Good Essay About The Role Of Religion

John Winthrop in 1630 as the head of the resettlement expedition crossed the Atlantic in search of a place for a "city upon a hill". There, on the territory of a new continent he was planning to establish a new perfect society, which could serve as an example for the rest of humanity. The religion was of a fundamental role in his belief, since he was a Puritan and was leading others of this faith, and they believed it was God who showed them the way to the new continent where they could start performing his God`s will on creation of new people. For John Winthrop, religion was the most important thing. He believed that those who do not share his religious beliefs will not receive salvation. In the new “city” of Winthrop religion had to be that binding authority that could organize the settlement and safeguard its functioning and development.
Jonathan Edwards understood his main task, just as John Winthrop, as an establishment of the Puritan doctrine, in particular of the idea of ​​the supreme power of God. He was asserting the impotence of a human being whose earthly existence can be interrupted at any moment by a God`s will. To believe in God and live a religion life was his main goal, and the religion for Jonathan Edwards was a key to salvation. For him, there was no other purpose other than related to religion; his no single action was not but motivated with religious purposes. For Edwards, religion was that phenomenon that could awaken anyone`s soul. In his theological teachings Edwards repeatedly emphasized that the basis of all Christian life must be the act of conversion to the Christian faith.
Benjamin Franklin formally belonged to the Presbyterian Church, still he was much closer to deism. He followed the idea of natural religion, in which God's role was limited to the act of creation. Franklin was recognizing the need for religion to preserve public morals, he was tolerant of different religions. In moderately deistic form, Franklin rejected religious dogma of divine intervention in the natural course of events in nature and society. Franklin believed that moral norms, human behavior rules did not require compulsory religious sanction, they were embedded in human nature, in the common sense. Comparing to other two philosophers analyzed, Benjamin Franklin was most tolerant to religion and considered it having less importance than other two philosophers.