

good deeds to be done by their followers, as well as teaching compassion and self-reflection.

These practices, of course, are remarkably healthy for both the mind and the soul, as well as the

body in turn. Perhaps the most important mental benefit of religion, however, is the sense of

community it offers. There may be no greater sense of belonging that one can achieve than being

part of a group of people who all believe the same things as him. It also must be said that the
introspective qualities of religion are greatly beneficial to the mind. Confession is a good

example of this. Prior to giving a confession and receiving absolution, one must first take a look

inside himself and think about his wrongdoings and shortcomings. This process, especially when

paired with the act of actually confessing, works wonders to improve one’s mood and simply

make him feel better about himself.

Among the benefits of religion are of course the effects it has on the mind and spirit, but

there are also many positive effects that religion has on the body itself. A reason for these effects

comes from the fact that most religions profess and promote protection of the body, believing it

to be a gift from and reflection of God. One specific thing that several religions condemn is

smoking. A group of researchers from the National Library of Medicine released an article in

June 2017 which showed the relationship between religiosity and bodily health found that of

20,974 adult Christians, 60% had smoked in their lives, but only 16.7% were current smokers

and over 73% of them had quit. These numbers were similar for young Christians as well. For

the non-religious population however, 66% of adults who were interviewed said that they had

smoked in their lives and a little over 25% are current smokers, a 9% increase as compared to

Christian adults. There was also a smaller number of non-religious adults who had quit smoking,

at 65.1% as opposed to the 73.9% of Christian adults who had quit smoking. Another study

conducted by a group of researchers for Frontiers in Psychology found that a decrease in

religiosity led to a decrease in flourishing and that a decrease in the frequency of religious

service attendance led to a decrease in life satisfaction and happiness, mental and physical health,

meaning and purpose, and close social relationships (Associations of Changes in Religiosity

With Flourishing During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Study of Faith Communities in the United

States by Christopher Justin Jacob, Richard G. Cowden, Brandon Vaidyanathan).

 On top of the mental and physical benefits of religion, there is also the vast amount of

room for critical thinking and philosophy that it provides. An example of someone who took this

idea of thinking critically about religion and ran with it is St. Thomas Aquinas, or the Dumb Ox

as his peers called him. This man is one of the most prolific theologians to ever live. His master

work, the Summa Theologica, is still referenced and used to this day. One of the more interesting

examples of his critical thinking about religion are his Five Ways to prove the existence of God.

The first of these ways is his Argument from Motion. His reasoning with this argument is that

everything that is in motion must have first been set in motion by some “First Mover”, that being

God. The second of his arguments is the Argument from Cause which is quite similar to the first,

explaining that everything must have an original cause, which is God. Third is the Argument

from Necessary Being. This argument essentially says that nothing can come from nothing, and

that there must always be something that has existed before everything else, that something

being God. Fourth is his Argument from Gradation. This argument says that everything has

different degrees of goodness or purity. Based on this principle, there must be something that is

completely good or completely pure, that being God. The final argument is the Argument from

Design. The idea of this argument is that everything has a design or order that leads it to a

specific goal. For example, a water wheel is designed to harness the energy of flowing water in

order to mill flour or grind wood. This principle, when extrapolated to a universal scale, shows

the existence of God, as how could the order of the Milky Way or our solar system exist without

an intelligent designer? (“Aquinas’s Five Proofs for the Existence of God.” In The Catholic Faith

Handbook for Youth, Teacher Guide. © 2011 by Saint Mary’s Press.

https://www.smp.org/resourcecenter/resource/7061/) These arguments are just a small example

of the kind of philosophical and critical thinking that religion can produce. Interestingly, much of
Aquinas’ philosophy came from Plato and Aristotle, two philosophers of a wholly different

religion than himself, but of a religion nonetheless.

Some more of religion's benefits are the positive effects it has on communities and

societies. One of these effects is reinforcing social stability and unity. One way that religion does

this is by giving people common beliefs to follow. This has the capacity to create a society more

focused on advancing itself, as with common beliefs come common goals. Another way religion

strengthens social unity is by physically bringing people together, be that at Mass or Temple, or

some religious event held in a public location, such as the Feast of San Gennaro, a festival held

in Little Italy since 1926, which was brought to America by, of course, Italian immigrants.

