Religion contribution to civilization

What is religion?
Religion is usually defined as a social-cultural system of designated behaviors and
practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or
organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural and spiritual elements.
There are more than 10000 distinct kinds of religions on our living planet. About 84% of
the world’s population is related with Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, or some
form of folk religion. The rest of the percentage of the population is affiliated with
atheists and the agnostics who don’t believe any kind of religious beliefs. They live with
their own rules and beliefs.

What is civilization?
The word civilization relates to the Latin word civitas or city. A civilization is a
complex human society. Most anthropologists and scholars claim that civilization is the
stage of human social and cultural development and organization that is considered most
advanced. But the specific meaning is still in flux.

Characteristics of civilization

**Cities

They were an important part of the earliest civilizations, and still are
today. The first cities served As centers for

religion, government, and culture . The rise of cities is considered the main
feature of civilization. The worlds first civilizations Developed independently in a
number of cities around the world. These include: Mesopotamia, East- Egypt and
China.

**Organized government

As civilization developed, so did the need for government. Food Supply

and irrigation systems needed to be .Governments, such as group councils or
religious leaders, Began to manage the business created by people living in cities.
This was important because all of the necessary Resources of cities needed to be
well-managed to function

Properly. Many rulers also relied on royal officials to help them govern by
creating laws, collecting taxes, and Providing defense. Many early rulers claimed
that they were given their right to Rule from the gods, and many of their decisions
were based On pleasing the gods.

**Writing

In early civilizations, the main purpose of writing was to record trade in

order to buy and sell the number of different goods. People also used writing to
record food storage. Pictographs was the very first writing system in the history of
human beings. These are Simple drawings that look like the item the picture
represents. Hieroglyphics (hi-row-glif-ics) in Ancient Egypt are an example of
pictographs. In Mesopotamia, they developed a more complex writing system
Called cuneiform (cu-nay-a-form) which represented words, syllables, and letters.
As writing systems Became more complex over time, only trained people called
scribes could read and write.

Archaeologists have found ancient writings in different parts of the world and
have found that these

Language systems developed at different times in history. They have found

ancient writings on clay

Tablets and vases, stone statues, and some on building walls.

**Art and architecture

People in early civilizations produced great works of art, music, and

literature. They were responsible for impressive building projects, which led to
different architecture styles around the World.

The desire to express one's beliefs and feelings grew as early civilizations did.
The arts and

Architecture of ancient civilizations show the talents and values of the people who
created Them. Temples and palaces were often the center of ancient cities. The
buildings and the statues aimed for their government and religions Power and
strength.

**Job specialization

Job specialization allowed for people to develop And contribute important

skills to help maintain their civilization. That means the individual only have to
emphasize on their respective skill or task but not in all. People in early
civilizations were Farmers. Rulers and soldiers helped to protect and keep their
civilization. Priests specialized in religious ceremonies. Merchants sold goods in
the Marketplace or to other civilizations. Artisans, made pottery, Jewelry, or finely
 carved or woven goods. Singers, Dancers, and storytellers would provide
entertainment during public occasions. Having job specialization Made people
dependent on one another for their various needs. These also leaded to the social
classes.

However,

There are many societies that scholars consider civilizations that do not
meet all of the criteria above. For example, the Incan Empire(Empire1400-1533)
was a large civilization with a government and social hierarchy. It left behind a
wealth of art, and had highly developed architecture but no written language. This
is why the concept of civilization is hard to define; however, it is still a helpful
framework with which to view how humans come together and form a society.

**Religion contribution to civilization

Early civilizations were often unified by religion, a system of beliefs and

behaviors that deal with the meaning of existence. As more and more people
shared the same set of beliefs and practices, people who did not know each other
could find common ground and build mutual trust and respect. It was typical for
politics and religion to be strongly connected. In some cases, religious leaders act
as political leaders directly or indirectly. It means that they participate in religious
roles of religion and also in political cases. For example, the Egypt kings called
pharaohs practiced divine kingship, claiming to be rulers, or even human
incarnations, of gods. Religion also contributed to the art and architecture (portion
of civilization).As the prominent result, the pyramid, the ancient Buddhist
pagodas, and ancient churches around the world are contained in this contribution.
The contribution is also related to economics. Different merchants from different
civilizations have their own beliefs and behaviors of their respective religion.
They abandoned one city from [Link] only they sold and bought the things
but also they left different kinds of religious beliefs where they had been to. In
that way, religion was spread.

