Poll: Studying other religions.

[tubgrob]

You are free to say what you want. You practice you religion and butt out of others.
Click here to get more information no2 maximus

 

[funny4god]

Well I think Is very important to know other’s peoples Religions just for the fact that if someone approach me and start talking their believes I can then interact with them in that subject and I know not to say something wrong to them that may offend them.My take is that I probably would of stay on the Catholic Church if my questions about my faith would of been answer and not to be TOLD so many times by priests “You just have to have faith”. I was told that so much that I started asking someone else besides Catholics about the questions I had.Eventually all my questions well The most Vital ones were answer by other religions such as Baptist, Pentecostals,Mormons,so Yes I do believed that is a must to inform ourselves is educational and informative in the same sense.

 

[vera_dicere]

Its like Harry Potter. Some can read it with no concerns for their spiritual health, whereas others are weak in the faith and find themselves slipping into glorifying magic.

If a person is strong in the faith they shouldn’t have a problem. If a person is weak in their faith and they find they are having problems when studying other religions, then perhaps they best get to the basics of their faith.

 

[BlaiseR]

I find it strange and sad that people are more interested in studying other religions rather than first studying their own religion and knowing it better.

While, I do not have anything against studying other religions; I do believe that I first need to take the pain to study my own religion (Catholic in my case) and knowing it better first. There is so much to know about our religion so beautiful that if I am really able to grasp it and have faith the size of a mustard seed, I could move mountains. I would be transformed. The more I study scripture and my religion, the more I understand what Jesus has done for me and the more I feel drawn to His presence and His love.

About needing to know something know about his/her to be being able to have a meaningful dialogue with persons of another faith. I simply believe that I first need to be sure of my own roots before I am able to reach out to someone else. What use would it be if I understood the other’s faith but did not know my own enough? In such a case what do I have to offer the other. While he/she is educating me about his faith, am I able to help him/her to understand the beauty of my faith?

So in short before I decide to learn about another faith, let me first aks myself this question: Do I know my faith (and I mean truly know it) enough? I would know this when my faith transforms my life…

Love to all
Blaise

 

[pmccombs]

I’d say the study of religion is one of the big reasons why I call myself an “agnostic.” And it’s one of the reasons why I’m interested in the Catholic forums when I am not a Catholic.

Growing up as a Mormon, I always viewed my own religion as obviously true. I took it for granted. Those around me achieved certainty about it; they really knew it was true because of intellectual or spiritual experiences of their own. I was convinced myself. I served a mission for my church and taught others to see things as I did.

Of course, I figured if I was going to ask others to reconsider their own faith and examine another, that I should not be exempt from that sort of thing. I began to find teachings in the Catholic Church and elsewhere that I personally considered… superior to some of their counterparts in Mormonism.

Most troubling, though, was that I found in other faiths people who had the same certainty about their beliefs that many Mormons also have. How can that be? For instance, there are Catholics here who are dead certain of the truth of their Church, both intellectually and spiritually. I realized that the quality of belief in competing religious doctrines is very similar among all who really believe, no matter the content of the belief.

That presented a conundrum of sorts. How can God grant a spiritual witness of various opposing views, as it seems He does? Or if the devil can counterfeit spiritual enlightenment and joy, how could one ever really know that they were being influenced by God and not Satan? How can there be obvious miracles (healings, foresight, even people being raised from the dead) in many different Churches? And whose apologists, specialists, experts, intellectuals, etc., really have the straight story? People point to tradition and authority to provide answers for these questions, and those are answers of a kind, but I don’t think they provide certainty by any means.

That’s the danger of it, if you want to call it danger.

 

[fhansen]

The study of other religions of the world is a major hobby for some people. Other, however, fear that if they study other religions they may someday seek to blend their own beliefs with others. I on one occasion actualy met a person who called it sinful, claiming it showed intrest in “the false religions of man”. Some religions like JWs even ban members from studying other faiths.

So, what’s everyone’s oppinion?
Studying other religions is…

The Christian faith is all about TRUTH-or else it’s totally worthless. What could we possibly be afraid of-fearing that we might encounter more truth somewhere else and become convinced of it? What good could such a fear bring? If I thought more truth was to be found elsewhere I’d leave what I have and seek after the other in a minute. Where truth is found God is found. ‘All truth is Gods’ truth’, as Augustine, I believe, said.

