by Timothy Dumont Jr.

Created on: September 14, 2009   Last Updated: September 16, 2009

To say that being religious wasn't important would be a lie, but saying that it's the most important thing would be giving it to much credit. So what is the importance of being religious? Should we live a life that revolves around it, or should we neglect it and take the risk of divine retribution?

In order to understand the importance of being religious, you need to understand exactly what religion is. Religion is a personal or institutionalized system of beliefs and practices concerning reverence to a supernatural power or powers that created and govern our universe. First, let's all understand that the name of the supernatural power or powers doesn't matter, because even if it was God or Zeus it would still be being religious if you followed the beliefs and practices. So we can just cut them out completely. In the end, being religious is simply following the systematic beliefs and practices concerning the creation and governing of our universe. This doesn't get us any closer to understanding the importance of being religious but it does clarify a few things.

A.) Being religious does not mean that it concerns God or any other known celestial being in the exclusion of all others.

B.) Being religious does not mean that a large amount of people must practice the teachings of your religion in order for it to count.

C.) Being religious does mean that the beliefs you are following concern the governing and creation of the universe as we know it.

The human race is a curious bunch and as such they find themselves questioning the universe and all the workings of it. However, learning those answers is similar to walking up steps, If one step is missing, it's harder to go up but if five steps are missing it's virtually impossible to continue. In fact when learning about the creation and governing of our universe, those missing steps are feared and sometimes mentally lethal. So as humans we must fill in those steps with something strong to hold us up as we ascend those stairs of understanding. In this way religion is important.

Don't understand? Here - let me give you an example: in the world today more people kill themselves than each other. An average of one person every sixteen minutes dies by suicide. One reason someone would commit such a heinous act upon themselves is that they believe there is no reason to go on living because when they die all they've done will be lost effectively making them dead already. This is a good example of what happens when a step, as mentioned above, is not filled in with religion. In most religions there is an afterlife, a reason for why we are here, and a reward for if we do well in this life. Using this belief people fill in that missing step, and many others, till they find themselves mentally stable again.

Being religious, whether the religion is true or not, is important because it contributes to the mental stability of the human race when faced with a question we can't answer, or something we can't understand. Maybe humans could have lived without religion before it was created but as of now religion and all of it's practices are so ingrown in us that we cannot survive without it.

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