Contradict

Religion has divided people. I don’t think there’s any difference between the pope wearing a large hat and parading around with a smoking purse and an African painting his face white and praying to a rock. —Howard Stern Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. — “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost Is Howard Stern correct that, no matter what the facade of a religion appears to be, there’s no difference between them? Or did Robert Frost nail it: are there diverging paths, and it makes all the difference which one you go by? Religious pluralism would say it doesn’t matter, because all paths are equally valid and true. Tolerance has lost its original meaning. It no longer stands for allowing people the freedom to believe whatever they want. Now it means people can’t be judged for holding the beliefs that they profess and for living out such values. The new-order of tolerance necessitates an inclusive attitude and pluralistic worldview. The exclusive truth-claims of the old order of tolerance created true/false dichotomies that welcomed judgment and scrutiny, with the understanding that people who found differing conclusions would still have the right to believe what they chose to believe. A modern example of blending multiple religious paths, and thus unifying them, can be found in the opening chapters of Elizabeth Gilbert’s popular 2006 autobiographical book, Eat, Pray, Love, which was later adapted for the big screen with Julia Roberts playing Gilbert. Much of the book centers on experiencing God. Regarding the choice to use the word God, Gilbert explains that she “could just as easily use the words Jehovah, Allah, Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu, or Zeus. Alternatively, I could call God “That,” which is how the ancient Sanskrit scriptures say it, and which I think comes close to the all-inclusive and unspeakable entity I have sometimes experienced.”1 Taking Gilbert’s words at face value, the divine figures she mentions from Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Greek mythology are interchangeable. Her reasoning is that this is possible because “He” or “She”—Gilbert also states that either pronoun is acceptable for God—can go by any name because God is so “all-inclusive” that human language is insufficient to properly name the being she chooses to call “God.” If you take note of Gilbert’s explanations and those of other religious pluralists like her, their beliefs are based on their personal feelings, opinions, and experiences. To make the assertion that Jehovah, Allah, Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu, and Zeus are interchangeable names for God means that these names must be entirely divorced from the context from which they are derived. To believe religious pluralism is true apart from personal feelings, solely based on religious studies, a person must have less than a kindergarten knowledge of the world’s religions. A brief reading of the religious texts of only a handful of religions reveals contradictions on fundamental levels. As long as ignorance is bliss and subjectivity reigns, religious pluralism will continue to exist and even thrive. Studies indicate that such conditions exist in America, showing that most Americans are ignorant about the basic history, geography, and teachings of their own religious faiths and those of others. The Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life conducted a survey in 2010 to ascertain how much religious knowledge Americans possess. A random sample of 3,412 adults were contacted via phone and asked thirty-two religious questions. The average score was 50 percent, or an F! The highest-scoring group was the atheists and agnostics; they got 65 percent, or a D. Mormons outscored Christians on questions about the Bible and Christianity. Among all respondents, 54 percent knew that the Qur’an is the holy book of Islam. Fifty-one percent knew that Joseph Smith was Mormon. Forty-seven percent know that the Dalai Lama is Buddhist. Forty-six percent knew Martin Luther’s role in Christian history. Only 38 percent knew that Vishnu and Shiva are connected with Hinduism. At least America passed with B-level scores on the questions regarding that Mother Teresa was Roman Catholic and that atheists don’t believe there is a God.2 Such results explain why individuals can now call themselves Buddhist-Christians and why a devout Christian I know almost left the Christian faith after reading Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love, having become convinced that Christianity’s exclusive truth-claims must be false in light of Gilbert’s open-mindedness and free-bird nature. These people lacked the necessary religious knowledge to be acquainted with the contradictory teachings of each religion. Let me ask you some questions. Can you name the Ten Commandments? Do you know what the Passover is in Judaism and what it signifies? Which religion observes fasting during Ramadan and which celebrates Diwali? Which religion observes Hanukkah, and why? Do you know if Hindus and Buddhists should eat meat? Can observant Muslims drink alcohol? Do you know which religion practices yoga? Which religion seeks nirvana? Can you name the five pillars of Islam? How is the belief in one God different among Jews, Muslims, and Christians? Do you know the dates of the lives of the Buddha, Jesus Christ, and Muhammad, and where they lived and taught? Do all religions believe in a god? Do all religions pray? Do all religions believe in an eternal heaven or hell? Do any major religions believe in reincarnation? Do all religions have the same ethical laws of what is right and what is wrong, and if not, how are they different? All of these questions are related to Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These are considered by most scholars to be the world’s major religions. Religions are usually classified as major or minor based upon the number of adherents. All of these religions, except Judaism, rank in the top five most followed religions. I keep Judaism in my list of major religions because it predates Christianity and Islam, and both of these religions trace their lineage and history to the founding patriarch of Judaism, Abraham, as well as to Adam and Eve, the first created humans. Most of the minor religions split from these five major religions or have similar patterns of beliefs and rituals found within these major five. The goal of this chapter is to present the teachings of these five religions. I have chosen to present the key figures, places, events, historical dates, doctrines, and rituals for each of the following World Religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This glossary is not alphabetized. Instead it is sequenced for a coherent presentation of these religions’ origins and basic beliefs and practices. If you know these hundred terms and their contexts within their given religions, you will have enough of a grasp of these major religions to answer the questions I posed two paragraphs before, as well as to score high on the religious survey given by the Pew Research Center.