Understanding Religion
I was motivated to produce this Blog when my nine year old grand-daughter told me. “God is dead!” When I asked who had told her this she replied, “My teacher.” It is apparent that atheism is being taught in at least some Victorian (Australia) schools, whether as part of the school curriculum or just by a zealous teacher I cannot ascertain. A grandson who attended the same school had also made this statement some years earlier but I assumed that it was just an opinion garnered from friends; apparently that is not the case the doctrine is being actively promoted.
It is for the benefit of these children and others like them that I have compiled this summary of religious concepts. Included is atheism because whether atheists want to accept it or not atheism is just a belief system like any other religious concept, it is no more provable than any other religion.
Atheism: As asserted in the previous statement atheism is a set of beliefs that are just as much a paradigm as any other religion. Many atheists believe that it is more “scientific” not to believe in a Supreme Being than to believe, but this simply demonstrates a lack of understanding of both religion and science. There are many scientists particularly physicist and cosmologists who believe there is no way that the universe could even exist without some form of conscious input. Many of my blogs and other papers discuss some of the complexities of our universe as do my books. There is nothing in science that can prove or disprove the existence of a Creator. Comments such as “God is dead” used by atheists to promote the ideology are an oxymoron; if there were no God how could he be dead? This claim presupposes that once there was a God but now he is no more. It is simply a comment made by a renowned atheist when he first heard of Darwin’s theory of evolution. Some atheists claim that evolution is the proof that God does not exist, but there are Biblical passages that support both the concept of God and also evolution. Read my previous blogs or buy my books for more details.
Buddhism: Is based on the teachings of Buddha Gautama (or Gotama) often referred to as “the enlightened one” whose meditations revealed the truth of existence. Buddhism is mainly spread throughout India and parts of Asia but has become popular in the west in recent times. By following the “path” taught by the Buddha, the individual can dispel the “ignorance” that perpetuates human suffering. The Buddha's doctrine is not one of despair. Living amid the impermanence of everything and being themselves impermanent, human beings search for the way of deliverance, for that which shines beyond the transitory human existence - in short, for enlightenment. Buddhists believe that they will be continually reincarnated until they reach this state. The principle of Karma is also very much a part of Buddhist belief, the word Karma comes from the Sanskrit: karman; literally “act,” or “deed” and the principle is identical to the Judeo-Christian concept; “As ye sow, so shall ye reap.” In other words good deeds and acts beget good and evil begets evil.
Christianity: The main religion of the western world including America, Australia and most of Europe. This religion has formed the basis for most of our legal and moral laws; it commenced two thousand years ago based around the teachings of Jesus Christ a carpenter from Nazareth who was also a Rabbi (which means teacher). It is based on the Jewish Torah (Bible) and includes directives against such things as stealing, lying, murder and various immoral sexual activities such as adultery, bestiality, incest and homo-sexuality. Some of these laws today are looked on as archaic and no longer relevant, but the discarding of these concepts may be linked in some part to the increase of anti-social behaviour in our modern society. We have turned our back on the principles that made our society the most important the world has ever seen and consequently our civilisation is in serious decline with violence and illegal activities growing continually. Christianity is basically divided into Catholic and Protestant practices and followers observe a wide diversity of beliefs from the Gnostic view of Jesus as a teacher/prophet to the Catholic view of Jesus as God. Jesus is promoted as God made flesh; or the Son of God and is venerated to different degrees by different denominations. It is probably this confusion that has fuelled the atheistic vision of a dead God and is why atheism mainly occurs in predominantly Christian societies; perhaps atheism is merely a Christian sect.
Hinduism: Because it integrates a variety of elements, Hinduism constitutes a complex but largely continuous whole and has religious, social, economic, literary, and artistic aspects. As a religion, Hinduism is a composite of diverse doctrines, cults, and ways of life. The spectrum that ranges from the level of popular Hindu belief to that of elaborate ritual technique and philosophical speculation is very broad and is attended by many stages of transition and varieties of coexistence. Magic rites, animal worship, and belief in demons are often combined with the worship of more or less personal gods or with mysticism, asceticism, and abstract and profound theological systems or esoteric doctrines. The worship of local deities does not exclude the belief in pan-Indian higher gods or even in a single high God. Such local deities are also frequently looked upon as manifestations of a high God.