 

[Vouthon]

The Christian faith is all about TRUTH-or else it’s totally worthless. What could we possibly be afraid of-fearing that we might encounter more truth somewhere else and become convinced of it? What good could such a fear bring? If I thought more truth was to be found elsewhere I’d leave what I have and seek after the other in a minute. Where truth is found God is found. ‘All truth is Gods’ truth’, as Augustine, I believe, said.

“…All that is true, by whomsoever it has been said, has its origin in the Spirit…”

***- Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Catholic theologian, mystic and Doctor of the Church ***

In saying this Saint Thomas was merely attesting to this Sacred Tradition whic had been spoken of much earlier by the Fathers, for example Saint Justin Martyr and Augustine (as you quoted above):

“…All truth, wherever it is found, belongs to us as Christians and is Christian truth…”

***- Saint Justin Martyr (AD 100–165), Early Catholic Church Father ***

This is why Pope John Paul II once said, “You speak of many religions. Instead I will attempt to show the common fundamental element and the common root of these religions…From the beginning, Christian Revelation has viewed the spiritual history of man as including, in some way, all religions, thereby demonstrating the unity of humankind with regard to the eternal and ultimate destiny of man. The Church sees the promotion of this unity as one of its duties.”

And as Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa wrote in the 1400s, there is only one Wisdom and underlying religion in the diversity of faiths:

“…With many groanings I beseeched the Creator of all, because of His kindness, to restrain the persecution that was raging more fiercely than usual on account of the difference of faith between the religions…We praise our God, whose mercy rules over all His works and who alone has the power to bring it about, that such a great diversity of religions would be brought together in one harmonious peace. We, who are His work, cannot disobey His direction. Nevertheless we request instruction, as to how this unity of religion can be introduced by us…You will find that not another faith but the one and the same faith is presupposed everywhere…There can only be one wisdom. For if it were possible that there be several wisdoms, then these would have to be from one. Namely, unity is prior to all plurality…Even though you acknowledge diverse religions, you all presuppose in all of this diversity the one, which you call wisdom…Therefore, come to our aid you who alone are able. For this rivalry [among religions] exists for sake of you, whom alone they revere in everything that all seem to worship. For each one desires in all that he seems to desire only the good which you are; no one is seeking with all his intellectual searching for anything else than the truth which you are. For what does the living seek except to live? What does the existing seek except to exist? Therefore, it is you, O God, the giver of life and being, who is being sought in different religions in different ways, and who are named with different names because as you are you remain unknown and ineffable to all…Therefore, do not hide Yourself any longer, O Lord. Be propitious, and manifest Your face; and all peoples will be saved, who no longer will be able to desert the Source of life and its sweetness, once having foretasted even a little thereof. For no one departs from You except because He is ignorant of You. If You will deign to do the foregoing, the sword will cease, as will also the malice of hatred and all evils; and all will come to know that there is only one religion in the variety of faiths…”

***- Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa (1401 –1464), De Pace Fidei, Catholic mystic and highest cleric under the Pope in his day ***

 

[AdamP88]

Congratulations on being accepted into the novitiate.

I bet you have an interesting story to tell about your conversion.

Thanks for the congratulations. I was never Muslim myself but I do find other faiths a topic of interest, especially Islam. (for obvious reasons…lol)

God Bless

 

[SteveVH]

The study of other religions of the world is a major hobby for some people. Other, however, fear that if they study other religions they may someday seek to blend their own beliefs with others. I on one occasion actualy met a person who called it sinful, claiming it showed intrest in “the false religions of man”. Some religions like JWs even ban members from studying other faiths.

So, what’s everyone’s oppinion?
Studying other religions is…

One should never fear knowledge. When evangelizing, it is quite necessary to have some knowledge of the persons beliefs before making an argument for your own. It is very easy to speak past each other when even seemingly common terms carry a different meaning between faith traditions. Not only that, I think it is important for all of us to see the truth within each religion, and there is at least some truth in each of them. As a Catholic I believe that my Church posseses the fulness of truth and would not trade it for anything, but I find other’s beliefs fascinating. One of the very reasons I’m on this forum.

