| Flames of Faith: A Thumbnail Guide to World Religions ©2006John Cunyus, Ph.D.All Rights Reserved Introduction The horrific events of September 11, 2001 forever shattered the illusion that the only religion which matters is our own. When the hijacked airliners flew into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a lonely Pennsylvania hillside that morning, the world realized with chilling clarity that the religious imaginations of people in far away lands now mattered to all. Some sort of understanding of the world’s great religious traditions is now essential to our political security, perhaps even to our own survival. We need to understand, roughly at least, what other people believe and why they act the way they do, if nothing else to defend ourselves from future attacks. Comparative religions is no longer an academic endeavor. In our world today, we watch the spectacle of nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, divided fiercely by religion as well as other issues, facing off over the “line of control” in Kashmir. We see the continuation of the centuries-old conflict between Protestants and Roman Catholics in Ireland. We see a religious element in the standoff between Israelis and Arabs in the Middle East. And around the periphery of the world, countless fires are fueled at least in part by religious extremism. Understanding what’s going on may hold one very important key to the future. We see all too plainly the results of failing to understand. Defining Religion To begin with, we need to define the word “religion.” One dictionary definition is: Belief in a superhuman being or beings, esp. a personal God, controlling the universe and entitled to worship; the feelings, effects on conduct, and the practices resulting from such a belief; a system of faith, doctrine, and worship. While that definition seems well and good, it does convey a Western, theistic bias. Religion, as practiced among human beings today, does not necessarily imply belief in God or gods. Theravada Buddhism, practiced in Sri Lanka, Burma, and Thailand, does quite well without a god, for instance. We need to broaden the definition to understand it better. The word “religion” itself derives in part from a Latin word, religare, meaning “to bind.” Perhaps we should move back in the direction of the Latin definition. Religion is something that binds us – to ourselves, our family, our social group, our world, our universe. It binds the way we behave, the way we worship, the way we understand. Using a simpler, non- theistic definition, we see that all human beings are religious, in a sense. All human beings are bound to others. All human beings are bound to particular ways of seeing themselves and the universe they inhabit. All human beings are bound by certain ethical standards, however unethical they may seem to others. Religion is our most basic orientation in life. We have a basic orientation, a basic way of seeing, feeling, acting, and understanding, whether we are aware of it or not. To be human is to be religious. Admittedly, this complicates our understanding at first. Some people pride themselves on being members of one particular religion. Yet the practical, binding religion they practice may bear only a slight resemblance to the formal religion they claim. Others may be equally proudly non-religious. Yet that defiant non-religion or irreligion easily falls within our definition of religion as well. Seeing religion as a human being’s basic orientation to life both complicates and simplifies. It complicates to the extent that it blurs the lines between religions, as outlined above. It simplifies in that it focuses on what humans truly believe and practice, not merely on what they say they believe and practice. How to Understand Studying “other” religions raises inherent questions. Many of us come to such a study with very strong religious convictions of our own. Those convictions may cause us from the start to see the other traditions as totally alien, as demonic, as the enemy. We may study simply in order to find weaknesses in the enemy’s armor, the better to defeat him in the future. While such approaches are probably inevitable, they probably will not lead us to a better understanding. In our religious universe, there may well be only one Master. Yet in the flesh and blood world around us, there are many masters, many ways, all of which have some sincere adherents. Some of those may have important lessons to teach us, even as we may have lessons to teach them. I prefer an approach that will acknowledge our own religious convictions, not abandon who and what we are, yet will still keep an open mind toward the beliefs and practices of others. As we study the world’s religions, we will find much that fascinates us. We will also probably find much that repels us. If we’re honest, though, we have to admit the same thing about our own religion as well. It’s impossible, of course, to fully explain great religious traditions in the limited space we have here. What I hope to accomplish is provide a thumbnail description of each. Such descriptions leave an incredible amount of information out. Hopefully, they offer enough information to form a springboard to a rough understanding. If they awaken an interest in a fascinating topic and inspire further study, so much the better. I describe in this work Hinduism, Buddhism, Chinese Religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Certainly, that list is not exhaustive. I have left many out. Yet these religious traditions, in my opinion, exert the greatest influence in our world today. I also include a brief study of a religious perspective I call Consumerism – the predominant social pattern of the contemporary West. Some would not consider this a religion at all. After all, it has no gods . . . or perhaps too many gods to name. But this lifestyle does bind its adherents along the lines of the ancient Latin definition of religion. It exerts an enormous influence on the world. It is syncretic, in that it absorbs elements of many other religious perspectives. In many places, this consumerist Western religion triggers the conflicts raging between the other traditions in the world today. Copyright 2006, John Cunyus All Rights Reserved |
| Introductory chapter: Flames of Faith: A Thumbnail Guide to World Religions, by John Cunyus published by iUniverse |
Words, Images, and Layout ©2006, John G. Cunyus
All Rights Reserved
John Cunyus is freelance writer working in North
Texas. His work may be viewed online at
www.johncunyus.com
