Are you also confused that you should focus more on religion or on your cultural aspects for the delivery of your thoughts and emotions, for spending your life, for having an influence on your personality and your beliefs? People seem to be unable to tell the difference between culture and religion when they are confronted with it. What does it mean to be cultural? What exactly is religion? How much of an impact do they have on our lives? What does it mean to follow a religion more than culture? Or is it more beneficial to follow culture more than your religion? Well, knowing about the best practices and the right path to follow is very important and needs attention. But actually, should we believe more in our religion or in our culture?

In this article, we will discuss the difference between culture and religion, the influence they are having on our lives and which one is more reliable to follow. So, let’s get into the discussion of this study.

 What is the Difference between Religion and Culture?

Religion is a belief system that point at divinity. It’s something that may or may not be something common by each individual in a culture. Culture is just a knowledge base by people over years of living together in a society. Cultural heritage refers to the collective body of knowledge that each individual has accumulated over the course of years spent living in a particular society. It is easy to figure out why people behave the way they do when one fully understands the concept of culture. Some of the more than 10,000 religious traditions practised around the world are probably unknown to you. Christian, Muslim, and Hinduism are the three major world religions, with a combined population of 2.3 billion people. Around 1.2 billion people, on the other hand, are agnostic, atheist, or secular in their religious beliefs.

Religion can be a counting factor having an influence over your behaviour, emotions, thoughts and your actions at the same time. Culture is the rituals and events of an area that keep changing from time to time. Spending your life according to the cultural aspects, the cultural values can have a negative impact because these values keep on changing from time to time and this can create a discontinuity in your beliefs and thoughts.

Other differences between Culture and Religion :

• Religion basically focuses on God and the Creator of the Universe. So, the vision is always clear and the values never change because of the unchanging nature of beliefs. On the other hand, culture follows the norms and traditions going on those days therefore, it keeps on changing and has no firm basis. So, you can say that prioritizing following a culture more than religion can be less reliable.
• In cultural terms, it’s all about how people have changed over time, including their ideas and behaviours. Revelation, but on the other hand, is what religion is all about: receiving revelation from God.
• Religion is formally documented in divinely inspired holy scriptures, whereas culture is more concretely demonstrated by the behaviour of people within a community.
• Culture evolves over time, whereas religious principles are set in stone from the beginning.
• The motivations and manifestations of cultural expression reveal the connection between culture and religion. The specific religious way in which people experience and comprehend the world if culture expresses it.

Must Read: What is Emotional Intelligence?

Influence of Religion and Culture on a Person:

How has religion influenced your life? People who have never practised religion are more likely to come into contact with religious beliefs than those who have. This could be through a friend or relative who opens up about their religious beliefs to us, or it could be through conflicts around the world that have religious roots.

We must distinguish between culture and religion if we are to understand how each affects our actions and behaviours. We can ask Do all Muslim ladies wear their hijab in the same way? Has Christmas been celebrated the same way by all Christians worldwide? Do Hindu temples all over the world have the same traditions? People tend to ignore the fact that their cultures have a significant impact on how they practise their religion, even if those practices conflict with one another.

Religion can have an impact on a lot more than just one person’s daily routine. Beliefs and practices like these have the power to shape an entire society, country, or region. The practices of religion influence and are influenced by the culture in which they are practised.

Must Read: How to live a decent life?

Which is more reliable to follow: Religion or Culture?

Religion is always undoubtedly more reliable as the beliefs and thought processes don’t change and stay the same. Religion is always more reliable as it always has a defined path and defined destination towards which it takes its believers and prevents them from any misguidance. On the other hand, the changing nature of culture takes a person to chaos and leads to confusion.

Religion has a positive impact on people’s lives when they find meaning, comfort, and justice in it. Religious societies can also foster social cohesion by fostering a sense of common values.

Religion gives people a sense of direction in life, as well as a sense of meaning and justice. This often comes in the form of a belief in the hereafter, where all of the wrongs done on this planet will be evaluated and rectified. Religious and spiritual involvement has been linked to better healthcare outcomes, including longer life expectancy, better coping skills and better wellness life quality (even in terminal illness), and lower rates of anxiety, depression and suicide in the majority of studies.

Also Read: Why do we have to believe in an religion?