 

[wcknight]

I think it is good, important, and interesting. There is a definite need to find common ground among all peoples. We need to understand where other people from different faiths are coming from. So much is lost and so much misunderstanding exists in the world because we can not see someone elses point of view.

We can defuse a lot of misunderstandings if we take the time to better evaluate peoples culture and background.

Take for example the burning or desecration of the Koran by some air head soldiers. That act was incendiary and insensitive, and caused an international incident. It literally cost the lives of some other innocent soldiers who happened to get caught up in a foreign country at the wrong time. We are lucky it did not cause a world war.

 

[Publisher]

To understand what others believe and why helps us understand what we beleive and why.

Studying other faith traditions is important…how others view and understand the Eternal is very important.

 

[StevenFrancis]

The study of other religions of the world is a major hobby for some people. Other, however, fear that if they study other religions they may someday seek to blend their own beliefs with others. I on one occasion actualy met a person who called it sinful, claiming it showed intrest in “the false religions of man”. Some religions like JWs even ban members from studying other faiths.

So, what’s everyone’s oppinion?
Studying other religions is…

I don’t see it as vice or virtue. I did a lot of it before my conversion to Catholicism. Now, I’d be more inclined to find summaries or highlights of other faiths for the purpose of Catholic apologetics and evangelization. I am no longer approaching any other religions as a “seeker”. I am clearly called to Catholicism. I don’t know. It may be important, and of course, was important for me personally during a significantly large portion of my life, but my interest in comparative religion has waned significantly since my call. For a church to literally stifle the search for truth would be unacceptable to me. I am uncertain how persons end up in certain faiths, though when you look into it closer, I often find it is due to birth, geography and family tradition. Others still seek young persons who are coming into the age of reason, and promulgate some type of manipulative psychological shenanigans.

Some religions seem to be inherited mostly (Orthodox Judaism, Islam). I suppose the same could be said for the Catholic faith to a large degree. We do have infant baptism. However, on the other hand, we do allow for intellectual free will at the age of reason, and don’t confine people, nor forbid their search or curiosity.

No answer here. The phenomena is what it is. It is a neutral practice which can be used as a legitimate search for truth or once truth is found, can be used to assist in spreading the truth by knowing more about the audience. A practice heavily endorsed by St. Paul, who was all things to all people, and studied the practices and traditions of all varieties of religious experience contemporary to his life and times in order to better evangelize the audience he faced. So rather than giving a neutral response, upon reflection, perhaps I should have counted it as virtue, when thought of in this light.

 

[Jesusissacred]

I thinks its a fantastic thing!

I myself study many religions and I can see one thing about all of them. They believe in something divine. Isn’t it remarkable how these religions separated massively from each other with completely different cultures all believe in a God?

Even Hindus believes in One Supreme Being and they definitely had no contact with Judaism.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan shows how those who do good works will ascend to heaven even if they are not of the same religion.

As a Universalist I believe that there is no one supreme religion. They are all outputs of the same thing, a belief in something divine.

I’m sure God didn’t leave Gandhi behind!

 

[pmccombs]

I thinks its a fantastic thing!
Even Hindus believes in One Supreme Being and they definitely had no contact with Judaism.

I dunno, I listened to all of Mark W. Muesse’s lectures on Hinduism and I sure didn’t gather that. There’s a polytheistic tradition if ever there was one, although it’s so diverse that anything you choose to say about it is probably true. And the lectures on Buddhism (which one might consider a facet of so-called “Hinduism”) were fascinating in that Siddartha wasn’t looking for God at all, but for personal annihilation eek–a release from the samsara cycle of suffering, death, and re-death!

I once thought, like many good-willed Christians, that those of other faiths basically believe in the same fundamentals; it was only the periphery that differed. Now I’m not so sure about that. There are religious traditions in this world that are so radically different from Western and Christian ideas that it’s hard to say we share a similar foundation.

 

[Jesusissacred]

I dunno, I listened to all of Mark W. Muesse’s lectures on Hinduism and I sure didn’t gather that. There’s a polytheistic tradition if ever there was one, although it’s so diverse that anything you choose to say about it is probably true. And the lectures on Buddhism (which one might consider a facet of so-called “Hinduism”) were fascinating in that Siddartha wasn’t looking for God at all, but for personal annihilation eek–a release from the samsara cycle of suffering, death, and re-death!

