What if we accepted each others Religion?

[Audie]

Oh you mean like..... being a Baha'i?

Sorry, not this crap again.

Wouldnt accept it even if i was dead

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

No. What I’m saying are the spiritual things like virtues which we can all accept. There’s no need to join any other religion at all.

I think there's a fair bit of conflict between even the virtues of different religions.

For instance, faith in the Trinitarian God of (most) Christianity is incompatible with faith in the Oneness of God referenced in the Five Pillars of Islam.

 

[loverofhumanity]

Why? From the outset, this premise already negates the notion that everyone can just accept other religions. The above condition has already excluded Neopagans, Jains, Sikhs, and many other less-common religions from the conversation. It also seems to me a self-defeating one, because the Baha'i Faith only has around five to eight million followers worldwide. By what metric is it a "major religion" in light of that? Should it also be excluded from the proposal for universal acceptance?



Some religious claims are mutually exclusive, so this would never work in practice. The Qur'an teaches that Jesus was a prophet and a human, while Christianity teaches that he's God. Buddhism doesn't speak of a personal god like Islam, the Baha'i Faith, and Christianity do, and the Abrahamic conceptions of virtue and sin are different in some key ways from their dharmic counterparts.

People believe in different religions for a reason. Not everyone finds the same beliefs and teachings convincing, and I don't see why one shouldn't accept this diversity instead of expecting everyone to accept each other's beliefs as accurate or beneficial to one's own life and spiritual growth.



I think the mutual exclusivity of many religious and non-religious beliefs renders this both impossible and unnecessary. I would never expect a Christian to worship at a Buddhist temple, nor would I expect a Muslim to worship at a church where crucifixes and Christian iconography that directly contradicted Islamic teachings were on display. I also wouldn't find it reasonable to expect an atheist to partake in theistic worship and claim to accept its premises as true; such a claim would simply be deceptive and contrived.

I find it much more realistic to embrace coexistence and diversity instead of trying to fit square pegs through round holes by assuming that everyone could accept others' beliefs or find them convincing.

I’m mainly speaking about the spiritual virtues each religion teaches. Even the other religions you mentioned teach these virtues. Diversity has its place but not when it leads to confrontation. So middle ground, a common ground which all religions teach is the virtues. Also associating with each other in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship breaks down the barriers of ‘us vs them’. I personally love the diversity and love meditating in a pagoda or praying in a church or mosque.

Its not about all becoming the same but about learning to appreciate each others beliefs.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

The spiritual teachings are all very similar and something we can accept without having to join any religion.

They are? Interesting.

Please tell me what the spiritual teaching is on these questions that's similar across all "major" religions:

• God is made up of how many persons?
• Was Jesus the Messiah?
• Was Muhammad a prophet?
• Did the Buddha attain enlightenment?
• Is pilgrimage to Mecca necessary?
• What does a person need to do to reach Heaven?
• What happens to unbelievers when they die?

 

[Quintessence]

What is a "major religion" exactly? Who decides what that is?

Can I decide to not be in your club? Because I don't want all of you barging in on my private residence to participate in my rituals. Go away.

 

[loverofhumanity]

I think there's a fair bit of conflict between even the virtues of different religions.

For instance, faith in the Trinitarian God of (most) Christianity is incompatible with faith in the Oneness of God referenced in the Five Pillars of Islam.

Virtues are things like love, respect, courtesy, compassion, caring, charity, empathy, detachment, moderation, wisdom, forgiveness, friendliness, gentleness, kindness and so on. KrIshna and Buddha and Christ all taught about love. There’s no real conflict. The essence of all religions is basically the same.

 

[loverofhumanity]

They are? Interesting.

Please tell me what the spiritual teaching is on these questions that's similar across all "major" religions:

• God is made up of how many persons?
• Was Jesus the Messiah?
• Was Muhammad a prophet?
• Did the Buddha attain enlightenment?
• Is pilgrimage to Mecca necessary?
• What does a person need to do to reach Heaven?
• What happens to unbelievers when they die?

I’m speaking about the virtues not the social laws or theological arguments.

 

[Quintessence]

Virtues are things like love, respect, courtesy, compassion, caring, charity, empathy, detachment, moderation, wisdom, forgiveness, friendliness, gentleness, kindness and so on. KrIshna and Buddha and Christ all taught about love. There’s no real conflict. The essence of all religions is basically the same.

No, it really isn't. True acceptance and tolerance begins with not pretending we're all the same and accepting, then celebrating, our differences for what they are. Conflict will happen inevitably as a result of this diversity. And that's okay.

 

[loverofhumanity]

No, it really isn't. True acceptance and tolerance begins with not pretending we're all the same and accepting, then celebrating, our differences for what they are. Conflict will happen inevitably as a result of this diversity. And that's okay.

