Leadership in the Traditional Religions - Essay Example

It is worth noting, the fact that there is no single religious tradition that can claim to have fully understood this mystery of the origin of life. This has created superstitious values systems and opinions that have eventually seen these traditional religions differ, based on locality, intellectual background and levels as well as on human tribes and races.

Religion, as stated by Harvey (2000) is “any form of belief, about deity, often involving rituals, a code of ethics, and a philosophy of life”p.89. It is the pulling together of various cultures' opinions and viewpoints that relate humanity to the spiritual world. However, any spiritual belief or viewpoint upheld by an individual is remarkably different from religion. This is because religion has a public outlook, and many people subscribe to such a faith. Thus, religion can simply be said to be a belief and/or a practice. Therefore, religion can be expressed in terms of myths. These are kinds of stories explaining why a group subscribes to a certain faith. For example, the myth that Jesus, a Jew died on the cross and later resurrected and ascended to heaven acts as an explanation to the Christian religion-followers of Christ (Jesus) that there is a life after death. As to whether the event did happen, not much attention is paid to that. The underlying lesson is there is a different life from the one they live presently.

Religious teachings differ from one group to the other. There are also instances in which this teaching differs amongst the member groups of a given religion (Harvey, 2000). Their traditions and practices become influenced by these teachings and the faith they uphold so much so that it eventually becomes a way of life. By illustration, while the Islam religion accepts holy wars (jihad), and asserts that whoever dies in the event of such wars has a place in the next life, the Christian religion condemns any form of violence or wars. Christianity asserts that any form of violence against one another will deny one an opportunity to enter into the next life, religion also influences the laws of the land. There are states that are predominantly one-religion states. These states do integrate their religious practices and beliefs with the laws of their country. The aspect can be illustrated by the Hindu religion that requires the cremation of their dead, with the aim of releasing the spirits from the body. This is done since Hindus believe in the reincarnation and re-birth of the dead in a different form, for example, like an insect.

There are common events that are observed albeit by all traditional religions, commonly referred to as the rites of passage. They include birth, initiation, marriage and death. These events are marked variously, for example, through feasts, dance and music, sacrifices and festivals (Harvey, 2000). The funerals are undertaken differently. While in the Hindu, the Buddhist and the Sikh tradition cremation is their art of disposal of the dead bodies, among the Jewish, Christian and the Muslim, it is done through burying their dead. The burial patterns differ with the Muslin burying the dead within the 24 hours of their death.

The sacrifice and ritual sessions are yet other forms of the universal events undertaken across the board of traditional religion. Though the form, it takes normally differs, the essence and the motive behind these events are almost alike (Harvey, 2000). In the Hindu religion, burning of the replicas of the household of the dead is done, so they can enjoy them in life after. Another example is what happens in the Sikh religion. They drop babies under 2years from up high to see whether the goods are at peace with the people (Harvey, 2000). Where the children, fall on the spread blankets without getting harmed, then the gods are happy. The offer of burnt offering is yet another ritual that was performed by the Jewish traditional religion.

Leadership in traditional religions does vary. There are various denominations within a given traditional religion (Harvey, 2000). The leadership, therefore, differs based on these denominations and sects. For example, in the Christian traditional religion; they are majorly categorized into the protestant denomination and Catholicism. The leadership in these denominations does vary with the pope heading the catholic religion while in other denominations, the bishops or the evangelists prevail. In the Islamic traditional religion, the Sheikh presides over. This leadership changes down the hierarchy, up until at the small group or family level.