How Does Christianity Impact On Society And Culture

Christianity has greatly impacted on society and culture as well as individuals in the world we live in today. Christianity has contributed to things such as our laws and our moral and cultural priorities. Christianity is acknowledged as playing a significant role in informing our moral view of the world and ourselves; that is, who we are. Our conscience is believed to give us a sense of what is right and wrong and provides a compass to guide us at times of challenge and need. Christianity provides a structure for our philosophy, our values and our beliefs and this provides us with a point of reference in which to define our self and our moral choices.
The sacred text of the Bible can arguably be considered to be the most influential book
ever published and there is much discussion about the positive and negative impacts of this in modern society. “The influence of the Bible is worldwide,” wrote Arthur Pink, the Christian evangelist (Guest, 2012). Ethics and morals are behavioural principles in humans that determine of what is right and what is wrong. As per the belief of a common man, Christianity is a religion that is bound by a certain set of rules and regulations that have been imposed by the Almighty. A Christian is required to follow these principles that provide a sense of morality and specific ethical behavioural of an individual.
Ethical practices in Christianity evolved during the Roman era and are centred around the concepts of grace, mercy and forgiveness.
The virtues stated in the Bible include faith, hope and love. The New Testament directs us to act in a moral way for example ‘to love neighbours as we would love ourselves’. The Bible also informs us that genuine and absolute good only exist through our heavenly God. Goodness is something that exists on a continuum for us, it is a state that changes and flows. Christian influence on values, beliefs, and lawful practices in Western culture are present and well weaved into the society of today. Christianity’s influence set the tone that man is accountable to God and the law is the same regardless of who you
are.
To understand why some of these passages from the Bible are applicable to our laws, it is important to go back to the beginning era which came from The Church of England which were traditional English Christian beliefs.
Examples were drawn from the Bible such as “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:1-17) which is now used in laws and society today. Through the prevalence in culture, the Bible influences society with its teachings. For example festivals, such as Easter and Christmas, are marked as public holidays. The Gregorian calendar has been adopted internationally as the civil calendar and the actual calendar itself is measured from the assumed date of Jesus’ being. In societies like Australia where the Bible is widely read, this sacred book is highly influential, becoming the foundation of morality in society. The teachings of Jesus are among the important sources for modern ideas of Human Rights and welfare. For example, the Constitution and the rules and laws that govern society have their roots in the Bible, through moral codes are like the Ten Commandments. Passages of the Bible are matched to laws that define objective moral values, fixed Standards, absolute truth and sanctity of life. Other examples are found in Genesis 1:26 which talks about all men being equal and being relevant to criminal laws and other laws around
discrimination. In modern times, the question of ethics and morality is being seriously debated. People attribute actions directly to the teachings of the Bible want to hold onto the tradition while others want to change and modernise the teachings according to our times and circumstances. Religious beliefs can help us to understand experiences and answer questions that may arise in our lives, providing a sense of comfort, belonging and meaning; these beliefs can also confront and challenge us.
Traditional Christian teachings on sexuality and marriage and family life have also been both influential and in recent times quite controversial. For some time the law condemned issues such as divorce and homosexuality, and much debate is held around ensuring our laws reflect equality in the culture of today. Some of the other things that Christianity is commonly criticized for include the oppression of women, colonialism and various other forms of violence. For example, Christian ideas have been used both to support and to end slavery as an institution and to provide evidence both for and against the recognition of same sex relationships, and other choices such as birth control. The criticism of Christianity has come from the various religious and non-religious groups around the world, some who claim to be Christian themselves.
However, even though controversial and creating strong debate, Religion, Christian moral values, and laws have greatly influenced the society that we live in today.