Religious Symbolism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Religious Symbolism - Research Paper Example It has been known for a long time that religion plays a critical role in the existence of human beings mainly because of helping people to connect with others and with a higher being. Religion serves many human needs that are aimed at helping people in dealing with mortality. Specifically, it helps in answering most of the questions that are beyond the human understanding that include but not limited to the afterlife and the soul (Molloy 9-10). The questions that underlie the idea of death are beyond human understanding and religion comes in to answer most of these hard to proof questions. These answers help in comforting people. Such congregation brings the aspect of socializing which improves the human psychology. Religion is also responsible for ensuring that people have belonging and an identity. This is very important because people’s mental health also rely on identity. When people belong to a group, that group provides a specific form of fulfillment. In order to express themselves, human beings have a need that prompts them to create artistic forms. As such, religion stimulates art, dance, and music. In fact, religion has been behind an inspiration to create the most fascinating buildings or structures of art in the world today. This brings out the issue of symbolism in religion. A symbol is a representation of something as it pertains to a specific field. As for symbols in religion or religious symbols, these are representations of certain aspects of a specific religion. For instance, in religion such as Christianity, the cross is a symbol of belonging and faith in that specific religion.