Stories and Traditions: Week 3; History and the Impact on Religion

One of my history teachers in high school, Mr. Voorhees, once stated that historians usually entrusted the bible when dealing with problems that could not be answered through scientific explanations. He also said that the bible could provide access to a lot of answers about how the earth once stood and that we must use the bible as a tool to understand history of ancient civilizations. This same idea has helped religion gain the power that it has today and has had for centuries through time. An important question that one must analyze and find an answer to is: does history contribute or weaken religion? This answer to this question is yes, history has contributed a great deal to religion through traditions and power of previous leaders. However, it has also weakened religion through scandals and other previous practices.

History has indeed given a great contribution to today’s religious practices. In the past, the Pope was not only leader of the Catholic religion, but also the leader for the government and was given a lot of power. Because of the pope having so much power, the Catholic religion was able to intervene in everyday life and was given ability to control political decisions. This allowed the religion to control not just moral issues, but almost all issues that the people of Rome had. Because of the power that the Catholic religion had, the religion was able to prosper and gain amount of trust that is still present today. Not only did the power of the Pope have an impact on religion, but the traditions that religions had in history also caused faith to prosper. For Example, Jerusalem had the tradition of the temple or tabernacle which was in the center of the city. In these areas the temple stored a room which was the deepest room and only the high priest could go in that room once a year. This tradition gave a more sacred idea to the faith and enforced the practices of the religion.

Even though History has contributed to the success of religion, history has also affected religion in a negative tone. The first includes the scandals that were done by leaders in some religions. One well known scandal is actually causing negative effects of the Catholic religion in today's society. There have been accusations saying that priests have committed sexual abuse on some of the boys in their clergy. Not saying that what is being accused is true or not, this is deeply beginning to hurt the Catholic religion both morally and their finances. Another example of how history can hurt a religion is the wars that were caused by religion. Today we view religion as a freedom. We think that everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and can believe whatever religion they deeply feel relevant to. In ancient times when Christianity was beginning to take over, they made sure to destroy and manipulate all pagan believes and monuments. This can be seen in the ancient ruins of Rome. When looking at the Colossuem where the pagan emperors once stood, people can now see a huge cross that shows Christianity. Another example is the religious persecution of the Jewish religion that was done by the Romans and many other groups for centuries after. This constant attack of other religions almost mock what they are preaching about loving all of God's creations. Because of this mockery, the religions are somewhat weakened.

Like I said before History has a huge impact on religion and how people practice it and view it. Even our actions now are going to have huge impact on future thoughts of religion. No one person can say how religion will be thought of in the future. However, our generation can help to shape those views. History can help people to understand just why others believe what they believe about their religions whether it is Catholic, Jewish, Christian, Methodist or any other religion.