It does seem that the view, "all religions are different paths to the same God," has triumphed in America -for now, anyway. This view has a corollary, that the scriptures of all the world's religions teach essentially the same thing. Baha'i religion, Theosophy, and Uni-Universalism make this teaching central to their worldviews. Which is where --precisely-- this idea entered our culture, starting in the late 19th century / first decade of the 20th century. But all scriptures do not teach exactly the same things even if, among some faiths, especially those that can be called a "family of faiths" in terms of similar moralities even when their theologies are miles apart. That is, it is invalid to compare Islam with Biblical religion simply because the Koran talks about one God. The morality of Islam is a thing apart, as different from Western / most Asian moralities as Aum Shinri Kyo ( the sarin gas cult ) or Heaven's Gate or Jonestown. True, among Mahayana Buddhists, to use this example, theology features a plethora of deities and bodhisatvas and all sorts of principles about something called "dharma" that is not found in Judaism or Christianity, but about morality the similarities outweigh the differences on the order of, say, 5 : 1. Sometimes the differences can matter a lot, especially when the subject is morality, but also in areas like attitudes toward women and women's rights, models for behavior to emulate ( although East and West both sometimes valorize monasticism and sexual abstinence ), and deference to elders and parents, which is far less a factor in the West. To minimize these differences does everyone a disservice and distorts the meaning of each faith that is mischaracterized. Why this came about is no mystery. The 1980s and 1900s were the years when the USA became a world power with a growing "exotic" population. To be a successful empire it is necessary to accommodate religious minorities. This is a necessity for all empires of history except Islam, and even Islam has teachings that --for protection money and forfeiture of various rights-- allow minorities to co-exist, at least if they aren't polytheistic. But there are some serious problems with this view, even if, yes, it promotes diminution of tensions among competing religious groups. For it denies all kinds of truths, builds false expectations about the values and behavior of others, and fosters a " politics of kumbaya " that is hopelessly unrealistic and that simply papers-over real differences that inevitably bubble to the surface --only now we don't begin to understand the source of the problems. The 1890s / 1900s were years when the Baha'i Faith was introduced to America with much fanfare, when Theosophy was popular among many in the intelligentsia, and Unitarianism and Universalism were gaining footholds --in secular guise-- in the universities, from whence comes our leadership class. Billy =============================== Print CP Article
Christian Post _Half of All Americans Believe Bible, Quran, Book of Mormon Hold Same Truths_ (http://www.christianpost.com/news/half-of-all-americans-believe-bible-quran-book-of-mormon-hold-same-truths-73390/) Tue, Apr. 17, 2012 Posted: 03:47 PM EDT An in-depth study released by the Barna Group on behalf of the American Bible Society found that 50 percent of Americans believe the Bible, Quran and the Book of Mormon hold different expressions of the same truths. The survey also found that Americans' reliance on the Bible has decreased slightly in 2012 from 2011, although the Christian holy book retains an important place in people's lives. _The study_ (http://uncover.americanbible.org/downloads/2012_analysis.pdf) , which was conducted in March and surveyed over 2,000 adults through phone and online interviews, found that 85 percent of American households own a Bible – although that number was down from 88 percent in 2011. Similarly, 48 percent agreed that the Bible has all the knowledge needed to live a meaningful life, while that number was 53 percent in 2011. Mormonism, which has been in the news lately because of Mitt Romney, the likely GOP presidential candidate and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, registered a slight gain in terms of recognition – six percent of people interviewed said the Book of Mormon is sacred or holy, which is up two percent from 2011. The Bible, on the other hand, dropped by four percent to 82 percent in the same question. The survey's findings suggest that "Americans desire to read the Bible more and turn to it for the answers to life questions but have an increasingly less reverent view of its contents," David Kinnaman, president of Barna Group, said in a press release. People's motivation for reading the Bible also slightly changed. Fifty-five and 10 percent of respondents respectively said they read the Christian holy book to bring them closer to God or because they needed comfort, which was down from 2011. However, 17 percent of respondents, a growing number, said they were turning to the Bible to help them solve a problem in life, or because they needed direction. In terms of faith and politics, people were largely split on the role religious belief has to play in the political realm. However, a significant majority (79 percent) disagreed that the Bible teaches Americans should vote for people of the same faith, while 33 percent of people said they would vote for an atheist. The more secular, younger generation (between ages 18 and 29) were more open to the idea, and 47 percent said they are ready to vote for an atheist candidate. In addition, 47 percent of all adults said that according to them, the Bible has too little influence over American society – but 16 percent said that it has too much influence, a number up by two percent from 2011. The survey also took a look at the type of emotions experienced by those who read the Bible. Of the favorable emotions, respondents most identified themselves as feeling peaceful (34 percent) and encouraged/inspired (33 percent.) While most Bible readers said they did not experience unfavorable emotions after reading Scripture, those that did said they were either confused (12 percent) or overwhelmed (11 percent). A common frustration identified by Bible readers was rarely having enough time to read the Bible – 32 percent admitted they experience this problem. Twelve percent, on the other hand, said their biggest problem was the difficult language used in the Bible. Stoyan Zaimov ____________________________________ Copyright © Christianpost.com. All rights reserved. -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