How Religion contribute Arts?

· Relationship between Arts and Religion

Arts and religion have a big connection to each other and it shaped the history around the
[Link] can also promote the growth of art, art can provide spiritual values and religious
norms, and can have a major [Link] religion and arts require physical and intellectual human
skills for their creation. Art communicates religious beliefs, customs and values through
iconography,literature,sculpture,music and performances. Without the arts,religion would not be
a major thing today and not a lot of people will follow it because people need proof of why they
should worship and believe in God.
 ● How do believers express their faith in Arts?

Throughout history,Artists use their artworks to express their faith in many [Link]
such as Christianity,Buddhism and Hinduism use works of Art in the interiors and exteriors of
the places of worship as a way of connecting Gods with [Link] include a wide range of
decorative arts,including; Calligraphy,ceramics, crafts, icons, illuminated manuscripts,
metalwork, mosaic, stained glass, tapestry and [Link] often tell stories of the origin
of faith,commandments, or display important [Link] and Jews believe that God is too
great to try to capture in pictures or sculptures, so they find other ways to decorate their holy
spaces look beautiful. Many mosques will have beautiful calligraphy and geometric patterns,
while synagogues are often decorated with pictures of plants, trees and religious [Link]
Hinduism,Music and dance are important forms of artistic [Link] festivals and
celebrations involve dancing and [Link] instance,Diwali celebrations, dances were performed
to symbolize themes of the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over
ignorance.

● Why is religious arts important in civilization??

Religion is not only necessary but a very significant part of our lives. Most people
would find it very difficult to live without religion or [Link] Religious art is
important too because it can strengthen religion as well as civilization. People might not
know the words of God without the works of [Link] keep religious traditions alive and
make it easier for individuals to visualize a concept or event otherwise that is difficult to
imagine through the use of words. For instance,Religious scripture teach us habits that we
need to develop to live life in right relationship with God, ourself, others, and things and
guide us what to do or don'[Link] images show the evolution of civilization,how
people were influenced by religion and how much they were [Link] religious
songs or gospel songs sometimes give us strength,relieving pain, elevating negative
mood, and facilitating finding meaning in [Link] Iconography let many of
the mysteries of the faith to be explained in a more visual way, and can help individuals
understand the key message of God and the [Link] arts speak to the minds
and hearts of different individuals and are useful for convincing non-believers to adopt a
particular religious belief or religious culture.

Impact of religion on economy

Religion plays a vital role in the development and maintenance of the economy . Also ,
Religious practice is an efficient and effective catalyst of socio-economic growth .Religion
affects economic decision-making by establishing social standards and shaping individual
personalities. According to the 2015 study by ‘Jeffrey Callen and Xiaohua Fang of the
University of Washington’ ,companies in counties with higher religiosity had fewer instances of
manager bad-news-holding and, correspondingly, significantly lower levels of future stock price
crash [Link] that located in areas with high religiosity took less risk and experienced less
value destruction in times of crisis.
Economic Revenue of religious organizations
In the United States , religious organizations produce substantial economic revenue ,
provide substantial social capital through its civic and social networks and foster human capital
growth in its citizens . Religion annually contributes about $1.2 trillion of socio-economic value
to the United States economy according to the 2016 study by the Religious Freedom and
Business Foundation . It is more than the global annual revenues of the world’s top ten tech
companies such as Apple, Amazon and Google . That is also 50% larger than the global annual
revenues of America’s six largest oil and gas companies .
These contributions consist of three general categories ,
1. Religious congregations ($418 billion)
2. Religious institutions such as universities , charities ,and healthcare ($303 billion)
3. Faith-based , faith-related or faith-inspired business($437 billion)
Religious congregations like “ churches , synagogues , mosques , temples , and chapels “ – of
every denomination add $418 billion to the American economy annually . Congregations spend
$84 billion on their operations, ranging from paying hundreds of thousands of personnel, to
paying for goods and services as diverse as flowers, sounds systems,maintenance and utilities
each year .
Healthcare :
Religious organizations partner with public health institutions to provide health-related
services and resources that promote physical and mental well-being . The 2014 annual revenue
of U.S. faith-based hospitals and health systems with an active religious affiliation was $161
billion, as reported by the Brian and Melissa Grimm’s calculations of 100 top-grossing U.S.
hospitals and the 100 top integrated health systems.
Charities :
There were fifty largest U.S. charities cited by Forbes magazine in 2014 and twenty of
them were faith-based . Those twenty charities made an annual revenue of $45.3 billion.
Media:
Revenue of faith-based or faith-related media that include religious books, religious
television networks (CBN and EWTN), were estimated at $0.9 billion, according to Brian and
Melissa Grim’s calculations.
Food:
Kosher (Jewish) and Halal (Muslim) food sales had a combined revenue of $14.4 billion (in 2014
and 2011 .Food sales for various religious holidays also significantly impacts the
[Link] to a 2013 estimate, Christmas purchases amounted to more than $3 trillion
and led to the hiring of 768,000 additional employees.
The religious organizations have a great impact on US economic growth.

