What Do You Know About Religions?

Not just Americans, but many people in the world know little about religions other than their own.

I think you are missing a link you meant to insert, Lon.

I bought a book once that gave descriptions of all the religions in the world, but that was pre-internet and it's easy to find out about them now. It's just that most would prefer to stick to their stereotypes.
 
I don't even know much about my own religion, lol. Was raised a catholic and haven't been religious at all in my adult life. I don't really have any interest in religions, don't care for any organized religions, seems like they're just businesses trying to make money. Priests and pastors many times don't act very religious either, which sours me on the whole thing. I know that many folks go to church and live their lives following their religious beliefs, if that's their choice, I respect it, as long as they don't come preaching to me.
 
Religion plays no direct role in my life and I'm baffled by the fact that it remains so ubiquitous within the human family. I can sort of understand how people in the dark ages who had no comprehension about how the world works used their imagination and magical thinking to explain natural phenomena. As science has progressed and succeeded in explaining more and more about how the world worked people have grudgingly given up much of their magical thinking, but alas not all.
 
Know a bit, not all that much...sometimes it's interesting to learn about the history of how some groups developed...in a historical sense and how they affect world history in general. I think we've discussed religion quite a bit before on this forum.
 
Quite a lot, actually. What do you want to know?

At the catholic high school where I taught for 35 years the girls had comparative religion lessons, first learning about other Christian denominations and then other major faiths. We had people come to the school to talk about Buddhism and Islam, visited a Synagogue and a Salvation Army citadel and had members of staff talk about their own denominations - Anglican, Baptists and Uniting Church (think Methodists, Presbyterian and Congregationalists). It was a compare and contrast exercise and the beginning of understanding religions and religious history.

Since retiring I've had my own encounters with people of other faiths and have had conversations with Hindu, Sikh and Muslim women and have made my own visits to a local mosque, a Sikh gurdwara and a number of Buddhist temples. I belong to a facebook group consisting of mostly young moslem women who want to build a new mosque near where I live. I support their campaign not on religious grounds but because they are being badly discriminated against by the local zoning laws.

No-one will talk to you about their religion if they suspect that you will not respect what they have to say.

Oops! I only taught there for 25 years, not 35. Clumsy fingers !!!
 
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Quite a bit. The origin of religion, with a capital "R" has been a major interest of mine since I was quite young.
I have been an on and off believer all my life. Gave it a good try. I was very active in my church at one time, but it never took in a passionate way. I can remember praying "If your really up there..." I am a total non-believer now.
I got 12 correct on the quiz.
 
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Took a couple religion classes in grad school. Though I am spiritual and respect others need for organized religion....am turned off by it. My score was 12/15.
 
The questions I missed were about the bible. I was raised Catholic but haven't been one since I was 18. Got curious when I hit 40 and started reading about all the different religions etc. Looked into the new age stuff and found Native American spirituality very appealing. Pagan for a while. Interested in Buddhism for a long time now, though not a religion.
 
13 out of 15 as well. Wrong on the reading the Bible as literature and the Awakening one. Found most of the questions quite general.
 
Ameriscot said:
The questions I missed were about the bible. I was raised Catholic but haven't been one since I was 18. Got curious when I hit 40 and started reading about all the different religions etc. Looked into the new age stuff and found Native American spirituality very appealing. Pagan for a while. Interested in Buddhism for a long time now, though not a religion.
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I'm not a Buddhist, but Buddha himself, or at least the ideas attributed to him, helped get me through the final months with Eleanor. Center yourself in the moment. We can not hold the past or the future. Everything that has a beginning, has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well. With our thoughts we make our lives.
 
Underock1 said:
I'm not a Buddhist, but Buddha himself, or at least the ideas attributed to him, helped get me through the final months with Eleanor. Center yourself in the moment. We can not hold the past or the future. Everything that has a beginning, has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well. With our thoughts we make our lives.
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Buddhism is all about wisdom. Anyone can take what they need from Buddhism, doesn't matter what your beliefs.
 
Capt Lightning said:
I was brought up a Presbyterian, but I have had no religious beliefs for years. I really don't know much about any religions, but I think that the world would be a better place without them.
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I agree with you 100%. Not interested in destroying what other people cherish, but it would be nice to have them go quietly away on their own. I just read an article about some churches that got together, closed their churches on a Sunday morning, and all went out and did community service for the day. Its not the people. Its the dogma.
 
I am a non-believer. I got 11 of 15 correct. When I was young I attended Protestant bible study then as a 12 year old I attended one year of Catholic school where I studies Catholicism. I never fully bought into either.
 
I didn't take the quiz. I have taken similar before. I hope we don't do anything about religion. Leave it be. There's a place for science and science has done a really good job but Religion is also needed. In spite of the fact I have said there was no God, still I find it most difficult to abandon the faith of my youth and my parents. I find in times of crisis, say a dying child, I don't seek out science, I turn to religion and the faith I used to know. You may not need Religion. I have often said I didn't, that I'm an agnostic, but on examination I'm an agnostic that prays. If I'm wrong, so what? Religion has served me rather well and I hope it continues to do so. You can say what you will about religion, your privilege. Leave mine alone. I find some comfort in its close association.
 
Hi Drifter, how have you been?

I too am an agnostic. Although, in my youth, I studied many different kinds of religions, I found that I beleived in a creator, just not in religion. I've always had a good connection with my maker. :hide: :wave:
 
drifter said:
I didn't take the quiz. I have taken similar before. I hope we don't do anything about religion. Leave it be. There's a place for science and science has done a really good job but Religion is also needed. In spite of the fact I have said there was no God, still I find it most difficult to abandon the faith of my youth and my parents. I find in times of crisis, say a dying child, I don't seek out science, I turn to religion and the faith I used to know. You may not need Religion. I have often said I didn't, that I'm an agnostic, but on examination I'm an agnostic that prays. If I'm wrong, so what? Religion has served me rather well and I hope it continues to do so. You can say what you will about religion, your privilege. Leave mine alone. I find some comfort in its close association.
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I find resonance in this answer. As long as organised religions obey good laws they should not be curtailed. Sometimes they are necessary to stand up to bad laws. If they break good laws then the leaders should be held accountable.

As for personal crises, people who elevate science above all else are not the best people to turn to. Cold logic is cold comfort. When my sister lost her first child in the womb at 30 weeks, I was unable to find any words of comfort for her. All I had was dumb silence and tears. It was said by a young atheist that I should have told her that it was for the best because the baby must have been defective and that she could try again for another. I shake my head at this because it lacks humanity and compassion. A programmed robot could do better than this.

I've learned since that wordless tears are actually very powerful expressions of love and the best response to suffering is to share in it. It has been my religious journey that has taught me this rather obvious truth, not my scientific studies.
 

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