Islam: Commenced by Prophet Muhammad in Arabia in the 7th century AD. The Arabic term Islam, literally “surrender,” illuminates the fundamental religious idea of Islam—that the Muslim (from the active particle of Islam) accepts “surrender to the will of Allah (Arabic: God).” Allah is viewed as the sole God—creator, sustainer, and restorer of the world, but was the name applied in ancient times to the worship of a “Moon God”, which may be the origin of the crescent moon as the symbol of Islam. The will of Allah, to which man must submit, is made known through the sacred scriptures, the Koran, which Allah revealed to his messenger, Muhammad. In Islam Muhammad is considered the last of a series of prophets (including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and others), and his message simultaneously consummates and completes the “revelations” attributed to earlier prophets. Modern Islam has become divided into various sects, many harbouring hatred toward the west and bent on world domination as part of Muslim eschatological beliefs. The culture of many Muslim societies is quite violent and oppressive compared to modern western societies; Muslim cultures often treat women and non-Muslims as second class citizens. Honour killings, wife beating, public execution by garrotting or stoning and many other accepted Muslim cultural concepts are quite repugnant to western society.
Judaism: The oldest of the major religions Jewish identity has been chiefly defined in terms of the observance of the commandments and of the Oral Law. Many consider that Judaism began with the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob but the name Judaism comes from Judea and the Hebrews did not acquire this region until after the Exodus from Egypt, the arrival in the “Promised Land” with the Ark of the Covenant and the Commandments truly began Judaism. The region and the people were conquered a number of times by the Babylonians, the Greeks and the Romans but they maintained their identity by their observance of the laws regarding circumcision, diet and various cultural practices. More than other religions Judaism is a specific way of life where the religious practices form part of every daily task. Orthodox Jews are those who are most observant and adhere to the Torah instructions completely others assimilate more into society in general. Jews are often referred to as the “chosen people” and for this reason are sometimes discriminated against but the term “chosen” simply means that they are chosen to bring the Torah (Bible) and the commandments to the rest of the world. They are also chosen to be “a nation of priests” and to set the example for the world of how to live with justice and mercy. Today Judaism, Jews and Israel are often denigrated and blamed for all sorts of problems but this is usually by those with vested interests or those who are ill informed.
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This briefly covers the major religions that exist in Australia today; there are others with small followings such as Bahai and Zoroastrianism but these are really just sects of Islam; or Hare Krishna which is a Hindu sect; the common religions that we are most likely to encounter are those described. Much of religion has to do with personal belief and views so my opinions and perceptions may differ from some adherents, but I did glean much of my information from various encyclopaedias. I apologise to those whose beliefs have not been covered or if my opinion differs from your own perception but if you really want to know more about a religion you should ask someone properly qualified in that religion.
We should not simply assume that our opinion is correct and so everyone else is wrong, or that religion is false and has nothing to add to society. Until recently our society was religious to its very core our very culture is based on the religious beliefs of our forefathers. There are reasons that we have drifted away from belief and they have nothing to do with science - rather more to do with apathy; but as the comedian said, “Who cares?”
____________________________________________________
Visit my website or go to the forum if you have a comment.
See the shop for a great range of products or buy my book
It is for the benefit of these children and others like them that I have compiled this summary of religious concepts. Included is atheism because whether atheists want to accept it or not atheism is just a belief system like any other religious concept, it is no more provable than any other religion.
Atheism: As asserted in the previous statement atheism is a set of beliefs that are just as much a paradigm as any other religion. Many atheists believe that it is more “scientific” not to believe in a Supreme Being than to believe, but this simply demonstrates a lack of understanding of both religion and science. There are many scientists particularly physicist and cosmologists who believe there is no way that the universe could even exist without some form of conscious input. Many of my blogs and other papers discuss some of the complexities of our universe as do my books. There is nothing in science that can prove or disprove the existence of a Creator. Comments such as “God is dead” used by atheists to promote the ideology are an oxymoron; if there were no God how could he be dead? This claim presupposes that once there was a God but now he is no more. It is simply a comment made by a renowned atheist when he first heard of Darwin’s theory of evolution. Some atheists claim that evolution is the proof that God does not exist, but there are Biblical passages that support both the concept of God and also evolution. Read my previous blogs or buy my books for more details.
Buddhism: Is based on the teachings of Buddha Gautama (or Gotama) often referred to as “the enlightened one” whose meditations revealed the truth of existence. Buddhism is mainly spread throughout India and parts of Asia but has become popular in the west in recent times. By following the “path” taught by the Buddha, the individual can dispel the “ignorance” that perpetuates human suffering. The Buddha's doctrine is not one of despair. Living amid the impermanence of everything and being themselves impermanent, human beings search for the way of deliverance, for that which shines beyond the transitory human existence - in short, for enlightenment. Buddhists believe that they will be continually reincarnated until they reach this state. The principle of Karma is also very much a part of Buddhist belief, the word Karma comes from the Sanskrit: karman; literally “act,” or “deed” and the principle is identical to the Judeo-Christian concept; “As ye sow, so shall ye reap.” In other words good deeds and acts beget good and evil begets evil.