How religion contributes and controls the administration aspect in civilization

There are many good examples to describe how religion contributes and controls the
administration aspect in civilization. Here, the Crusade will be expressed as a good example
along with this category.

What is Crusade?

The Crusades were a series of religious wars between Christians and Muslims. It was
started primarily to secure control of holy sites which are considered sacred by both groups. All
the eight major crusades expeditions occurred between 11th century and 13th century, also in the
duration of the Dark ages (5th – 14th centuries). The bloody, violent and ruthless conflicts
propelled the status of European Christians, making them major players in the fight for land in
the Middle East.

Who were the Crusaders?

At those times, the Byzantine Empire had lost considerable territory to the invading
Saljuk Turks. In 1081, the Byzantine throne had controlled over the remaining empire as
Emperor Alexius I. In 1095, Alexius sent envoys to Pope Urban II and asking for mercenary
troops from the West to help confront the Turkish threat. At those times, the relations between
Christians in the East and West had long been touchy, though Alexius’s request had improved the
situation. By the help of Pope Urban II, the Crusades could set the tremendous responses and
stage for several religious knightly military elite as well as ordinary citizens. Along with this, the
motley crew included children, adolescents, women, the elderly and the poor citizens were
cooperated in this war.

Who started the Crusade and how powerful was the Pope?

Urban obtained special support in southern Europe: his particularly faithful allies were
the Normans of southern Italy and Sicily. In Spain, Urban supported the Christian reconquest of
the country from the Moors and carried out the ecclesiastical reorganization of the country. In
southern Italy, southern France, and Spain, kings and princes became vassals of the Roman ,
concluded treaties and concordats in feudal form with the pope: by this the temporal rulers
sought to secure their independence from more powerful lords, and the pope for his part was able
to carry out his reform aims in these territories.
 In 1098, he worked for a reunion between Greek Christians and Rome; and in 1099 at
Rome, where again reform legislation was passed. Urban’s idea for a Crusade is to reconcile the
Latin and Greek churches sprang from his idea; the unity of all Christendom and from his
experiences with the struggles against the Muslims in Spain and Sicily. He was, for a while, able
to attract the Byzantine emperor Alexius I to his plans but never the Greek churches.

By the request of Alexius, Pope Urban II made the most influential speech at the Council
of Clermont in 1095 the Middle Ages, giving raised to the Crusades by calling a Christians in
Europe to war against Muslims in order to reclaim the Holy Land and, with a cry of “Deus vult!”
or “God wills it!”

Whereas the First Crusade led to military success with the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099,
the project for union failed. Urban’s pontificate not only led to a further centralization of the
Roman Catholic Church but also to the expansion of papal administration; it contributed to the
development of the Roman Curia, the administrative body of the papacy, and to the gradual
formation of the College of Cardinals.

Urban died in Rome in 1099. Despite many problems that were still unsolved, the victory
of medieval reform papacy was secured. Urban was beatified in 1881 by Pope Leo XIII.

