Religion and EducationSince the beginning of humanity, every civilization has shown evidence of some sort of religious and educational institutions. These institutions are essential to organized human society. Whether it's teaching your grandson how to assemble a tomahawk or worshiping the Greek god of war, people demonstrate religion and education in different ways. What does it mean to be religious? This means almost everything, because religions deal with human life and death as a whole. For centuries, men have searched for the meaning and truth of their own nature and the nature of the universe. Religions are the result. We view religions as communities of people who share practices and beliefs, who gather in special buildings to worship, and who have a particular way of life. More than three-quarters of the world's population consider themselves members of some religion. Religion touches almost every aspect of human life. It can influence marriage, work and even food. Religion has existed for thousands of years and will continue for many more. There are thousands of religions and thousands of other subdivisions of them. Religions are divided mainly into ancient and modern religions. This is not to say that “modern” religions were born a few years ago, but they are still practiced today. Some of the ancient religions include Egyptian, Zoroastrianism, Greek, Roman, Norse and Celtic. The beliefs of these religions vary greatly and you could write an article on each of them. Among the major modern religions, Christianity and Islam are the most popular in the world. Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Judaism and many others are still practiced throughout the world. Hinduism and Buddhism are mainly practiced in the Far East. Christianity is most widespread in English-speaking countries. Islam is the main religion of the African continent. There are thousands of variations of the religions I mentioned above. Religion and power have been closely linked over the past millennium. Powerful leaders took advantage of people's religion. Religion has to do with one's mind and if a leader controls religion, he controls the minds of his followers. In the past, priests and church leaders played an important role in learning. Before this time, only the rich had the luxury of education. Everyone in the country pays taxes to support the institution. This money is used to develop schools and pay teachers. In turn, anyone can enroll in the school at no additional cost. This system is based on a theory of equality of opportunity. Everyone has the opportunity to learn if they want to. In the film School Ties, a boy experiences prejudice at a private religious school. He belonged to the lower class of society, which put him at a disadvantage. People did not give him respect because of his father's little income. He was used to going to a public school and therefore had not experienced the close bonds with his classmates that exist in private establishments. He did well at first until religion showed up. He was Jewish and the school he attended was Catholic. These religions are in conflict and he has been discriminated against because of his beliefs. He lost friends and respect because he believed differently. Whenever people are different, they suffer from discrimination. This was proven true in School Ties. This article is property of NetEssays.Net 1999-2005