SOCIAL CHANGE AND RELIGION

Francis Effect features impact of ecclesiastic activities of the Catholic Church on people’s lives around the world. It elaborates on new ways that the church is tackling issues affecting the faithful in different parts of the world, and how such new approaches are affecting the reputation of the church. Pope Francis is the head of the Catholic Church who is based in the Vatican. The character traits of humility and closeness to the poor have made the pontiff to accept by many people.
Pope Francis can be termed as a leader with intention of reforming the Catholic Church which has faced some scandals in the recent past.He wants to restore the glory of the church. Owing to his traits, the pope is neither revolutionary nor Marxist .He wants the Catholic to align itself more with the changing realities in the society. His vow against poverty intends to attract more efforts from governments and other organizations to reduce suffering of people around the world. This is the goal of the church other than spreading the gospel.
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Jewish, Christian, and Islamic monotheism affect each other in regards to the sources of moral standards that govern social interactions. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam consider God as the single of a source of morality that guides society on the ethical principles that govern social interactions. These moral standards have existed for centuries and seldom change to accommodate the social and political realities. On the other hand, Radical Enlightenment conflicted the monotheistic standards as it sought for secularization of all interactions that touched on public life.

The movement promoted secular values such as democracy, equality, and justice, among others. Also, proponents advocated for political organizations that sought to fight ignorance and superstitions in the society as a basis for moral standards. Moreover, they fought against theological principles that acted as source morality and ethical behaviors. In effect, theological dominance of education was denounced, and the promotion of the moral principles that allowed people to explore all possibilities of knowledge as a source of standard morals was emphasized.
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Western bourgeoisie’s attitude differs sharply from that of the proletariat. In the pre-modern era, the bourgeoisie considered religion and essential element of sustaining their social class. It was used to control the proletariat with the aim of making more money, which was critical for sustainability of the social class. Historical studies show that the bourgeoisie kept a close association with the church but did not exhibit most of the teachings of the church. Often, they were business people who made profits through practices that were against Christendom and by receiving assistance from the political elite.
Dishonesty, insincerity, and hypocrisy continue due to the frosty relationships between the business people and the proletariat. The bourgeoisie would want to continue making profits through exploitation of the proletariat due to the intergeneration disadvantaged created as a result of the centuries of domination of the bourgeoisie over the proletariat. Essentially, the bourgeoisie profits from the economic disadvantage of the proletariat. Despite the ability of the proletariat to read the Bible, and knowing the teachings Christianity, the economic advantage of the bourgeoisie continues to hinder their ability to protect themselves from the exploitation. This is a result of the close connection of the bourgeoisie with the political elite.
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An assertion of cognitivist’s that people should follow a natural religion which is rooted in the discoveries of the brain is wrong. This is relation to the source and foundation of religion itself. It is not founded on logical results as the cognitivist’s propose. It is crucial to acknowledge that religion is rooted in the innate beliefs of an individual in regards to his/ her existence. Such convictions are based on social-cultural settings of the involved persons. These convictions have been passed on from one generation to another for centuries, making them an important aspect of the social lives of people. Also, some of the brain discoveries involve some of belief in one way or another.For this reason, it cannot be said that all activities of the mind follow a path of proofs in its quest for the truth about the world.
During the era of Galileo people began making discoveries about the world through logical interpretations of the planet. They no longer relied on religious teachings to interpret the mysteries of the world. Although this shift caused discomfort among the clergy and political elite, it represented a significant cognitive development of the human mind. Since then, however, science has developed to great heights. But such developments have not eliminated religion in the society. This means that religion is fundamental to human existence. Therefore, there is no need to worry about its future existence.
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Changes in the society are affecting how people interpret ethics. Post-modernity justice borrows from secular laws to provide the source of ethics. Morality can longer be considered as behaving according to the Christian religious teachings. The post-modern era persons see ethics as the product of moral principles that promote fairness and equality in all aspects of people’s lives .On the other hand, Christian ethics borrows from the Doctrines of the church as the sole source for moral standards. Any person that goes against such teachings is considered unethical. The two sources of morals have often shown conflicts as the post-modern era puts more emphasis on people’s justice.
Justice ethics is unlikely to replace Christian ethics. Christian religion as a source of moral standards is going to be passed from one generation to another. This means that such values will continue to be part of the Christians in the future. What is likely to happen is that persons who are not Christians or liberal Christians will accommodate more secular values as a source of ethics and morality.
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Auschwitz represents those occasions that religious groups have been subjected to suffering as a way of reducing religious allegiance to their religions. Specifically, it is significant in explaining the untold suffering and torture that Jews underwent under the leadership of Fascist governments in Europe during the 1930s and the 1940s.During the period, Jews many were murdered which destroyed the body of the affected persons but did not kill the determination of the faithful of the religion. Like other martyrs, the massacres only affected the body but religion is more than the life of an individual as it concerns itself with a higher calling of spirituality. On the contrary, this suffering has helped many members of the religion to reorganize and continue to worship freely in the post-modern era. For this reason, it cannot be said that Auschwitz is the end of Judaism.
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Religion is as old as the human race. It will continue to exist with the existence of humanity on planet Earth. This position is motivated by the fact that so long as people exist, they will continue relating their lives to the existence of a Supreme Being or Superior forces that control the events on Earth. Evidently, there have been attempts to subvert religious activities by the political forces. For instance, members of the Christian and Islamic faiths experienced repeated persecutions during the early spread of the religions, but that did not prevent the further spread of these religions.Similarly, the Jews were persecuted in the early development of the faith and during the reign of Adolf Hitler, but this did not destroy the religion. These events show that religion will always be part of humanity. Religions will only undergo changes depending on the social realities of a particular era.
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Hitler’s persecution of religious groups destroyed the body aspect of religion, but the spiritual aspect (which is the foundation of religious beliefs) continued to thrive. As historical evidence suggests, the more certain religious groups were persecuted, the further their beliefs spread. Although the body is an important element of worship, people consider the spiritual purity of the soul as the way of relating with God. In other words, the body mass of an individual may not be considered as serious blow to the wiliness of the people to promote religious beliefs. Religion promises more than what is physical. This explains the reason why people with strong religious beliefs sacrifice their lives for a religious cause. Thus, Hitler does not destroy the Messianic hope of Christians, Muslims, and Jews when he carries out persecution against a people of the mentioned faiths.