Another thing religion does for a society is create better citizens. Most religions promote social

order and demand goodness, respect, and morality from their followers. The most famous

example of a religious moral code for a society would be the Ten Commandments. One other

benefit that religion has on societies is that it can lead people to work for change. An instance of

this can be seen when looking at the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 60s which was

spearheaded by christian ministers who often organized rallies and protests from their churches.

In order to aid my pursuit of the benefits of religion, I created a survey asking people

about the effects religion has had on their lives. Included in these questions were “Has your

religion affected your mental health in any way?” and “Has your religion ever affected your

health choices?”. Interestingly enough, almost all answers came back in support of the claim that

religion is an important part of life. Of the responses, about 77.8% said that religion had been

important in their lives, with 22.2% of those people picking the option that said religion had been

“very important”. This trend continues, with 77.8% of people once again saying that religion is

important, that their families are religious. A slight change did occur when asked if religion was
more helpful or harmful, with 66% of people saying it was helpful, whereas 33.3% of people

said it was harmful. A quite interesting metric in this survey was that, when asked if religion had

affected their mental health in any way, 77.8% said it had not, but in the next question which

asked if those effects were negative or positive, 44.4% of people claimed that religion had had

positive effects on their mental health. The other 64.6% of people claimed that religion had had

no effects on their mental health, be they positive or negative. I believe the reason that so many

put that religion had no effect on their mental health is that religion is becoming less and less

important in people’s lives. Whether or not that is a good thing is up to interpretation, but

nevertheless it is a trend which seems nigh on unstoppable in the United States, with religious

“nones” (people who do not subscribe to any religion) becoming the fastest growing “religious”

group in the country.

In summary, the benefits of religion are numerous. There are countless examples of

religion aiding larger societies, but also the individual as well. Abundant are the benefits that

religion has on one’s mind, body, and soul. Despite this, it is becoming clear that man no longer

cares for that which has made him, him. People are becoming colder and colder to the idea of a

God, and especially to the idea of organized religion. Regardless, there are still countless

individuals who love the Lord and their respective religions, and I have a response from my

survey to back that up. When asked to briefly describe one way religion has impacted their lives,

one recipient said this: “Faith in God, more than religion, has been fundamental in my life. It has

given me the strength to overcome sadness and depression, and has given me hope in the darkest

times. The moral principles that I learned during my upbringing in the Catholic religion have

guided me throughout my life and have given me a solid foundation to make the right decisions

and relate to everyone around me.”

 Works Cited

“The Mental Health Benefits of Religion & Spirituality.” NAMI,

www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/December-2016/The-Mental-Health-Benefits-

of-Religion-Spiritual. Accessed 13 Dec. 2023.

Hussain, Manzoor, et al. “Smoking and Religion: Untangling Associations Using English

Survey Data.” Journal of Religion and Health, U.S. National Library of Medicine,

Dec. 2019, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6842333/.

Roberts, Nicole F. “Science Says: Religion Is Good for Your Health.” Forbes, Forbes

Magazine, 12 Sept. 2023, www.forbes.com/sites/nicolefisher/2019/03/29/science-

says-religion-is-good-for-your-health/?sh=6c2da6343a12.

Pasnau, Robert. “Thomas Aquinas.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford

University, 7 Dec. 2022, plato.stanford.edu/entries/aquinas/#:~:text=Aquinas

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%20and%20direction.

Press, St. Mary’s. “Aquinas’s Five Proofs for the Existence of God.” Philosophical

Thought, Tulsa Community College, 12 Aug. 2022,

open.library.okstate.edu/introphilosophy/chapter/aquinass-five-proofs-for-the-

existence-of-god/.

[Author removed at request of original publisher]. “17.3 Sociological Perspectives on

Religion.” Sociology, University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing edition, 2016.

This edition adapted from a work originally produced in 2010 by a publisher who
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#:~:text=The%20communal%20practice%20of%20religion%20in%20a%20house

%20of%20worship,%C3%89mile%20Durkheim’s%20most%20important

%20insights.