Understanding Different Religions - Essay Example

Understanding Different Religions Introduction As the world continues to be a global village, interaction with people from diverse background is a day-to-day occurrence. Human kind is said to be diverse not only in culture but going deep into the different school of thought one posse. It is each one responsibility to get along with the diversity brought about by different ways of thought. This diversity can lead to conflict of between different cultures but what is important is how one is able to settle the differences or rather mitigate (Edwards, 1996. This is very important since this will be a determinant factor on how smoothly you interact with your surrounding individuals. As a student within the institution and back at home, mingling with friends, neighbors and relatives of diverse culture or religion is something we go through on daily basis. Because of different background from where we emanate this is base cause of the different religion in the world. As one grows and mature he/she is able to change his way of thought or make his personal decision to which faith to follow that abides to his conscience. Indeed all the religion differs but most of them believe in the existence of Supreme Being. Faith on a given religion can be compared to the famous quote of Abraham Lincoln “Faith is taking the first step even if you can’t see the staircase”. True to his line of thought faith is a robust driving force that can influence each one of us in making decision not only in religion but in other social field. Christianity Christianity is the leading religion with an estimate of 2.1 billions of believers across the globe. Christians base their faith on life of Jesus Christ, whom they believe was the son of God and died for their sins. It is by this faith that the believer have hope of life after death and therefore to them life on earth has a limit as compared to the life after death which is eternal promised by Jesus Christ. They gain their spiritual enrichment by reading scriptures in the bible and believe they should attend church once per week either on Sunday or Saturday depending on the denomination one belongs to. Interaction with Christians can be a challenge especially those who are too religious having the holier-than-thou attitude. Through the understanding of Christians way of life, am able to know what I can share with Christian brothers and sisters. Christianity itself has several denominations ranging Roman Catholic, orthodox and protestant. Study has shown that most of other denominations have their roots in Roman Catholic. All these denominations in one or the other conflict over the way they depict and believe in Christianity. It is by understanding the difference among them that can help one to avoid invading the faith one posses in his/her Christian denomination. Islamic Islam has an Arabic originality meaning total submission to God. Islamic faith or religion is practiced by Muslims. Muslims are estimated to be 1.2 billion worldwide and the religion is the second largest religion after Christianity. Muslims just like Christians believe in God and only one God, but the difference between them emanates from the concept of Jesus Christ whom Christian view as Son of God and even place him as an equivalent to God the father (Hibri & Elshtain, 2001). The Muslims consider Jesus like any other prophet the in the likes of Muhammad, (Ibrahim) Abraham and (Musa) Moses. They gain spiritual enrichment from holy book referred to as Holy Quran, Muslims believe that Quran is holy and can be held and read only by those who are clean from sins. This is the reason why a Muslim can die protecting the Quran. A Muslim will always prays five times a day. Another important aspect of Islamic is based on five pillars; the first pillar is Salat which refers to praying five times a day, Zakat referring to giving the less fortune 2.5% of one’s saving, Sawm referring one has to control his/herself and fast during Ramadhan period, Hajj this pillar gives advice to the followers to visit Mecca at least once in their lifetime. By understanding the religious proceedings of Islam as a student will help me know to what extent I can share my thoughts to them. It can be annoying when one offer some injurious remarks, which is contrary to one’s faith. Interacting with a Muslim should be based developmental or social well being rather than religious matters. You might be stepping on your Muslim brother’s toe yet you are not aware. This normally happens when you decide to get into details, how one is religious as far as Islam is concerned. It is advisable to let your Muslim brother to dispense much information from his side and you are on the receiving end. Another aspect to consider is having high expectation from your Muslim brothers and sisters especially when it comes to the pillar of Zakat. Most people will have injurious statement to Muslims if they fail to offer assistance to the less fortune members. This is to say that Muslims ought to be perfect which is not possible during with current lifestyle we have but this is not say that there are religious people. Hinduism Hinduism is said to have its originality in India. The term Hindu is argued it originated from Shindu which is a complex river found in Northwest India while ism was supplemented by the British during the colonial period and that is how we have the term Hinduism. It is estimated that it has nine hundred million followers across the globe. Larger portion of its believers are found in India and Nepal. Hinduism differs from other religion in that it doesn’t have common scriptures where its followers gain spiritual enrichment also there is no a set of teaching that is common among its believers across the globe. Hindu worship is referred to as Puja their prayers are normally directed to images. The shrine can be at home where the Hindu will conduct prayer to the god at least three times per day. According to (Edwards, 1996) this religion they have four gods and each has its unique responsibility I could term it has division of labor. The first god is referred to as Brahma, has four heads, whose duties are to create. The second goddess is Lakshmi who is responsible for wealth and purity. The third god is Vishnu responsible for maintain or rather upkeep of what Brahma created. The fourth one is Shiva responsible for destroying the world. It is crystal clear that as religion matters are so complicated since it has its roots in faith. As a student, I have come across Hindu brothers and sisters despite our differences in religion we were able to get along with each other. Hinduism believers and sisters are welcoming. Understanding their faith and “digesting” it gives me competitive edge as far as socializing is concerned. According to (Hibri & Elshtain, 2001) there is nothing powerful in life of someone as information, it can determine your success and at the same time determine your failure. I totally agree because by this information I will view Hinduism as a religion just as mine and its believers just like my brothers and sisters Judaism This religion is practiced by Jews, who trace their originality from Abraham. They believe they are the chosen community by God and have a covenant with Him. Unlike Christianity they have only one God, Christianity believes in Jesus Christ. Jews don’t believe in Jesus because he referred to himself as Messiah and according to Jews he didn’t qualify to be called a Messiah. Once a boy is born by a Jew he has to be circumcised on the eighth day. It is argued that it is not easy to convert from other religion to become a Jew. Jews believes in the saying that “what you do is what that counts” From assessing and understanding Judaism I will be able to relate with my Jew brothers and sisters. Jews practice their faith just like Muslim and Christian since they believe in God who is the Supreme Being across the across their faiths. Tough they differ in some aspects of faith they are closely related as compared to Hinduism (Hibri & Elshtain, 2001). Conclusion From understanding on various religions on the globe, it is essential to appreciate different religions that exist. There is no point of arguing over superiority of religion but rather focus on coping on these differences since life can never be at equilibrium with the current lifestyle. It is high time that my fellow students, lecturers and friends get to know that diversity in religion is beneficial when it comes to interaction. References Hibri, A., & Elshtain, J. (2001). Religion in American public life: Living with our deepest differences. New York: W.W. Norton. Edwards, D. (1996). Religion & power pagans, Jews, and Christians in the Greek East. New York: Oxford University Press. Read More