They say that whenever you possess something that you do not know about, you cannot validate its importance and that you lose or abuse it. A citizen of a state without the knowledge of civics is like someone in the illustration above. Without the knowledge of civics, culture, and religion, that person will surely abuse ‘citizenship’ and may lose it. The knowledge of religion and culture is needed to become a full member of any group of people. This article gives a brief rundown on how civics, culture, and religion are intertwined in today’s society.
Civics is a branch of social sciences that encompasses the inquiry of the rights and duties of a citizen. It was derived from the Latin word ‘cities’ which means ‘relating to a citizen’
A citizen, on the other hand, is a natural or naturalized member of a state or other political community. Citizenship can be obtained from either birth, marriage, naturalism, or as an honor from a country.
Religion is an organized set of beliefs and practices created to worship a supernatural force or being. It is a vital part of our everyday life as its practices, teachings, and doctrines form a major chunk of our belief systems.
Culture is the whole of beliefs, norms, values, traditions, etc that is accepted by a group of people living in a particular geographic area. Culture is an acceptable way of life amongst social aggregates and is what is expected of people in the group.
Civics or civic education involved the in-depth study of government and its people- its citizens. It is a broad course and one that is fulfilling to learn about.
Most concepts and ideas in civics revolve around government, citizens and their duties, human rights, standards, religion, culture, democracy, and other important past or current events that are relevant for the discipline.
Therefore, it will seem that civics, religion, and culture are still interesting as civics is merely a formal way of discussing these subjects.
Civics as said earlier deals with the rights of human beings. These rights are embedded(even without being written down) in the cultures of most groups and the religious practices of most religions.
This is to say that civics, culture, and religion all encompass global standards and belief systems that validate the humanity and individuality of people.
For instance, we can see the right to live. It is a part of civics, and we know that it is an unspoken rule in most cultures never to take away life. This can also be seen as a religious injunction that no man should take his fellow man’s life.
The scenario above paints a picture that civics is more the legalized structure of these belief systems that we have carried since childhood; that which was gotten from both religion and culture and now they have reflected to guide citizens in the society.
We can add more examples like the right to freedom of choice, right to own property, right to join associations of choice, and so on.
In the paragraphs above, we have highlighted some relationships among civics, culture, and religion. Now, we will be looking at ways religion and culture might negatively influence civics.
Civic participation entails all the activities a citizen of a state is to partake of eg voting.
It is possible that some cultures and religions probably hindsight their adherents to these processes by way of shunning or poisoning minds against it.
Normally, religions preach tolerance. But in situations where zealotry is ignited, only thoughts for kneeling and religion will begin to manifest as people will be seen as pieces won’t move.
Sometimes, the beliefs of some religions hinder some gender roles from participation in such activities.
Due to their interwoven relationship and shared interests; civics, culture, and religion can help in certain areas of human existence.
Civics, religion, and culture are therefore inseparable from each other as they all help in maintaining the societal structure as it is. The only differences might lie in their methodology; civics is more formal than religion and culture which is more informal by nature.
The teaching of civics, culture, and religion in our everyday life is essential for societal growth and development. Since all are concerned with the welfare of man(citizen) who is then a member of the state, if the man is sufficiently taught; it will reflect in the state as development and growth.
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