I once thought, like many good-willed Christians, that those of other faiths basically believe in the same fundamentals; it was only the periphery that differed. Now I’m not so sure about that. There are religious traditions in this world that are so radically different from Western and Christian ideas that it’s hard to say we share a similar foundation.

Buddhists don’t seek personal annihilation my friend. They seek personal, spiritual, release, perfection. Hindus are very diverse indeed but all believe in a supreme being. They might also worship many different aspects like Ganesh, etc but they still above all of that believe in something supreme called Brahman.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman

Although yes, many people think that Christianity is diverse but Hinduism is definitely quite a diverse religion! So, you could say one thing which would be interpreted as something different. Though, I think that they all believe in this supreme force that is Supreme but may still believe in other divine beings. Depends on the tradition, really.

 

[TEPO]

I don’t think it’s such a positive thing for everyone. It can become obsessive and compulsive which is unhealthy, and can become a near occasion for sin.

 

[TEPO]

I thinks its a fantastic thing!

I myself study many religions and I can see one thing about all of them. They believe in something divine. Isn’t it remarkable how these religions separated massively from each other with completely different cultures all believe in a God?

Even Hindus believes in One Supreme Being and they definitely had no contact with Judaism.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan shows how those who do good works will ascend to heaven even if they are not of the same religion.

As a Universalist I believe that there is no one supreme religion. They are all outputs of the same thing, a belief in something divine.

I’m sure God didn’t leave Gandhi behind!

Have you ever considered yourself as any other religion besides a Universalist in the past?

 

[Jesusissacred]

Catholic and have had sympathies with Pentecostal beliefs but never really considered myself to be a Pentecostal.

To clarify, I am really a Christian Universalist in that I personally believe in Jesus Christ, etc but I don’t disregard other religions as invalid and I believe that because God is so merciful and loving that everybody would be saved. I also don’t regard my religion as Supreme. However, I connect with it and find comfort in it.

 

[findingmyself08]

To me, the answer to this question has multiple facets.

1. I find other religions fascinating. I love learning about what others believe in and how that impacts or shapes their lives.
2. I find it to be beneficial to my own exploration of my faith which is Roman Catholicism. When I encounter other faiths that pose questions I have never thought about or have not fully explored within Catholicism, it pushes me to explore and seek to understand the answers within my own faith.
3. I find it to be challenging; something for my brain to struggle with and to work through.

Overall, I just enjoy soaking in what others believe and why they believe it.

 

[pmccombs]

Buddhists don’t seek personal annihilation my friend. They seek personal, spiritual, release, perfection. Hindus are very diverse indeed but all believe in a supreme being. They might also worship many different aspects like Ganesh, etc but they still above all of that believe in something supreme called Brahman.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman

Although yes, many people think that Christianity is diverse but Hinduism is definitely quite a diverse religion! So, you could say one thing which would be interpreted as something different. Though, I think that they all believe in this supreme force that is Supreme but may still believe in other divine beings. Depends on the tradition, really.

Maybe I wasted all my time listening to Buddhism lectures, but I was pretty sure that the whole point of the religion was to end the cycle of samsara by achieving Nirvana, in other words, the complete and utter annihilation of the self… to have the flame of existence extinguished forever, never to be reborn again… “bringing to a halt for all time the dynamic activity of the psycho-physical factors that compose the human individual.” as the Oxford Dictionary of Buddhism puts it.

So, Siddartha is gone. He achieved nirvana and was simply extinguished.

Granted, there have been various celestial bodhisatvas over the years, particularly after Christianity came on the scene (these bodhisatvas have a distinct affinity with a Christ figure). But those will eventually achieve nirvana after their next incarnation.

Now as for the Hinduism you describe, this understanding was a development that finally came to this state in medieval times (during the height of Christianity, interestingly enough) with the writings of Madhvacharya on the Brahma Sutras, which are themselves commentaries on early Vedic texts. So the appearance of monotheism in Hinduism is not characteristic of its earliest phases, but seems to coincide with the general move to monotheism of later times.