The right psychological state for religion.
The right psychological state for religion.
Religion can be a beautiful aspect of a person’s life. The traditional rituals and doctrine offer beautiful poetry, and its teachings influence some of our core values and moral aspects that we all live by today. There are many positive things that can be said about all religions; most can agree with that statement. However, religion can also be direct correlated with terrible events in our world’s history. Many religious followers would argue that those terrible events were influenced by the religious war fueled views of an individual that was mentally and psychologically unstable, and that whose extremist views had no reflection on the religion itself. Because religion can be interpreted on both positive and negative ways, it is important to be in a clear and comprehensive mindset while in a religious faction. An individual should be a mature, understandable and comprehensive person in a stable mindset before joining any religious group.
In the United States a person isn’t considered an adult until the age of 18. In most states a young adult can’t even go to an R rated movie because the content maybe explicit and requires a mature audience. Indicating that the mind of an individual must be able to process strong mature content before viewing the film. Even though most religious literature is beautiful and poetic, books like The Bible and The Quran depict content that can also be explicitly violent and in need of a clear and comprehensive mind to understand their meanings. A child’s mind is considered so venerable to influences that in some cases the child can commit murder and still be found innocent by a court of law. This happens because it’s understandable to believe that the mind of a young individual may not have been psychologically stable or could have been under the influence of a violent agenda. A young mind can be forced to live a certain way, and also forced to believe that no one should live any other way beside the way they know. This type of misunderstanding can make the individual aggressive towards anyone who disagrees with his/her point of view. The concept of “sin” can distort and confuse a young mind’s sense of moral fiber. This can be very stressful and taxing on a young mind that isn’t ready to take on complex issues of life, it also could be hiding an underlined issue that the individual doesn’t know how to get help for.Zehnder, (2011) Describes why he wrote his essay in a very straight forward manner
“This essay exists in part because I have seen converts fall away, and I realize that their inability to commit to their faith would have been better addressed if the community had understood the psychology involved in religious change and had accounted for their particular cases.” Zehnder, D. (2011).
It’s important that religious groups and their communities stay aware of each other’s psychological mindset.
Religion as a lifestyle choice demands dedication and a strong sense of devotion from its followers. In order to be consider a dedicated follower you must be completely submerged in the specific teaching of the doctrine. This is arguably where the psychological confusion in the follower’s mind happens. As a person becomes more and more devoted to the doctrine, there comes a time to establish a sort of line that separates devotion from hobby. Being completely and faithfully devoted to the doctrine meanings to completely accept the teaching no matter what moral confliction you may have. Sometimes those teachings can be violent and aggressive, so it takes a mature and comprehensive mind to distinguish the stories that should be consider moral and allegorical, not a stories that should be taken literately. A follower can be confused in this manner, he/she may be overly aggressive towards people who don’t share his/her points of view. This type of follower may have a very strong bias view about religion and may not be willing to listen to others. This type of aggressive attitude should be evaluate by the church or by the religious group because it can derive from a disturbed mind, a difficult past or a distorted view influenced by someone’s violent agenda. In an article by Gilad & Stepanova (2015) discuss that in a religious study
“Christians, as compared to non-Christians, reported more negative attitudes toward lesbians and gay men, and all religiosity measures we employed were negatively related to attitudes toward lesbians and gay men. However, there was no significant effect of the priming manipulation on any group. The lack of significant effect of the loving biblical message was consistent with tire study by Vilaythong et al. (2010)”
This indicates that the religious doctrine wasn’t at fault for the negative attitudes but it was the individual themselves who displayed aggressive attitudes. It is safe to say that most people agree with the concept, “everyone is responsible for their own actions,” however that doesn’t mean that religious groups can’t nor shouldn’t intervene to help those who are clearly struggling to perceive and understanding the allegorical and figurative lessons in the doctrine. In turn the individual come become aggressive and resentful towards those who judge him/her within the church for trying to enforce the allegorical lessons that weren’t addressed or taught properly in the first place. Any religion can be used to confuse people for a certain reason, Kalu and Udeani explain that “there are five dominant discourses in the literature: the conflict, instrumentalist, rainbow, competing fundamentalisms and state models. Each has subsidiary dimensions and these are not necessarily discreet models” one of those models is
“the virus theory says that violence spreads like virus as some infect others creating an infected environment in which the use of violence is an accepted option. Young people growing up in such an environment regard it as an acceptable response”.
