 |
Title: Religion and taboo
The program of some educational institutions may require students to write a religion essay. Since its origin, the religion has always been a subject of research. Therefore, do not be surprised if you have to write a religion essay. You can build your essay about religion on various topics if you are not limited to a specific one. There are many good topics about religion to choose from. We offer you to read a religion essay sample made by one of our writers. If you decide to use it, do not forget to cite it properly.
[...]
A taboo is a strong social ban concerning any area of human activity or social custom stated as sacred and forbidden. Breaking of the taboo is often regarded objectionable by a society. In some cultures, a taboo often has particular religious associations. In any religion there exist taboos as many religions determine not just things people are to do, like sacrifice and ritual, but as well things they are not do: eating particular foods, putting on certain clothes, communicating with people of other religions or of lower status.
[...]
Taboos are some of the most essential aspects of religion because they often socially separate people of different religions. Prohibitions and taboos concerning food and clothing present in many religions. They usually serve to keep distinct people and things meant to be significantly different: men and women, high and low-status people, meat and milk products and so on. Taboos about food - what to eat, when to eat it, with whom to eat it - are of primary significance in many religions.
[...]
Sigmund Freud is a member of a group of thinkers who is against religion in its formal expression, but at the same time he analyzes basic religious notions and relate them to the human psyche. Freud was Jewish but he never practiced his religion and thought that every religion was an illusion that had developed to suppress particular neurotic symptoms in humans. In his books “Totem and Taboo”, “The Future of an Illusion” and “Moses and Monotheism” Freud supposed that religion developed as a response to human feelings of helpless concerning a world they cannot control.
[...]
At the same time the religious rituals were created to defend the human ego from sexual desires and fantasies which had been suppressed as the Church considered such things as peccable. To compensate this ritualistic sacrifice, religion promises an after-life, which will render the believer for the pleasures they have refused. Freud also believed that the concept of an after-life had the extra function of lowering the fear of death. Actually, one could say that Freud considers that any religion is founded on the premise of fear.
[...]
Another point of view concerning religious taboos is expressed by Mary Douglas, an influential anthropologist. In her well-known book “Purity and Danger” she argues that culture's taboos can reveal many interesting facts concerning its sense of its own identity. For instance, she analyzes the dietary restrictions noted down in the Biblical book of Leviticus. These rules forbid to eat pork and shellfish, as it is known, but lions, rabbits, vultures, camels, and many other foods, are forbidden too. Both Douglas and Freud believe that unconscious motivations drive religious prohibitions.
[...]
Find more religion essay samples at Essay-Paper.net today.
|
|