Political impacts of the Crusades

The political system changed in a big way in Europe after the crusades. It changed from
feudal system to monarchy. The social structure increased to a higher class as serfs gained more
rights and freedom. Before the crusades, the politics in the Western Europe practiced a feudal
system where people got protection from barbarians in exchange for service to the Lords. After
the crusades, feudalism started to collapse.

Effects and consequences of the Crusades on Civilization

The Crusade caused 2 to 6 million death toll only from Western Europe, whose
population was 60 to 79 million at those times which meant that 4% to 10% died in that war.

While the Crusades ultimately resulted in defeat for Europeans and a Muslim victory,
many argue that they successfully extended the reach of Christianity and Western Civilization.
The Roman Catholic Church experienced an increase in wealth, and the power of the Pope was
elevated after the Crusades ended. This is how religion could contribute in the administration
perspective of civilization even further. After the Crusades, there was a heightened interest in
travel and learning throughout Europe, which some historians believe may have paved the way
for the Renaissance. There is no question that the years of bloody conflict brought by the
Crusades had an impact on Middle East and Western European nations for many years, and still
influence political and cultural views and opinions held today.
 The Crusades contributed to increase the wealth of the Church and the power of the
papacy. This movement helped to solidify the control of the Pope on the Church and made
central financial innovations to the operations of the Church. The Pope often collected taxes to
pay for crusades, taxes taken directly from people and without any assistance from local political
leaders. Many people also gave their goods to the Church in exchange for papal blessings. The
Pope's main role in the Crusades naturally increased his authority and influence by placing the
armies and resources of Christianity in his hands. He also accustomed people to see the popes as
guides and leaders.

Thousands of crusaders, returning home defeated in health and spirit, sought asylum in
retreats of the cloister and enriched the establishments to which they entered with their goods.
Besides this, the great number of ordinary gifts of the papacy was fattened by the extreme
fervor of religious enthusiasm that characterized this period.

Impact of religion on conflicts between civilizations

Religion is a soft yet powerful force in the world, so it’s not surprising it has resulted in
tremendous conflicts between civilizations throughout history. Religion’s contribution to
civilization can not be understood without accounting the role of religion and religious conflicts.
The major challenge of civilizations or communities remains as to end those existing religious
conflicts and prevent further news.

Who connects religion and violence, and why are there religious wars?

Since the awakening of religion, wars have been fought in the name of different gods and
goddesses. Still today most violent conflicts contain religious elements linked up with other
[Link] conflicts are couched in religious terms, they become transformed into value
conflicts, unlike other issues, such as resource conflicts which can be resolved by pragmatic and
distributive means, have no tendency of rational solution. If religion will, to a greater extent, be
misused by governments or supreme leaders to pursue their interests, it tends to become
tenacious and brutal types of wars, threatening people’s lives.

Wars with a religious dimension

In december 1992, 24 wars were counted with a religious background.

1. Myanmar/Burma 1948 Buddhist vs. Christians
2. Israel/Palestinian 1968 Jews vs. Arab (Muslims-Christians)
3. Northern Ireland 1969 Catholic vs. Protestants
4. Philippines (Mindanao) 1970Muslim vs. Christians (Catholics)
 5. Bangladesh 1973 Buddhist vs. Christians
6. Lebanon 1975 Shites supported by Syria (Amal) vs. Shites supported by Iran (Hebollah)
7. Ethiopia (Oromo) 1976 Muslims vs. Central government
8. India (Punjab) 1982 Sikhs vs. Central government
9. SudanWITH 1983 Muslims vs. Native religions
10. Mali-Tuareg Nomads 1990 Muslims vs. Central government\
11. Azerbejdzan 1990 Muslims vs. Christian Armenians
12. India (Kashmir) 1990 Muslims vs. Central government (Hindu)
13. Indonesia (Aceh) 1990 Muslims vs. Central government (Muslim)
14. Iraq 1991 Sunnites vs. Shites
15. Yugoslavia (Croatia) 1991 Serbian orthodox Christians vs. Roman Catholic Christians
16. Yugoslavia (Bosnia) 1991 Orthodox Christians vs. Catholic vs. Mulsims
17. Afghanistan 1992 Fundamentalist Muslims vs Moderate Muslims
18. Tadzhikistan 1992 Mulsims vs. Orthodox Christians
19. Egypt 1977 Muslims vs. Central government (Muslim) Muslims vs. Coptic Christians
20. Tunisia 1978 Muslims vs. Central government (Muslim)
21. Algeria 1988 Muslims vs. Central government
22. Uzbekistan 1989 Sunite Uzbeks vs. Shiite Meschetes
23. India (Uttar-Pradesh) 1992 hindus vs. Muslims
24. Sri Lanka 1983 Hindus vs. Muslims

