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[av_heading heading=’PSYCHOTROPIC | Believe what you want’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY ANGELICA LOUISE PFLEIDER
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Thursday, June 22, 2017
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THE SEVEN Sacraments, the 5 Pillars of Islam, the Five Ks
Passover, Ramadan, Holy Week
Pastor, Priest, Imam, Rabbi, Guru
Book of Mormon, Qu’ran, Holy Bible (in several versions)
Yahweh, Allah, Almighty God, Buddha
So many different names, so many different practices. Religion is a complicated part of human existence.
Religion can be explained as a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature and purpose of the universe. It usually involves devotional and ritual observances and often contains a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs (http://www.bbc.co.uk)
So we get the idea, no matter what you practice, no matter what you identify yourself as, the main idea of religion is that it is the belief of a group who develop rituals and moral codes regarding it. Why then, are there tensions that build up between different religions? Let’s take look at some of the world’s most popular religions.
Christianity (in general) is the belief in the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Under this are many sub-sects such as Born Again, Adventist, Catholic, Angelican, Orthodox, the list goes on and on.
Islam is a monotheistic faith that originated in the Middle East and is regarded as revealed through Muhammad as the prophet of Allah.
Hinduism is a religious mix of ideas which grew through the written scriptures, the Vedas, to guide men to wisdom.
Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama who aimed to teach his followers how to end suffering, achieve nirvana and escape the cycle of suffering and rebirth.
Judaism is a very influential religion. It stemmed from the Old Testament of the Bible and follows the teachings of Moses.
Atheism is the disbelief in the existence of God or gods.
So setting aside all the religious jargons and rituals, we see that religion was developed through the experiences different races of mankind have. Those who are from South Asia have Buddha, those from the Middle East have Mohammad, those from further East have Jesus, Moses, the whole merry menagerie and those from the age of science and logic have, well, science and logic.
From what I searched, there is nothing that makes me believe why different religions should go against each other. In Catholicism I don’t see any “Those who practice Catholicism must save society from those who practice Islam or other sects of Christianity” or “Catholics must hate Jews because they killed Jesus.” Or even “Catholics must cleanse the world of non-believers.”
When you look at it in an open, non-biased way you will see that the fights are pointless. People are entitled to their own beliefs. Just because your gods have different names, or you don’t believe in a higher being, doesn’t mean you should be persecuted by others. Look who are the worst persecutors who not only let members of different religions but even their own religions suffer, the extremists.
I think with this ever evolving world of tolerance, we must learn to tolerate each other’s religions and beliefs. That is because all men have free will, and all men have the right to believe what they want./PN
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