why religions are so different

[Native]

Well, if you look, you can find whatever you want to support your own hypothesis

No, in this business we use methods of Comparative Religion and Comparative Mythology.

 

[Valjean]

I see religions as very different.
Just some examples:
Abrahamic religions are authoritarian. There's a strong, domineering father figure and lawmaker. He expects unquestioning obedience to strict rules and metes out rewards for obedience and punishments for infractions.

Dharmic religions in general, are more mechanical. There is no lawmaker or judge. There is an optimal way of doing things and deviations automatically result in suboptimum results.

Buddhism doesn't worry much about Gods, laws or afterlives. It's more a psychothrapeutic modality to produce equanimity and peace of mind.

Mystical 'religions' are neither authoritarian nor particularly concerned with social behavior. They're individualistic, mind altering techniques.

In primitive cultures religion is so interwoven with the general culture that it doesn't exist as a discrete social element at all.

 

[Riverwolf]

No, in this business we use methods of Comparative Religion and Comparative Mythology.

My point still stands. When you do research, if you come to it just assuming that your hypothesis is correct, you will find all kinds of reasons it is correct. Doesn't matter what that hypothesis is.

 

[arthra]

Well in response to the question "Why are religions so different"... I would say they appear at various periods of history and had different cultural settings and issues where they arose, also there were geographic spaces between them. Today as human beings have become much closer due to trade and technology we probably know more about various religions than our grandparents.

I recall being raised in a small town where people thought Catholics were a "different" religion even though they were all Christians. Very few people knew much about Judaism even though there were some Jews in our community. Today I can visit Synagogues, Mosques, a Hindu temple , a Buddhist or a Sikh temple, a Mormon Temple within forty minutes of my home! Also as a Baha'i I'm active in the Interfaith Council so I see Jews, Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Hindus, Mormons regularly. I have a few Zoroastrian friends... The amazing thing is...the more we communicate and socialize we're finding out we have a lot of things in common!

 

[Native]

My point still stands. When you do research, if you come to it just assuming that your hypothesis is correct, you will find all kinds of reasons it is correct. Doesn't matter what that hypothesis is.

Your premisis are inconsistent. In Comparative Mythology and Religion we don´t use the cherry picking method. We take off on the basis of compared informations which already have stood the comparative test, i.e. we don´t start with our own assumptions.

 

[arthra]

Buddhism doesn't worry much about Gods, laws or afterlives.

There are a lot of monastic rules in some Buddhist Orders...

See:

http://religion.wikia.com/wiki/Buddhist_monasticism

 

[Riverwolf]

Your premisis are inconsistent. In Comparative Mythology and Religion we don´t use the cherry picking method. We take off on the basis of compared informations which already have stood the comparative test, i.e. we don´t start with our own assumptions.

You'll notice that my initial post wasn't about Comparative Religion, or anything you had said.

 

[Native]

You'll notice that my initial post wasn't about Comparative Religion . . .

Yes, and this was why I brought the comparative issue up. You assume the researchers of religion and myths to make up their own stories out of the blue, but most of us uses comparative methods which have confirmed the similar informations from many cultures.

 

[Riverwolf]

Yes, and this was why I brought the comparative issue up. You assume the researchers of religion and myths ...

Why do you assume that this is an assumption I'm making?

If you're going to claim that the person I was initially responding to is a "researcher", as in, someone who is officially connected with Academia (which you seem to be implying), show me some credentials. Degrees, schools attended, courses taken, years in the field. Until I see some, I'm going to assume that they're the same as most (not all) people on this forum, including myself: amateur enthusiasts.

Not that it changes, or in any way challenges, my original point.

EDIT: Look, I'm sorry if I made things too personal in that other thread. I don't know why, but I've noticed that my posting style has been grouchier than usual lately. I'll try to cool it down a bit, but please leave that thread in that thread.

 

[vaguelyhumanoid]

As a polytheist, I think it's better and more important to accept difference than to prove sameness.

 

[LuisDantas]

There are certain fairly recurrent elements that many religions present, mostly because human perception and needs are ultimately fairly consistent among various places and cultures.

Certainly not due to a hypothetical common God.

 

[Neo Deist]

Religions are different because people are different...and it is people that made up the religions.

 

[metis]

Generally speaking, I think most, if not all, religions are honest attempts to try and explain and understand God or the Gods, but in doing so they probably mostly reflect their own cultural values or those they imported and evolved. IOW, I don't think there likely is any one "true religion".