Important Concepts Related to Religion and Belief System PDF

SH1910 Important Concepts Related to Religion and some stick. It’s really important, I believe, to at least know all Belief System sides of the argument....

SH1910 Important Concepts Related to Religion and some stick. It’s really important, I believe, to at least know all Belief System sides of the argument. Over the centuries, people with different religious beliefs have A Brief History of Religion gone to war and ostracized neighbors who didn’t agree with their By Claire Fordham views. This is an edited version of the chapter on Religion from the It’s fair to say that the vast majority of people follow the religion book, “Life Lessons for Mia Rose: An Irreverent Guide to Living of their parents and rarely take the time to understand alternative and Loving Well” by Claire Fordham that was fact checked by philosophies or find out what other religions actually stand for. Cynthia Eller, Professor of Women’s Studies and Religious Studies at Montclair University, New Jersey. The important thing if you decide to follow a religion is to follow the one that makes most sense to you and not what your parents Few, if any, children over twelve believe in the existence of or grandparents tell you. Weigh up all the arguments and make Father Christmas and the Tooth Fairy. I am one of the growing your own decision. But, above all, be respectful of other numbers of people who believe that eventually it will be people’s views. There’s no law that says you must follow a accepted that there’s no such supernatural being as god either. particular religion, but there are followers of some religions who will kill you for not siding with their team. The Romans and the Greeks worked out pretty quickly that Neptune and Zeus weren’t for real, so it’s incredible to me that Unless they are Buddhists. Senior Buddhists say it isn’t even a the greatest, most advanced civilizations the world has ever religion. It’s more like a way of life, a philosophy with one known still believe in their god. motto: seek the truth. They also advocate kindness. It’s hard to argue against that ideology, but Buddhism as it’s practiced by I can’t prove He doesn’t, but believers can’t prove He exists ninety-nine percent of followers is very much a religion with either. And when people make extraordinary claims, it’s up to temples, prayers and deities. And the Buddha recommended them to provide the evidence. I am writing God and He, as being kind for purely pragmatic reasons because it helps you opposed to god and he, she or it, out of respect for believers who (allegedly) along on the path to enlightenment. In practice, write it like that. though, Buddhism says a lot about kindness and compassion for its own sake. It’s thought to be a fruit of enlightenment as well It’s important to respect other people’s points of view even if as a means toward enlightenment. you don’t share their beliefs, especially where religion is concerned, because it’s a subject people feel very strongly about. Although even Buddhists are getting violent. There have been But if people believe in fairy tales, they should expect to take reports of Buddhist mobs, including monks, who burned Muslim 01 Handout 2 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 1 of 6  SH1910 homes in Myanmar in a widening of ultra-nationalist Buddhist Jews have been on the receiving end of more hatred, prejudice violence. and bigotry than any other, although this has often been more a racial issue than a religious one. This attack resulted in two deaths. Historically, there have been cases of Buddhist violence, some of it primarily ethnic, but also The horror that has been going on in the Middle East over a piece because of disputes over doctrine. of land that used to be called Palestine where predominantly Muslim Palestinians lived that is now called Israel is the root They clearly forgot that Buddhists believe in reincarnation and cause of most modern religious hatred and killing. Historically, karma. Karma means reaping what you sow. If you say or do many Palestinians were Christians. They were a minority but a something mean or unkind, eventually someone else will be large and significant minority. mean or unkind to you. I quite like that idea. But Buddhists also think we keep coming back after we die (reincarnating) until we “Israel” was taken away from “Palestine” and set up as a learn from our mistakes. That’s where they lose me. I don’t permanent home for Jews in 1948 after six million of them were believe in reincarnation. It doesn’t pass the smell test. My smell killed in concentration camps by Germany during the Second test anyway. I believe we have one chance at life. I believe that World War. life is not a dress rehearsal for an afterlife and we must live and love as well as we possibly can because this is it. A group of nations led by Great Britain after World War Two thought they were doing the right thing by giving Jews their own The five most influential religions are Christianity, Islam, state. But they also created hatred and resentment among Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism. The most derogatory label Palestinians who had nowhere else to go and fought over the you can give a religion is to call it a cult. But a cult is really just decades to get their land back, with the support of their fellow a religion without so many followers. Muslim countries that surround Israel — quite a few of whom have vowed that they won’t rest until Israel is given back to the There are about 2.2 billion Christians in the world, 1.6 billion