Religion affects the lives of its followers by...

1. understanding of life; In Buddhism, there is a document that talks about the Four noble truths. The Four Nobel truths talk about suffering. Buddhists goal is Dukkah. Suffering is every thing. Its ageing, birth, illness, to understand life you must suffer.

2. moral code; In Christianity theirs a moral code know as the ten commandants. One of those commandants is you shall not covet. You shall not covet means that we should banish our desires for whatever does not belong to us. So we cant be greedy of jealous. People affect by this moral code would have to be grateful for what the have and not want what they don't have.

3. sense of belonging; When your part of a religion you're a part of a group that shares the beliefs and ideas. When you share the same beliefs and ideas you will have a sense of belonging. For Example in the Hindu caste system your born into ranked position. So where your born you will be in a group you will belong somewhere.