Islam has a following of over 1.5 billion and the according to U.N intelligence up to 26% of Islamic followers are extremism and violent. This means that three quarters of the follower of Islam religion are peaceful, loving and normal people just like everyone else. Dogan (2015) names his article “Global Terrorism and Islamic Radicalization: Analysis from Fethullah Gülen's Perspective” he goes over the perceived problem “we” have with “Global Terrorism” and the religion of Islam. Yet, even Dogan comes to the understanding that Islam is just a tool; how people use that powerful tool makes the difference between a peaceful religion and a violent one.
“When examining the history of Islam, one will see that Islam does not teach Muslims to kill innocent people in the name of Allah (God). In the Qur’an and prophetic traditions, there are many rules that invite Muslims to be “just” even if they are forced by their circumstances and conditions to fight their enemies. Islam has always favored defense over offence and the importance of mercy towards enemies. Moreover, contemporary moderate scholar Fethullah Gülen has repeatedly stated that “a real Muslim who understood Islam in every aspect could not be a terrorist.” He stressed on the fact that terrorism must be condemned without any excuses. He even labelled the suicide bombers as the companions of hellfire. However, religious extremists have hijacked Islam just as it has periodically occurred with Christianity and other religions throughout history” Dogan, R. (2015)
It is certainly clear that religion isn’t always to blame but the individual could be. Understanding one’s own mindset and receiving help from people within the community goes a long way to insuring that as a community we are aware of those who may need help.
The religious community one is a part of should be deeply involved with their members. It’s important that every religious leader is aware of individuals in the membership that may have come to the church with an already existing mental health issues and should be involved in methods of how to psychologically deal with people going through a difficult time in their lives. Catholics practice confession, it’s a traditional ritual that calls for the follower to confess to any “sins” that may be troubling them. Confessions can be a very useful tool to help people who may be going through a traumatic time in their lives to vent or be heard. Most pastors and or religious leaders already talk with their followers on a regular basis, and listening with the purpose of care for their mental health and emotional status is pretty much part of what pastor and leaders of the church do already and should be considered their responsibility. In all various religious groups around the world, it’s the leaders that often influence the followers. Their words have huge impact on those who seek pastoral care and a sense of someone leading them in the right direction. When a person decides to follow religion because of a traumatic event in their lives and they feel like they need direction for their confused mind, the results can create “a religious warrior.” This type follower can be aggressive and intolerable to those who view things differently. They may also develop an overprotective feel towards their religion; they’re wrongly encouraged by the church and by its leaders. This type of individual should be psychologically evaluated and analyze in order to understand where this emotional and aggressive attitude is coming from. Leaders of the various religions should do all they can to insure that the aspect of peace and love of their chosen doctrine is what being distinguished, not the violent side of the matter.
The “good side” of religion is surely the most present part of religion. As Mckinney and Zannoni explain “Religions can have a very powerful influence in society acting as pressure groups that challenge leaders and governments over issues of social justice and equity: fighting for the rights of the vulnerable, the voiceless and the dispossessed” McKinney and Zannoni (2015). It was easy to see those positive aspects of religion while growing in a poor community and religious home. How it could change a young trouble mans life for the better. A distress and innocent mind doesn’t always fall into the hands of people who are willing to lead them into doing something that could be considered wrong, religion has a positive result most of the time; “many religious ideologies ask individuals to love and respect one another (Hendrick & Hendrick, 2002)”. Most religions offer compassion, love and social togetherness that is focused on bettering the lives of our communities. These people are usually very involved with their fellow members and offer a very close sense community and togetherness. Others may reach out to religion as a way of coping with the loss of a loved one. The teachings of religion can be soothing and help bring hope to those who seem to have lost everything in their lives. And to a young mind religion can be the difference between life in prison or a life of love and spirituality. Scales and Leffert (2004) state that adolescent teens that are more involved in religiosity are less likely to engage in delinquent and other risk behaviors, and are more likely to engage in altruistic or pro-social behavior. To a person that grew up without parental guardians to set a good example for them, religion can substitute and offer valuable life lessons. Sometime young people find themselves in a difficult situation and without proper guidance, it is easy to see how a young venerable mind can be influenced and set on a path of violence. Even though religion can never replace the experience of parenthood in a child’s life, it can nurture a young mind help it understand conflict and logic. This is a very important part of religion and probably the most present of all positive aspects.
However, one must ask themselves; why does a child have to look for guidance and nurture from a church? Why weren’t the parent there to guide the child and rear it properly?
