Over the years and because I teach World History (thus I teach world religions) I have had a lot of time to think about religion. Some say that religion is the root of all evil (Elton John, I think recently said that) and others say that religion is only for those things and events that can not be explained by science and yet others have specific beliefs and rituals which we are either a part of or not a part of.
Here is my point. Why can't all the religions get together and agree on some basic things and then go out and tell their people that we are all basically believing the same thing. Take God for instance. He/She/It is basically the same thing in all religions, even Hinduism and Buddhism. Islam, Judaism, and Christianity all have the same God. Hinduism and Buddhism believe in a higher power of spirit or Brahmin which when you think about it is basically the same thing as God of the Judaio-Christian world but The JC's personify him.
I have come over the years to lean more towards a non-personified God. This makes so much more sense to me than the Big guy up above. I totally believe in spirits and souls of people, animals, and other living things and how they all fit together and work together. Otherwise how can my father talk to me from the grave. He does all the time!
If all the religions get together and talk about the similarities maybe the yuck in the world can be fixed.
1 comment:
If you promise to give it back, I'll send you a great book called the myth of christian uniqueness. it looks at some of these issues: heck, before you can start working on uniting the world religions, you need to bring together christianity: was it a bodily resurrection as some believe or was it metaphorical? and how do you rectify the 2 different creation stories in genesis? after 3 years of seminary, i'm a huge skeptic of the role of organized religion and what it has become.
i'm with you: i have more of a spirit sense than a big guy in the sky. i think that is why i like the smells and bells services more than talk, talk, talk - its the sensory input for spirituality.
miss ya!
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