EXPLORING RELIGION AND HAPPINESS: A PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY

Abstract

For centuries religion has played an interesting role, controversial at times in influencing the lives of people. I am examining whether religion is reduced to behavioral practice only, or is it capable of bringing some meaningful changes in the lives of people? At the micro-level, it has an impact, but at the macro level, is it open to some human intervention or maneuverability? What is the demand for religion from its followers? What is the demand of followers from their religion? Who decides the validity of those standards? How are problems of human dignity, discrimination, and gender bias nurtured in the content of practiced religion? The question of happiness should be connected with religion, but does it have any such connection? Are the psychological patterns of human behavior a ground for prescribing that behavior? The answer to these questions will have a socio-philosophical basis for understanding the status of religion in its present form.