Importance of Religion to the Individual and Society

1A week without faith communities

Imagine, as a thought experiment, that every church and mosque in your district closed for one week. Who would notice? The choir that sings at funerals would be silent. The youth group that visits a widow every Saturday would not meet. A family grieving a death would have no prayer service. A school founded by a church would lose its chaplain; a health centre founded by a faith community would need new partners. And a person who prays every evening would lose the place where he finds peace.

The thought experiment shows that religion matters at two levels: to the individual and to society. It also raises a harder question that this lesson must face honestly: religion has sometimes been used to divide and to harm. How should we weigh its importance?

2Importance to the individual

3Importance to society

• Social cohesion: Durkheim argued that shared worship unites people into a moral community (Lesson 1). Religious communities bring together people of different families, regions and incomes every week.
• Social control: values and laws taught by religion (Lessons 2 and 3) encourage honesty and discourage crime.
• Education, health and welfare: "Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction" (James 1:27). In October 2026 Rwanda's Minister of National Unity and Civic Engagement praised the ADEPR church's contribution to education, health care and other welfare programmes.
• Peace and reconciliation: faith communities teach forgiveness and run reconciliation programmes, and the State works with them to build unity.
• A moral voice: religious leaders can speak for the poor and criticise injustice.

4When religion is misused

A balanced study must also face the dysfunctions. Religion has been used to divide people into "believers" and "infidels"; extremists have used it to justify violence; false prophets have exploited believers for money; and during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi some clergy and church members took part in the killings, while some religious bodies still protect such people today. Rwanda's law responds to misuse: Law N° 72 of 2018 forbids religious organisations to jeopardise "the unity of Rwandans, peace and security, public order and health" (Lesson 3).

Figure 4 sets the two sides on a balance.

Sociologists read the balance differently. Functionalists, following Durkheim, stress the left side: religion holds society together. Conflict theorists, following Marx, stress that religion can serve the powerful and keep the poor quiet. Believers answer that the dysfunctions come from betraying the teaching of their faith, not from following it: both the Bible and the Qur'an condemn murder, lies and the exploitation of the weak. Most of the dysfunctions are therefore misuse, which accountability, education and law can correct.