Christianity: The main religion of the western world including America, Australia and most of Europe. This religion has formed the basis for most of our legal and moral laws; it commenced two thousand years ago based around the teachings of Jesus Christ a carpenter from Nazareth who was also a Rabbi (which means teacher). It is based on the Jewish Torah (Bible) and includes directives against such things as stealing, lying, murder and various immoral sexual activities such as adultery, bestiality, incest and homo-sexuality. Some of these laws today are looked on as archaic and no longer relevant, but the discarding of these concepts may be linked in some part to the increase of anti-social behaviour in our modern society. We have turned our back on the principles that made our society the most important the world has ever seen and consequently our civilisation is in serious decline with violence and illegal activities growing continually. Christianity is basically divided into Catholic and Protestant practices and followers observe a wide diversity of beliefs from the Gnostic view of Jesus as a teacher/prophet to the Catholic view of Jesus as God. Jesus is promoted as God made flesh; or the Son of God and is venerated to different degrees by different denominations. It is probably this confusion that has fuelled the atheistic vision of a dead God and is why atheism mainly occurs in predominantly Christian societies; perhaps atheism is merely a Christian sect.
Hinduism: Because it integrates a variety of elements, Hinduism constitutes a complex but largely continuous whole and has religious, social, economic, literary, and artistic aspects. As a religion, Hinduism is a composite of diverse doctrines, cults, and ways of life. The spectrum that ranges from the level of popular Hindu belief to that of elaborate ritual technique and philosophical speculation is very broad and is attended by many stages of transition and varieties of coexistence. Magic rites, animal worship, and belief in demons are often combined with the worship of more or less personal gods or with mysticism, asceticism, and abstract and profound theological systems or esoteric doctrines. The worship of local deities does not exclude the belief in pan-Indian higher gods or even in a single high God. Such local deities are also frequently looked upon as manifestations of a high God.
Islam: Commenced by Prophet Muhammad in Arabia in the 7th century AD. The Arabic term Islam, literally “surrender,” illuminates the fundamental religious idea of Islam—that the Muslim (from the active particle of Islam) accepts “surrender to the will of Allah (Arabic: God).” Allah is viewed as the sole God—creator, sustainer, and restorer of the world, but was the name applied in ancient times to the worship of a “Moon God”, which may be the origin of the crescent moon as the symbol of Islam. The will of Allah, to which man must submit, is made known through the sacred scriptures, the Koran, which Allah revealed to his messenger, Muhammad. In Islam Muhammad is considered the last of a series of prophets (including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and others), and his message simultaneously consummates and completes the “revelations” attributed to earlier prophets. Modern Islam has become divided into various sects, many harbouring hatred toward the west and bent on world domination as part of Muslim eschatological beliefs. The culture of many Muslim societies is quite violent and oppressive compared to modern western societies; Muslim cultures often treat women and non-Muslims as second class citizens. Honour killings, wife beating, public execution by garrotting or stoning and many other accepted Muslim cultural concepts are quite repugnant to western society.
Judaism: The oldest of the major religions Jewish identity has been chiefly defined in terms of the observance of the commandments and of the Oral Law. Many consider that Judaism began with the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob but the name Judaism comes from Judea and the Hebrews did not acquire this region until after the Exodus from Egypt, the arrival in the “Promised Land” with the Ark of the Covenant and the Commandments truly began Judaism. The region and the people were conquered a number of times by the Babylonians, the Greeks and the Romans but they maintained their identity by their observance of the laws regarding circumcision, diet and various cultural practices. More than other religions Judaism is a specific way of life where the religious practices form part of every daily task. Orthodox Jews are those who are most observant and adhere to the Torah instructions completely others assimilate more into society in general. Jews are often referred to as the “chosen people” and for this reason are sometimes discriminated against but the term “chosen” simply means that they are chosen to bring the Torah (Bible) and the commandments to the rest of the world. They are also chosen to be “a nation of priests” and to set the example for the world of how to live with justice and mercy. Today Judaism, Jews and Israel are often denigrated and blamed for all sorts of problems but this is usually by those with vested interests or those who are ill informed.
=================================
This briefly covers the major religions that exist in Australia today; there are others with small followings such as Bahai and Zoroastrianism but these are really just sects of Islam; or Hare Krishna which is a Hindu sect; the common religions that we are most likely to encounter are those described. Much of religion has to do with personal belief and views so my opinions and perceptions may differ from some adherents, but I did glean much of my information from various encyclopaedias. I apologise to those whose beliefs have not been covered or if my opinion differs from your own perception but if you really want to know more about a religion you should ask someone properly qualified in that religion.
We should not simply assume that our opinion is correct and so everyone else is wrong, or that religion is false and has nothing to add to society. Until recently our society was religious to its very core our very culture is based on the religious beliefs of our forefathers. There are reasons that we have drifted away from belief and they have nothing to do with science - rather more to do with apathy; but as the comedian said, “Who cares?”
____________________________________________________
Visit my website or go to the forum if you have a comment.
See the shop for a great range of products or buy my book
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