Power of Religious Texts and Reasoning

Religious texts often become fundamental for individuals’ views and societies’ values, serving as the framework for the rules of the right conduct and behavior. In some cases, they tend to bear more significance for people than scientific research since their authority is rooted in hundreds and even thousands of years of use. According to some polls, half of Americans believe that the Bible must partially influence U.S. laws, which again shows a vital role religious texts play in the general public’s worldview (Lipka, 2020). Hence, religions continue to shape societies even today, that is why developing arguments based on religious texts make sense, even though they do not provide any reasoning for it.

For example, the basic commandments of “Thou shalt not kill” and “Thou shalt not steal” seem rather obvious nowadays, yet in earlier societies, they could be easily neglected. Moreover, argumentation that relied on these principles laid the groundwork for the laws of many countries. Authors of these laws used religious texts not because they gave the reasons why certain actions are wrong, but because they were granted by God and have been observed to be beneficial for their societies.

Every religion has a significant power to influence people’s perception, and for a long time, religious texts have been used as the foundation for thinkers to develop their arguments. Holy books, such as the Bible, the Quran, and the Upanishads do not provide any scientific evidence of why some actions are wrong, instead, they present moral guidelines that benefit both individuals and societies. Thus, using religious texts as a basis for arguments is reasonable since they have significant influence over societies, and their merit has been proven over centuries.

Reference

Lipka, M. (2020). Half of Americans say Bible should influence U.S. laws, including 28% who favor it over the will of the people. Pew Research Center. Web.