1. Lindsay Richardson
April 4th 2012
Intro V-Why are people religious?
I think one reason people are religious is because it provides a way to deal with grief or not
understanding why something bad has happened. Religion is a constant in a time of
hardship or pain. It can provide answers to questions about why people die, get hurt, or just
feel misunderstood in life. When you feel like your whole world is shaken to the core and
you are so sad inside and that's when religion and whatever ultimate you believe in is there
to comfort you. It can give you something else to think about, or some answers on why the
unfortunate events have occurred. Religion can provide answers to painful questions and
the community that is in your church, temple, etc can help support you. If people were not
religious for this reason, they would become depressed and have no one there to help them
through a hard time. When my uncle died of lung cancer at a very young age, my family
was obviously very sad and it felt like the whole world had stopped and we couldn’t move
forward. To help with the grief my grandparents started going to church again after not
having gone in about 25 years. The religious part of church gave them hope that something
good could come from this awful tragedy. It gave them reason to believe in happiness again.
The social side of church also helped them, they reconnected with old friends who
supported them in whatever way they could. Going back to church and and becoming more
faithful helped them through their hard times and now my grandparents attend church every
sunday and have deep faith in God.