Palestinians and every last Jewish man, woman and child is dead Muslims (followers of Islam), 1 billion Hindus, 500 million and buried. Buddhists and around 15 million Jews. Politicians and diplomats from around the world have managed The vast majority of God-fearing and worshiping people are to get the two sides talking around a table a few times but no good, honorable and law-abiding. They respect other religions firm agreement has been made. The only possible hope for peace and beliefs and want to live together in harmony. But there is an is that Hamas, the democratically elected party that currently ever- growing number of fundamentalists who call for the governs Palestine, recognizes Israel’s right to exist and that a destruction of everyone who doesn’t believe in the same two-state solution can be found where both sides can live in supreme being as them. harmony. 01 Handout 2 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 2 of 6  SH1910 Christians and Jews have been fighting each other for nearly two I have a hunch he may not have actually died on the cross but thousand years and Muslims joined their company more than was near death when he was taken down, remained unconscious one thousand years ago. for three days, rallied for a few last breaths and finally succumbed to his dreadful injuries. There’s a famous quote from Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian National Congress in the 1940s, after India was Christians call the biographies of Jesus the Gospels. By all partitioned (again by the Brits and again in 1948) to separate accounts he was a good man who did good deeds. Some say he Hindus and Muslims. The Hindus stayed in India and Muslims performed miracles. were given their own state, Pakistan. Raised a Hindu and renowned for his wisdom, humility and for being a pacifist, According to the New Testament, where all the stories about Gandhi said, “Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a Jesus and his followers are found, Christians were persecuted by defeat, for it is momentary.” Jewish religious authorities who disagreed with his teachings. Virtually all persecution of early Christians came from Roman Gandhi was assassinated in 1948 by a Hindu nationalist who was pagans. resentful at what he perceived as Gandhi’s sympathy for India’s Muslims. Gandhi was full of good quotes such as, “I like your It wasn’t until one hundred years after Jesus was born that Christ. I don’t like Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.” Christians began writing down his teachings and stories about him. I suspect there were a number of exaggerations and Christianity is based on the life and teachings of Jesus. Most embellishments over those years. Some religious historians Christians believe Jesus is the actual, physical Son of God and aren’t convinced Jesus existed at all and was invented by early that Jesus was born to a virgin called Mary who was Christians. impregnated by the Holy Spirit. They also believe that Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit are one and the same and, most Judaism is the religion, philosophy and way of life of Jewish importantly, that Jesus gave his life to save humankind and only people. It’s been around for more than five thousand years and by repenting our sins and acknowledging that Jesus is our savior is the oldest surviving monotheistic religion. A monotheistic can we get to Heaven. Failure to do so come Judgment Day when religion is one that only believes in and worships one deity. Jesus will return will result in our being sent to hell for eternity. Jews believe God revealed his laws and commandments to Christianity began as a Jewish sect in the first century AD. Jesus’ Moses on Mount Sinai and they are written down in the Hebrew followers believe that He suffered for people’s sins, as he was bible, called the Tanakh. The first five books, Genesis through crucified and died on a cross, then buried and resurrected from Deuteronomy, are called the Torah. Jews believe they should the dead to grant eternal life to those who believe in him. pray to their God and only Him. They do not follow the teachings of Jesus and do not consider him to be their savior. 01 Handout 2 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 3 of 6  SH1910 They don’t consider Moses to be their savior either, but do Most Muslims live in the Middle East, Central Asia, Indonesia consider him their greatest prophet. and sub-Saharan Africa. The vast majority of Muslims are peaceful and law-abiding, but a rather scary and increasing As with Christianity and Islam, some Jews follow their religious number have called for the destruction of Israel, the United laws and commandments more strictly than others. Most Jews States of America and Europe. There are Persian miniatures of live in Israel, America and Canada with a few million living in Muhammad, some with his face veiled, but, at this time in Europe, South America and Asia. history, there is a zealous refusal to represent Muhammad and it is considered a sin to draw or paint Him, a sin punishable by People who are believers in the religion of Islam are called death. Muslims. Their core beliefs are that there is only one God, Allah, (monotheistic again) and that Muhammad is their prophet who Hinduism is an old religion with most practitioners living on the conveyed all Allah’s teachings as told to him by the archangel Indian sub-continent or of Indian descent. They don’t have Gabriel on numerous occasions between 610 CE and his death scripture as such, but many traditions have been handed down on June 8, 632 CE (CE is the