Editing Religion (section)

==Role in Society==
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{{topquote|Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.|Napoleon Bonaparte}}

While it varies depending on the society and the religion in question, at least as long as human civilization has existed, religiosity has existed and has almost always been interconnected.  There is no human civilization in real-life where religion was never part of its development.  Even every society that pursued secularization or [[Imperial Truth|state atheism]] started off with some baseline religion that was there before it.  Also, of all the lifeforms on Earth, religion is only found among humans, the most advanced lifeforms on the planet.

A person's religious beliefs (for or against) are a major factor in their worldview, often being the undercurrent for all others. This is because this belief shapes people's views on big issues such as the purpose of life, how life should be lived in relation to oneself and others and what happens to people after they die. On the upside, this often leads to teachings with the goal of unity, peace and co-operation as per the teachings of most religions (some of which also make their way into non-religious systems).  

On the downside, this can lead to clashes over carrying out the will of the Powers-that-be, which religion should be followed or whether or not people should follow a god or religion at all.  This can involve arguments and factionalizing, or worst case scenarios like pogroms and wars. Even in multicultural societies, while you won't exactly see people running around killing each other in the streets because they wear a turban, there will be people who will exploit fear of "the other" for their own gain. Just as idiotic zealots can scream their religion is superior and any who deny themselves said faith should be killed, other idiotic zealots can scream that religion is terrible and those who follow one better be killed.

Since religions can range from an overarching element in a culture to the origin of a culture, so they often appear or are referenced in fiction. This includes the bad elements, as well as the good, with Warhammer 40,000 being full of religious tropes within itself, particularly the Sisters of Battle, who can embody anything from Mother Teresas and MLK Jrs to absolute murderous zealots that would make the Crusaders and Jihadis uncomfortable. 

Apart from the formation of society, medicine and religion have been interconnected throughout history.  In many ancient religions, the clergy were also the doctors or well-versed in medical knowledge of the time, tending to physical health as well as spiritual health.  A lot of the bedrock of modern medical science was established by religious people (such as the friar Gregor Mendel who founded the scientific field of genetics, and the Christian biologist/chemist Louis Pasteur who helped pioneer vaccination and preservation of food among other things - in fact, the process of ''"pasteurization"'' is named after him).  In numerous parts of the world today, numerous hospitals were based around specific religious people or founded by people from a specific religious group, and many religious charities, such as the Salvation Army, have a medical branch.  That said there are numerous secular humanitarian institutions (with examples being Doctors Without Borders, Toys for Tots, and the Boy Scouts to name a few).

Some religions have also codified the concept of charity; in these cases, religion and charity have been inextricably entangled throughout their long history.  For example, the three Abrahamic religions Christianity, Islam, and Judaism each have doctrines that require their members to do good for others in various ways such as caring for the destitute or those in need.

Throughout history to the present day, religions have often been enshrined in law as the "state religion", giving them special privileges such as extensive influence over the government or tax exemptions. In some cases, the clergy or a religious institution ''are'' the government (usually on behalf of the Powers-that-be for the religion in question) in a system known as theocracy.  Today, several theocracies exist, with the two full examples being Vatican City and Iran.

Within the last few centuries due to events such as the French Revolution, historical grievances and ideological campaigns focusing on things like empiricism and subjectivism, there has also been a significant amount of anti-religious sentiment, which regards religion as at best redundant and at worst destructive (beyond what's already stated, the reasons for this view and whether or not those arguments have any merit shall not be discussed here).  In spite of the endless debates one could have on the subject, it is true to say that there have been people who believed themselves to be of great faith who have also been [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_at_B%C3%A9ziers objectively] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_I_of_Castile terrible] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohingya_genocide people]. In some cases, such as with the Aztec, Scientologists, or Jim Jones' cult, they have been unilaterally despised around the world for having borderline irredeemable qualities of their "faith".

This has led to a simplistic belief among some that religion itself is wrong/bad and has to go, leading to regimes that try to exploit or promote this for personal gain, with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_atheism#Human_rights terrible and] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Militant_Atheists almost predictable] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge_rule_of_Cambodia#Religious_persecutions results] each time - the first avowed example in human history being Soviet Russia.  The 20th century saw more of a "live and let live" mentality that doesn't really support or oppose any one religion and only reacts when said religions begin actively defying the state or the state starts bringing the boot down on religion, though things got more polarized in the 21st century.  Even now, most of the world's population is religious, with the amount of piety varying from country to country, and of course many religious and non-religious people at least tolerate those on the opposite side.

Aside from the aforementioned theocracies, the most religious nations are countries such as Brazil in South America or Zambia in Africa (Zambia even has a state religion alongside a law that allows for freedom of religion).  China is - at the time this was written - the world's least religious and most atheistic country followed by Japan and Sweden.  North Korea is [[Skub|debatable]] because they have the Kim Cult of Personality - where lip service is as permitted as actual faith - blended with the Marxist-Leninist offshoot ideology Juche which violently suppresses religion [https://www.foxnews.com/world/north-korea-publicly-executes-80-some-for-videos-or-bibles-report-says to the point that ''merely having copies of religious texts can be grounds for execution''] [https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/north-korea-toddler-parents-jailed-for-life-after-being-caught-with-bible/ar-AA1bNM4N#:~:text=A%20two-year-old%20North%20Korean%20was%20sentenced%20to%20life,regime%20continued%20to%20%E2%80%9Cexecute%E2%80%9D%20and%20%E2%80%9Ctorture%E2%80%9D%20religious%20worshippers. ''or see entire families imprisoned for life''].

'''[[TL;DR]] Like it or not, religion is an intrinsic part of human civilization. [[Skub|Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is a matter we leave to the reader.]]'''