Religion: Bearer of Social Refom

Remember back at the beginning of the term when we read that article called "Why Do We Believe?" about why people create religions and the article gave evolutionary explanations for why people create and follow religions? One of the explanations was that people use religion to make up answers for phenomena and things about our world that they cannot explain. Humans, by nature are curious about the world and they exhibit an inherent need to understand their world, even if that means making up stories to compensate for things that they cannot know. Humans also use religion to unite people and form groups, which is very adaptive since humans are social animals and depend on one another for survival. After having read about at least four different religions, is this still an accurate hypothesis? Can we see these religions in terms of using them to explain the unexplained and as groups that form to promote cooperation and a feeling of unity?



It seems that the last two religions we have studied, beyond answering questions about the unknown, have sought to solve social problems that are prevalent in their social contexts. They serve as vehicles by which people set out to improve society and the followers' position in society. The Rastafari religion began as a way to elevate the status of Afro-Jamaicans if not in the eyes of their white oppressors, at least in their own eyes. Afro-Jamaicans had been oppressed and their culture told them that everything about them was bad and inferior to the whites and white culture. However, they did what they could to turn the stereotypes upside down, fight oppression and find beauty, power and pride in their ethnicity and origins. In a way, the Rastafari could be seen as searching for answers to the unknown, they still have a god-figure and stories to explain phenomena in their world but beyond that they are also searching for social reform. This fight for social reform unites the Rastas under a common goal, forming a group of likeminded people, which can be very adaptive for survival.



Two of Baha'u'llah followers before their martyrdom in 1896 (4 years after Baha'u'llah's death but many of his other followers were killed, tortured, and persecuted during his lifetime)

Two of Baha'u'llah followers before their martyrdom in 1896 (4 years after Baha'u'llah's death but many of his other followers were killed, tortured, and persecuted during his lifetime)

 The Baha'i faith as well, is a vehicle for social reform. Baha'u'llah promotes peace and world unity, gender equality and education for all.  Baha'u'llah even wrote up structures for how to carry out his plans for peace in the world. Baha'u'llah's plans for peace and unity and equality, unlike the Rastafari which had a long tradition of oppression, may have stemmed from discrimination, persecution, torture and oppression seen in his own life, acts committed against him and those near and dear to him. Nonetheless, he saw a need for social change and he used religion as a catalyst to promote the change. While the Baha'i faith does also answer questions of the unknown and has a god-figure, it also prescribes directions for how to act in the world and ideas about how the world should be structured socially. While social interactions wouldn't necessarily be categorized as part of the "unexplainable" or the "unknown" it is adaptive to cooperate and find effective ways of interacting with other humans since we are social animals by nature and must be social in order to survive.

The Baha’i and the Rastafari, more than the other religions we have studied so far, have been used to enact social change. Social reform seems to be higher on the agendas and more central to the belief systems of these two religions rather than just a side note as it seems to be in other religions.