Cross-Cultural Perspective; Religion and Well-being

Cross-cultural perspective is one of the many ways that society can be viewed. However, other individuals still view the world only from one perspective, from their point of view. Having a cross-cultural perspective, especially when it comes to religion and the well-being of individuals, is very important. Firstly, religion can have a good impact on people, but it also depends on how it is employed and how it is taught to the people (WHOQoL SRPB Group, 2006). for example, in some places in Africa, pastors can use Christianity to get money from people. At the same time, the same can apply to Muslims in some parts of the middle east, whereby religion can offend human rights. This counts as a negative impact on people’s well-being. Therefore having this information enables a person’s insight into religion and its effects on people’s well-being to improve. However, this is not the only viewpoint a person can view religion and its relation to people’s well-being.

From a positive perspective and side, we can see how some religious organizations help their followers and even those who are not followers. This can be seen in some developing countries and even developed countries (Aknin et al., 2013). For example, in developed countries where the issue of depression and stress is skyrocketing, we find religion playing a significant role in providing counseling services and a community to share the problems with. In developing countries, religion offers foodstuffs and other support materials, thus making the lives of the individuals better. Therefore this is a positive side of faith concerning people’s well-being, and all is because there is a cross-cultural view about religion (Jafari et al., 2015). Therefore this helps a person understand how faith can be good and how it can be harmful and how this generally affects the well-being of those caught up in the middle of the religious issues, whether positive or negative.

References

Aknin, L. B., Barrington-Leigh, C. P., Dunn, E. W., Helliwell, J. F., Burns, J., Biswas-Diener, R., … & Norton, M. I. (2013). Prosocial spending and well-being: cross-cultural evidence for a psychological universal. Journal of personality and social psychology, 104(4), 635.

Jafari, A., Dedeoğlu, A. Ö., Regany, F., Üstündağli, E., & Batat, W. (2015). Rethinking religion in the context of ethnicity and well-being. Marketing Theory, 15(2), 287-295.

WHOQoL SRPB Group. (2006). A cross-cultural study of spirituality, religion, and personal beliefs as components of quality of life. Social science & medicine, 62(6), 1486-1497.