same as BC, and sometimes CE is over four thousand years to form the basis. No single person is used so as not to offend non-Christians. CE is an abbreviation of credited with developing this faith that has many sects, rituals Common Era, but denotes the same era as BC - Before Christ. and practices. Sometimes it’s written as B.C.E. - Before the Common Era). The Vedas, Aranyakas and Upanishads are accounts and advice Mohammad was reputedly illiterate. His followers wrote down written by spiritually advanced mystics over the centuries, what he told them. Those teachings are written in the Muslim several thousand years actually, from which Hinduism comes. scripture called the Qur’an or Koran. Muslims believe Muhammad to be the last in a series of great prophets starting Simply put, and accepting there is a lot more to it than this, with Adam and including Abraham, Moses and Jesus. They also Hindus worship many different gods (polytheistic) that all lead believe in the Resurrection and a Judgment Day. to the ultimate, Brahman, which they consider to be the ultimate reality. Hinduism is about the search for liberation that can be Like all religions, Muslims have split up into different sects. The achieved through meditation, yoga and prayer. vast majority of Muslims are Sunni. The largest minority group of Muslims is the Shia. Sunni and Shia have fought each other They believe that life has four stages: student, householder, frequently over the years, but since Israel was established in retiree and renunciant. Fame and fortune is applauded — as is 1948, have found enemies in common - Jews and Westerners. the pursuit of pleasure — but, near the end of your life, you let Muslims consider Westerners corrupt largely because they it all go, which will put you on the path of spiritual liberation. believe they aren’t sufficiently religious, not just because they are Christian. Hindus believe in the sanctity of all life, and many are 01 Handout 2 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 4 of 6  SH1910 vegetarians. They also believe in reincarnation and karma; and I’ve heard religious people say we need religion to give people understand and appreciate that other religions are relevant and a sense of morality. I don’t buy that. I don’t think we have to should be respected. worship anyone or anything to live a good and moral life. Buddhism is a spin-off of Hinduism. Around 500 BCE, You might think someone must have created this amazing world. Siddhartha Gautama renounced his wealthy lifestyle in India I don’t. I believe in evolution. I think it is just part of the miracle (and abandoned his wife and baby) in search of spiritual and wonder of life and human beings are capable of being moral liberation, known as Nirvana (from the ancient language of and ethical without adhering to a religion or worshiping a god. Sanskrit). That doesn’t make me a bad person, it makes me a secular humanist. The meaning of life eluded him for many years until he sat under a bodhi tree determined not to move until he became An atheist is someone who categorically believes that there is no enlightened. On the forty-ninth day, he opened his eyes, having such thing as a supernatural God who created people, life and realized through meditation that the problem with humanity is the universe. Agnostics are people who think that God’s that we are all deluded and ego-driven; and that the sooner we existence or otherwise probably cannot be known for sure, so ditch the three bad habits of desire, anger and ignorance, the won’t commit one way or the other. better. I believe that Jesus might have existed, Mohammad and Buddha Siddhartha, known as the Buddha (the Awakened One), spent for sure. I believe they were spiritually advanced, righteous the next forty-five years teaching his wisdom to monks and human beings. But over the centuries, their teachings have been nuns, promoting a solitary and spiritual way of life. He insisted misinterpreted, exaggerated and exploited by others. his disciples must not write anything down, so his most important sermons were conveyed orally. It wasn’t until Which part of the world you were born in - and what your hundreds of years after his death that the Buddha’s teachings parents believed and therefore taught you - usually determines were finally committed to paper. which religion, if any, you will follow. And while I don’t agree with atheist Christopher Hitchens that religion poisons The earliest surviving accounts of the Buddha’s teachings are in everything, I do agree it poisons a lot. Pali, an ancient northwestern Indian dialect. I suspect a lot was lost in the translation. That said, the message of Buddhism is one I believe this to be true about all religions, that their original of love, peace and non-violence, so I’ve no idea what the leaders and prophets all believed the same things were Buddhists in Indonesia were thinking. If they didn’t believe in important: love and kindness. While I don’t personally believe reincarnation and weren’t so fond of chanting, I’d probably lean in an afterlife, in the unlikely event that there is one, I am towards Buddhism. absolutely certain that Jesus, Muhammad and Buddha are 01 Handout 2 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 5 of 6  SH1910 shaking their heads in disbelief and despair at what is being done in their name. Reference: Fordham, C. (2016, April 6). A brief history of religion. Huffpost. Retrieved from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/a- brief-history-of-religi_b_9577790 01 Handout 2 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 6 of 6