Do people still follow Hinduism out of ignorance and cultural pressure?

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It seems that Hinduism is the only world religion left that worships more than one God. Some argue it is monotheistic with the idea of Krishna, but that’s beside the point. My question is why so many follow this religion when the rest of the world frowns on polytheism? Is it just a because there’s such a strong fusion between religion and culture in Indian society?
 
The mormon churches believe in the existence of many gods, although I don’t know if members of those churches worship more than one.
 
scapularkid8 said:
It seems that Hinduism is the only world religion left that worships more than one God. Some argue it is monotheistic with the idea of Krishna, but that’s beside the point. My question is why so many follow this religion when the rest of the world frowns on polytheism? Is it just a because there’s such a strong fusion between religion and culture in Indian society?
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Shinto, the religion of Japan, worships Kami which are spirit Gods. The most important Kami is the Sun Goddess Amaterasu. Before WWII when the Allies forced the Emperor to renounce his divine status, all Japanese revered him as the descendant of Amaterasu.

The Hindus through out the world and the Japanese who follow Shinto and the Africans who are Polytheists are just as sincere and dedicated to their beliefs as Catholics are. They believe they are following the true faith just as Catholics do.

Perhaps you frown on polytheism and some other members of the Abrahamic faiths do, but what makes you think the rest of the World does?
 
notself said:
Shinto, the religion of Japan, worships Kami which are spirit Gods. The most important Kami is the Sun Goddess Amaterasu. Before WWII when the Allies forced the Emperor to renounce his divine status, all Japanese revered him as the descendant of Amaterasu.

The Hindus through out the world and the Japanese who follow Shinto and the Africans who are Polytheists are just as sincere and dedicated to their beliefs as Catholics are. They believe they are following the true faith just as Catholics do.

Perhaps you frown on polytheism and some other members of the Abrahamic faiths do, but what makes you think the rest of the World does?
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Okay, but Shintoism and African polytheism are not world religions, or at least do not have as large a following as Hinduism (this is my hypothesis seeing as India is the most populous country on Earth). There are approximately 1 billion Hindus, which ranks it with Catholicism and Islam.

My reasoning for saying that most of the world frowns upon the polytheism of Hinduism is that the Western hemisphere is predominantly Catholic, Europe is predominantly Catholic (arguably), Africa is split between Islam and Catholicism (and other Christian traditions), the Middle East is Muslim and Catholic/Protestant, not to mention a sizeable population of Christians and Muslims in Asia and even India specifically.

I never said I frowned upon the polytheism of Hinduism 👍 (I think that was inferred incorrectly). I just wondered why it was the only major religion left that didn’t worship only One God, despite the overwhelming world influence of Monotheism.
 
You say the Middle East is Muslim and Catholic/Protestant? I think it is more Muslim and Catholic/Orthodox…

As for the Hindu question, I think it is more cultural and engrained. Many consider it the world’s oldest religion and the Indian people are very proud of their faith. It has maybe 900 million followers worldwide. To ask why they follow it is like asking a Jew why they don’t follow Jesus as the Messiah. They just don’t. There may be a million reasons why. Most are born that way, some convert, others believe it is true. For many, it is both a good thing and a cultural connection. Why would they want to get rid of a good thing and lose the connection to their ancesters…?

Prayers and petitions,
Alexius:cool:
 
One reason could be because of the idea of progressive revelation. Most religions believe that revelation ends when their religious prophet, guru, incarnation etc. has passed away.

If you want to know why there are still Hindus in the world ask them yourselves

hindudharmaforums.com/
 
The world frowns on polytheism? I thought it frowned on Christians.
 
exoflare said:
The world frowns on polytheism? I thought it frowned on Christians.
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In secret, yes, but the world would (hypothetically) never speak up against the Catholic/Christian West since it’s the power center. Seeing as India is becoming quite powerful, I’d like to see how views of Hinduism might change from seeing it as a strange following to just accepting it such as what happened with Christianity.

Now I don’t expect conversions like there were for Christianity, I’m just thinking about the religious pluralism that’s developing and how Hindu’s aren’t being evangelized by Christianity, especially in this global age.
 
Hinduism isn’t really like a specific religion but a collection of many religions under one eastern umbrella name. There are a lot of other pagans worldwide into Norse mythology etc. And Buddhism which has its buddhas.
 
My coworker from years ago was Hindi and I saw the same cultural changes in her as I do in many young adults…

On the one hand, her family (1st gen immigrants) were very religious and tightly knit. She had to maintain the language to talk to many of them and was expected to follow many practices.

