ABSTRACT
This chapter explains why religion has existed in all societies and provides the several great religions of and summarize their beliefs. It explores the problem that fundamentalist religious views pose for the state and discusses the role of religion in society. The chapter describes the nature of religion and the general character of certain major religions of the past and present. It analyses of some attention to the role that religion has played in the development of human societies, not only to integrate and stabilize them but also, at times, to create conflicts. The chapter considers the present-day influence of social change on religion and, conversely, the influence of religion on social change. Religions can have both spiritual and civil elements. Civil religion, a term that was first used by Rousseau, refers to religious beliefs that lead people to want to live by the laws of the land.
