Question

There is a saying that “the purpose of religion is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” What do you believe this means? Do you think contemporary religions succeed at this task? Give an example.

Answer 1

" The purpose of a religion is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable ", well this expression affirms that the religion plays a major role in guiding a person in a right direction. There are people who belong to one religion, yet they do not believe in the god. They try to stay away from the lord almighty just because they are suffering too much and lost hope in the god. They are people who are happy and comfortable with their lives, have a happy family, awesome job, fat pay check etc. and even they may not believe in the god's miracles and mercy that are being showered on him. As there is always two sides of a coin, there are people who are misery and afflicted, and there are also people who are happy, contended and comfortable with their lives.

So, the main purpose of the religion is to tell people that, irrespective of the state you are in, always believe in god, move in a righteous path, be humble and stay grounded. To the people who are afflicted, religion says to stay with patience, lord is looking at your troubles. This is just a passing phase and god is testing your patience, and wants to see how strong are you and how well are you connected to god even in the troubles and harsh time.

Well, on the other hand, religion also says to the people who are comfortable with their lives, not to forget god, to be loyal and show gratitude towards god and people around him for the position he is in now. It also says, come out of the comfort zone and help the needy, pray to god and to stay humble and grounded.