On the other hand, she was a democrat, pro-abortion, pro-birth control studying at a really liberal college with a live in bf (whom she hid from her parents as he was a white “catholic”)

I don’t know if my personal experience with her is any real opinion. I just got a feeling from her that the reason for practicing her religion was due to a familial obligation, one which she embraced and believe in, but not an actual faith.
 
I think one could make the argument that those who follow a religion out of ignorance and cultural pressure can be found in ALL world religions, just as those who follow a religion because they have investigated it and believe it to promote the truth can be found in ALL world religions. We all know “cultural Catholics” as well as very devout Catholics who strive for holiness. Why would the followers of Hinduism behave differently?
 
SeekerJen said:
Why would the followers of Hinduism behave differently?
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Good point. I guess there’s just so many followers of Hinduism number wise just because India is so populated…I myself have never heard of a conversion to Hinduism.
 
Europe is essentially Secular/Christian/Muslim

Africa is essentially divided between islam & christianity and smaller amount of traditional or mixed beleifs.

The Middle east is essentially muslim

Central Asia is mostly muslim

Th Indian subcontent is mixed with 900 million Hindu’s, and between 100-200 million muslims,and then a variety of other smaller faiths
But Pakistan has 170 million muslims, Bangladesh 150 million

East Asia is shared by faiths including islam, Xtianity, Buddism

There is a sizeable Indian/Pakistani/B’deshi community in the UK

Most 2nd Gen hindu I have met are secular… The basics of hinduism can be implemented in modern life easily (just like the basic values of most faiths)but I think many young and 2nd gen hindus feel slightly embaressed about the more traditional aspects iof their faith, the numerous gods, caste system, monkey god, elephant god etc and increasingly hindu’s are trying to emphasize the value part of the faith because they find it difficult to explain the traditional part
 
The belief in one Supreme Being, which for many is a personal God (brahman) is a vital part of Hinduism which you should take care not to forget. The various “gods” of the Hindu pantheon are ultimately manifestations of the one divine reality. Christianity itself is accused, especially by Muslims, for being polytheistic (e.g. the Trinity). God in the Old Testament goes by many names (Elohim, Yaweh, El Shaddai etc.), and Christians across the globe have a varying understanding of who God is. Moreover, Hinduism is very much a culture as well as a religion (sometimes just a culture) - why would a Hindu, surrounded by Hindus, taught to be Hindu, suddenly decide to conform to a foreign tradition?

You may want to research the term “Bhakti,” and focus on it as it occurs at the highest level (look into the Bhagavata Purana and you’ll find some startling answers to your question)
 
According to the Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life in America, Hindus have the highest overall retention rate of any religion with more than 84% of adults who were raised Hindu identifing themselves as still Hindu.

The retention rate for Catholicism is 68%.

Of the converts to Catholicism, none were formerly Hindu. Of the converts to Hinduism, 4% were raised Catholic.

When comparing education levels, Catholics have 16% with a college degree or better. Hindus have 26% with a college degree or better.

Obviously, Hinduism is not a religion of the ignorant nor exclusively of culture.

Here is a link to the study.
religions.pewforum.org/
 
The statistics you cited reminded me of some I read somewhere (I can’t remember so I can’t officially cite this) that in Spain during the eighties as the government was still recovering from Franco-ism the higher the education level, the more devoutly practicing as a Catholic you were likely to be. I guess that’s not so anymore.

Seems to be the case in India though. Interesting.

In reply to the earlier post mentioning bhakti, I would say that I started this thread right before I had taken my world religions course which had an entire unit dedicated to Hinduism where bhakti was covered so I understand the connotations behind it (and I understand Hinduism a lot more in general 👍 ). There are some striking similarities to Christian thought…some. I thought the idea of Bhrama and the Vedas were wandering close to the idea of God the Father and God the Son. The ideas deviated along the lines of “You Are That” where one is Bhrama, as opposed to Christianity where one is not God, but constantly engages in a process where we become like God because He Wills It.
 
This was interesting. I had to ask my coworker (He’s an Indian Muslim) about the level of education/careers in his family. He has 45 doctors in his extended family, one son is his doctor and his younger son is in med school.

Are you sure this is a religion issue? My first guess is this is an education issue. Americans are definitely not the superpower in education.
 
The OP was asking if people followed Hinduism out of ignorance. This is why I included the section on education.
 
In the middle ages Hindus were one of the richest & most educated nations before their nation fell to Muslim hordes. Dont underestimate them.

there is only one thing i dont like about them. a lot of them stinks. 😃
 
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