Unity in diversity is the foundation of my belief. We can still have common ground and celebrate our diversity.

 

[Vinayaka]

Why?

If the goal is to embrace the diversity of beliefs and to encourage tolerance then you've kind of fallen at the first hurdle here. Knowingly or not, you've divided religions into those that are worthy of consideration and those that aren't.

I'm sure there's no actual malice on your part here. However, it's an extremely common issue I've noticed among those who advocate a general coming together of religions.

The basic concept of progressive revelation, a core principle of the Baha'i faith, does the same thing. It says that with each new age there is a new prophet and new revelations, and this age is the age of baha'ullah, updating or 'progressing' from previous existing faiths that are now outdated. So although they claim to encourage tolerance, in actuality they don't as other faiths are all now 'outdated'. Lots of talk without substance.

 

[SalixIncendium]

I don’t believe so. Many people who are tired of antagonism between religions towards welcome very much this tolerance towards other religions. Because of the Baha’i teachings I believe in Buddha and regularly read the Dhammapada. I find it is spiritually liberating to accept Buddha. Why should I be prejudiced or keep aloof just because Buddhism doesn’t mention God? There is truth in all religions I have found and I find having a view of oneness about all of them enriches my life. After all why should I deprive myself of the wisdom of Buddha or Krishna or Muhammad or any of These great souls. They all teach truth so I accept Them all.

I see you've now ignored my gracious invitation twice. Easy to preach, but harder to act, isn't it?

 

[Audie]

Firstly I am only referring to the major religions.

Next I’m speaking of accepting the Founder and the spiritual teachings such as virtues and prayer etc not the laws. The administration of each faith would remain.

So Christians would accept Buddha and Muhammad, Buddhists would accept Christ and Baha’is etc

And instead of segregating ourselves in our own churches, pagodas, temples and synagogues, we would visit each others places of worship to meditate and pray together. We Baha’is already do this and read from all the sacred scriptures of each religion in all our services.

In this way we can celebrate our diversity. I think in many places this is happening and also interfaith breaking down barriers. I myself I accept all the major religions and their Founders and Holy Books and find this enriches me greatly. So I read something Christ or Buddha said and it’s a great experience. Christ says to love and Buddha says to fight hate with love and that the greatest of all conquerors is he who conquers his own self. So much wisdom from all these faiths. Why should we deprive ourselves.? If you have any favourite verses please feel most welcome to share them.

IOW

Lets all unify in the honouring of diversity
by all thinking the same way.

 

[LuisDantas]

It is of course great when people who come from contrasting environments and teachings find common ground.

But attempting to gloss over the very significant differences of values (and dogmas) is simply not very defensable.

It causes confusion and compromises the ability to achieve true religious insight.

 

[Quintessence]

Unity in diversity is the foundation of my belief. We can still have common ground and celebrate our diversity.

The challenge is identifying the common ground rather than one religious tradition projecting what it wants that common ground to be on everyone else.

An example of actual common ground humanity shares? The literal ground. The planet we live on.

An example of claimed (but not actual) common ground? Constructed virtues. The ideals human peoples aspire to uphold.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Here I’m speaking about relationships between religions not atheists.

And there lies the separatism. What makes you believe atheism isn't a valid path?

 

[LuisDantas]

Maybe if you feel unhappy with my posts then maybe it’s best if you just put an ‘ignore’ on my profile. That way you won’t even see my posts.

This project of wide acceptance isn't starting very well, is it?

 

[SalixIncendium]

It's very hard to say that you accept the beliefs of others where they contradict those things that you believe.

No path is perfect. All of them have their potholes from use. That doesn't mean that they cannot be accepted as traversable paths.

 

[SalixIncendium]

From the outset, this premise already negates the notion that everyone can just accept other religions. The above condition has already excluded Neopaganism, Jainism, Sikhism, and many other less-common religions from the conversation.

It also excluded the Baha'i Faith.

 

[LuisDantas]

A core issue is that there is no consensus on what would constitute a virtue - and a very convincing argument can be made that it is a serious mistake to assume that such a consensus can be meaningfully achieved. Virtuous behaviour is inherently highly circunstantial. That creates a lot of perhaps undesirable personal responsibility, but things are as they are.

Is it obedience a virtue? In many situations it is indeed. But what about those times when a husband is drunk and starts to become violent towards his wife (to use a cliched example)?

Is indulgence a virtue? It just might be, if the realistic alternative is to be rude or worse towards the people we interact with.

 

[Audie]

It is of course great when people who come from contrasting environments and teachings find common ground.

But attempting to gloss over the very significant differences of values (and dogmas) is simply not very defensable.

It causes confusion and compromises the ability to achieve true religious insight.

My insight on the middle eastern
sky-god religions is that their core
concepts are antithetical to anything i
would ever accept or wish to allow in
my country.