brightnorm
Flashaholic
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2001
- Messages
- 7,160
There are now 4000 of us, a remarkably diverse group from many states, countries, professions, religions, races, ages, and most other categories people use to define themselves; all bound together by our strange but rewarding fascination with light.
Most of us belong to, are members of, or are in some way affiliated with the major religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and others, though some of us are not.
MAJOR RELIGIONS RANKED BY SIZE
The question of this post is asked not from a religious viewpoint, nor from an atheistic one, but from the perspective of what you know and have learned about people from personal experience, the experience of others and the lessons of history. It is really a question about human nature.
Clearly, religious orthodoxy is no guarantee of noble behavior, just as atheism does not ensure ignoble acts; but most of us mean Monotheism when we speak of belief or non-belief, forgetting that religion has existed for many thousands of years in different guises, whether sun worship, Animism, totemism, polytheism, or many other isms that are considered "pagan" or mere "superstitions".
Monotheism predominates in today's world, but is that because of its mass appeal, or the violent proselytizing of its adherents?
What if the world had never learned about God as understood by modern monotheism? What if Judaism, Christianity, Islam and other religions had never arisen, would there perhaps be millennia of global terror and mayhem from which we were spared because of our belief in one God, or has that very belief caused the mass butcheries of the modern era?
Here's a brief comment by Hindu writer Gopal Saraswat:
"The monotheism of Semitic religions is bound to lead to strife, and it's history is proof that it does. If you believe that there is only one god, the very fact that someone else believes in a different god is going to offend you, because it will strike you as a direct challenge to your own belief. Polytheists, on the other hand, have no reason to be offended if someone else worships a different god. Since they believe that there are many gods, they respect even those gods whom they themselves do not worship. Hinduism explicitly states that all sincere paths to salvation will bear fruit"
(Anyone with a good historical memory and a keen understanding of the Monotheistic/Polytheistic debate over Hinduism care to explain that issue?)
At any rate, this whole subject was on my mind after an intense religious discussion/argument with my girlfriend, who was brought up as a radically orthodox Christian who later rebelled against a forcefully imposed dogma. BTW, neither she nor I are Polytheists!
So, are we better off with contemporary monotheism, or without?
Brightnorm
Most of us belong to, are members of, or are in some way affiliated with the major religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and others, though some of us are not.
MAJOR RELIGIONS RANKED BY SIZE
The question of this post is asked not from a religious viewpoint, nor from an atheistic one, but from the perspective of what you know and have learned about people from personal experience, the experience of others and the lessons of history. It is really a question about human nature.
Clearly, religious orthodoxy is no guarantee of noble behavior, just as atheism does not ensure ignoble acts; but most of us mean Monotheism when we speak of belief or non-belief, forgetting that religion has existed for many thousands of years in different guises, whether sun worship, Animism, totemism, polytheism, or many other isms that are considered "pagan" or mere "superstitions".
Monotheism predominates in today's world, but is that because of its mass appeal, or the violent proselytizing of its adherents?
What if the world had never learned about God as understood by modern monotheism? What if Judaism, Christianity, Islam and other religions had never arisen, would there perhaps be millennia of global terror and mayhem from which we were spared because of our belief in one God, or has that very belief caused the mass butcheries of the modern era?
Here's a brief comment by Hindu writer Gopal Saraswat:
"The monotheism of Semitic religions is bound to lead to strife, and it's history is proof that it does. If you believe that there is only one god, the very fact that someone else believes in a different god is going to offend you, because it will strike you as a direct challenge to your own belief. Polytheists, on the other hand, have no reason to be offended if someone else worships a different god. Since they believe that there are many gods, they respect even those gods whom they themselves do not worship. Hinduism explicitly states that all sincere paths to salvation will bear fruit"
(Anyone with a good historical memory and a keen understanding of the Monotheistic/Polytheistic debate over Hinduism care to explain that issue?)
At any rate, this whole subject was on my mind after an intense religious discussion/argument with my girlfriend, who was brought up as a radically orthodox Christian who later rebelled against a forcefully imposed dogma. BTW, neither she nor I are Polytheists!
So, are we better off with contemporary monotheism, or without?
Brightnorm