Whatever you think of it, whether you are devoutly religious or are somewhere in-between, religion is a very big deal. It shapes the people we are and the communities we live in. It influences how we interact with our sexualities and the natural environment. While religion can fill our personal lives with meaning, it can also foster intolerance, ignorance, and even hatred and violence on a social level. It affects our sensibilities around ethnicity, class, and race; our attitudes about medicine, contraception, and the end of life; and our approaches to poverty, immigration, social justice, and war. Religion is everywhere.

Religion matters.