Is this the type of mindset that can make a rational mature decision? A child shouldn’t ever have to look for guidance from the church even as a last resort because he/she didn’t have love and support at home. Parenting in religion can have its drawbacks, sometimes following a religious doctrine can cripple a child socially because the child only knows how to interact with people of a religious background. Limiting the number and type of people he or she can interact with can have negative results. The harsh challenges of reality can be jarring, stressful for a young mind that was sheltered from physical and psychological distress. They can grow to except life only in the way religion makes them feel and when things just don’t go their presumed way, individual can feel trapped and intimidated.
Religion in most cases provides a sort of everlasting hope. One must only follow the doctrine word by word in order to be rewarded everlasting life in “heaven”. Heaven, of course is reserved for those who are faithful and loyal to the religion and accept the doctrine and its rule as life and routine. This can be a very power psychological tool to use on a mind that may be confused by the death of a loved one as a result of “unjust” war. Hope plays a big part in religious doctrine and can also be a useful coping mechanism in times of distress. When a person grows up poor and with very little, it is easy to give in to the hope that one day they will be happy in heaven and have all the riches in the world; never to suffer again.
Religion however is not a factual subject, faith and belief lays in one’s heart. The belief of life after death, and there being a place for “good people” and a place for “bad people” is completely conceptual. However a weak mind may take these concepts literality and his/her life through these influences what is right and wrong. Hope even in a subject like heaven where you get everything you ever wanted and are happy for the rest of eternity may sound good, but in my opinion its border line unethical. It isn’t fair to wave such rewards in the face of a person who is going through a difficult time in their live or is suffering through the loss of a loved one. If the individual belongs to a religious group, it is important that the religious group evaluates that individual and help him get through this psychological crisis before he/she can honestly devote themselves to any type of religious commitment.
In conclusion, religion itself can be very beneficial in anyone’s life, the lessons can be tough and trivial but they can be a great tool for those in need of psychological guidance and sense of pastoral care. However, religion doesn’t come without it set backs, it can also bring civilizations to their knees as Cortex did to the Aztec people or how the Islamic extremist have terrorized and killed thousands of people because of their religious believes. A child could be forced into a religious feud with no moral sense other than what the distorted view of someone’s violent agenda. The evaluation of one’s psychological mindset while in a religious group or while trying to join any religion is crucial, without proper psychological evaluations people can take a distorted view of religions and push a radical agendas, not knowing that they were primed because of their weak mindedness. A mindset that is not mature, understanding and comprehensive can be used as a powerful weapon. Loyalist and devoted followers can easily turn from being “good people”, being helpful in the community and a model citizen, to being a terrorist and harmful to those who oppose their views. Further research and studies are needed in order to effectively reach out to those confused and psychologically distressed people who aren’t ready to take on a big responsibility of religion and its teaching. One things is clear, if people are willing to see the good in life and understand the religion is a supplemental tool that can enhance life, this world could be an amazing place to live in for believers and non- believers alike.
References
Dogan, R. (2015). Global Terrorism and Islamic Radicalization: Analysis from Fethullah Gülen's Perspective. International Journal Of Religion & Spirituality In Society, 6(1), 71-85.
Gilad, C., & Stepanova, E. V. (2015). The Effect of Religious Priming on Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men. Psi Chi Journal Of Psychological Research, 20(4), 188-196. University Online. (2010).
Hendrick, S., & Hendrick, C. (2002). Love. In C. R. Synder & S. J. Lopez (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology (pp. 472-484). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Kalu, O. U., & Udeani, C. C. (2015). Religion, Conflict and the Roots of Violence. Intercultural Theology & Study Of Religions, 571-90.
McKinney, S. S., & Zannoni, F. f. (2015). Religion, Conflict and Education. Ricerche Di Pedagogia E Didattica, 10(1), 1-12.
Scales, P.C., & Leffert, N. (2004). Developmental assets: A synthesis of the scientific research on adolescent development. Minneapolis, MN Search institute
Vilaythong, 0 . 1 , Lindner, N. M., & Nosek, B. A. (2010). 'Do unto others’: Effects of priming the Golden Rule on Buddhists’ and Christians’ attitudes toward gay people. Journal for the Scientific Study o f Religion, 4 9,494-506. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5906.2010.01524.x
Zehnder, D. (2011). Negative Parental Influences on Religious Conversion: Implications for Pastoral Care. Pastoral Psychology, 60(4), 563-573. doi:10.1007/s11089-011-0367-2