Religion had and still has contributed and controlled the conflicts within or between
civilizations

Here, as a notable example of religious conflicts, the Thirty Years Wars, which were held
to have begun in 1618, was primarily fought between Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians.
The war broke out when the holy roman emperor, Ferdinand 2, tried to impose Roman
Catholicism on all his subjects, causing Protestant Christians to rebel. It was a series of wars that
took place between various nations. Many of the battles were fought on German soil, but
numerous European countries were involved in the war, including Sweden, France, Spain, and
Austria. The war involved widespread atrocities and resulted in millions of casualties. Thirty
years later, in 1648, the peace of Westphalia ended the conflict, and ultimately reshaped the
European map, allowing for the emergence of new nation-states.

Conclusion of Religion Contribution to Civilization

As there are so many advantages and disadvantages in the civilization which is

contributed by religion, that shapes the current world’ perspective. In the history of mankind,
religion has always contributed in some way. Religion was involved from the beginning to the
end of the civilization. In the world's first civilization known as Mesopotamian, there is a kind of
religion which is called polytheisticAt the beginning of civilization, there was the development
of literature, arts, economics, culture and so on which is mostly related with religion. Above
topics have shown that religion involves mostly every sector in ancient society. Because of
religion, good things happened in civilization. On the other hand, the misuse of religion impacts
not only the whole civilization but also the other civilization or the regional stability. As an
example, the Spanish invasion of the American continent is a huge mistake of mankind and
misuse of religion. Almost all of the indigenous red Indians were slaughtered and their
civilization including arts and religion was wiped out in the name of God. Because of western
civilization, the indigenous civilization was gone. In the 21st century, the civilizations known
today are Western Civilization, South Asian Civilization, South East Asian Civilization, East
Asian Civilization and Islamic Civilization. Although the 21 st century World has changed a lot
than in the past, there is one civilization that is still contributed by religion which is known as the
Islamic Civilization of the 21st Century. There are problems in 21st century civilization which are
based on religious ideology. In Middle Eastern Countries, their constitutions are based on
religious ideology which is not flexible for the countries that accept globalization. For example,
women in Afghanistan are now restricted in most of the sector according to Sharia Law. In
conclusion, religion did not only good things but also bad things to civilization and hope there
will be more peace with religion.
Reference
National Geographic Society (2019). Civilizations. [online] National Geographic Society.
Available at: [Link]

[Link]. (2000). [Link] | Free Online Encyclopedia. [online] Available at:

[Link]

[Link]. (2017). Free Essays, Term Papers, Research Paper, and Book Report. [online]
Available at: [Link]

BBC (2019). BBC - Home. [online] BBC Homepage. Available at: [Link]

Art+Culture Projects. (n.d.). Art+Culture Projects. [online] Available at:

[Link]

World Economic Forum. (2021). The World Economic Forum. [online] Available at:
[Link]

The Crusades: A Complete History. (n.d.).

[Link]. (n.d.). The Crusades. [online] Available at:

[Link]

George Mason University. (n.d.). Home. [online] Available at: [Link]

Harvard University. (2019). Harvard. [online] Available at: [Link]

[Link]. (n.d.). Fall of Tenochtitlan (1521) - Spanish-Aztec War DOCUMENTARY.

[online] Available at: [Link] .
‌ orld, R. (n.d.). Afghanistan: Women hold protest in Kabul, call on Taliban to let them return to
W
work. [online] Republic World. Available at:
[Link]
[Link] [Accessed 13 Jun.
2022].‌