Ap World Religion Dbq Essay

Religion has the power to positively or negatively affect a civilization, depending on how it is practiced. Religion can often unify people because everyone agrees on a higher power, but it can also cause conflict when people all believe that their religion is the only “correct” one. Ancient civilizations, such as the Islamic and Mauryan Empires have been impacted by religion. Religion also impacts different regions today, especially Iran. As proven throughout history, an empire’s religion can promote morality and a strengthened society; however, religion can also create conflict that creates a decline in morals in society.

In the Mauryan Empire religion helped the society by ensuring that people had respect for each other and that people

When regions were conquered where different religions were practiced, the Islamic Caliphates made agreements with them such as the Pact of Umar. In one such agreement, Christians say “that we will not teach our children the Qur’an” (Document 3). The Islamic Empire still allows other religions, such as Christianity, to be practiced, which helps avoid conflict. Although people aren’t all practicing the same religion, there is still peace and unity in the society. In the Islamic Empire people lived in peace with each other and Christians even said “that we will receive any Muslim traveler into our houses” (Document 3). Because everyone is free to practice whatever religion they choose, people can be welcoming toward each other and help each other. In societies where there are peace and cooperation amongst people, it is helpful to the government. Instead of solving conflict amongst their citizens the government was able to focus on bettering their economy, social system, and culture. Since the Islamic Caliphates made peaceful agreements with the people they conquered, instead of being intolerant, the Islamic Empire was able to benefit from the different religions and the cultural and intellectual developments that came with