World Religions Through Their Scripture

DIANE MOORE: Ann Arbor,

Religion is not always a good or a bad influence. Religion is both.

Religion has many manifestations.

Religions are used to promote peace. Religions are used to thwart peace.

They have always done so.

They do so in a contemporary way.

So to assume that Islam for example, is a religion of peace is as problematic as assuming that is
exclusively a religion of terror.

Islam is a religion.

Christianity is a religion of peace, as well as used to be a religion of terror.

What I love most about teaching is creating an atmosphere and the space for people to explore
fundamental questions of meaning.

It's about discovery.

It's about seeing old things in a new way.

It's about a deeper understanding that almost always brings tremendous hope.

You have a community of people, often from tremendously diverse backgrounds,

tremendously diverse religious convictions, coming together to wrestle with some of the most critical
questions of our time with earnest conviction, open heartedness, and humility.

And that combination can create remarkable moments, remarkable epiphanies, remarkable
communities.
Religions are Internally Diverse

Aside from the obvious formal differences within traditions represented by differing sects or
expressions (e.g., Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant for Christianity; Vaishnavism,
Shaivism, Shaktism, for Hinduism, etc.) there are differences within sects or expressions because
religious communities function in different social/political contexts.

Religions Evolve and Change

Religions exist in time and space and are constantly interpreted and reinterpreted by believers.
For example, the Confucian concept of the “mandate from heaven” evolved within dynasties,
geopolitical regions, and historical eras and continues to evolve today. Another example is that
the practice of slavery. Finally, in a more specific example, the Southern Baptist convention in
the United States passed a series of resolutions in the 1970s supporting the moral legitimacy of
abortion and reversed those resolutions in 2003.

Religious Influences are Embedded in Cultures

Religions are collections of ideas, practices, values, and stories that are all embedded in cultures
and not separable from them. Just as religion cannot be understood in isolation from its cultural
(including political) contexts, it is impossible to understand culture without considering its
religious dimensions. In the same way that race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and socio-economic
class are always factors in cultural interpretation and understanding, so too is religion.

In spite of the ongoing global influences of religions in political life throughout this time period,
it is only in the aftermath of 1) the Iranian Revolution in 1979; 2) the fall of the Berlin wall in
1989 and the subsequent rise vs. the widely predicted demise of religion; and 3) the 9/11 and 7/7
terrorist attacks that political theorists in the West began to acknowledge the highly problematic
ways that religions and religious influences have been marginalized and too simplistically
rendered.
Definition of Religious Literacy

Critical to this definition is the importance of understanding religions and religious influences in
context and as inextricably woven into all dimensions of human experience. Such an
understanding highlights the inadequacy of understanding religions through common means such
as learning about ritual practices or exploring “what scriptures say” about topics or questions.
Unfortunately, these are some of the most common approaches to learning about religion and
lead to simplistic and inaccurate representations of the roles religions play in human agency and
understanding.
 Comments:
Religions are internally diverse. While many people opts to attend church every day, others every
sunday, others don't go at all and believe that praying from home is the same. Yes, woman's roles
are different inside every religion. Religion is interpreted individually, and every person uses it at
their own belief.

I think this is not the religion, it's the reflection of the religion on a person.

This is my thinking too. I also agree that it's not the specific religion, but the reflection of the religion of a person. Isn't
the core of most religions basically the same, with the "golden rule" of treating others as you wish to be treated? Due
to this belief, I'd say that religions are not internally diverse--the core is the same.

Religions are as diverse as those who are following the beliefs. Even within my own spirituality
(pagan) there is a multitude of belief and "rules" associated within that faith. I have also found that
there are those who twist religion in order to suit their agenda, whether it be to vilify another faith or
to pass a law they want passed, or to retain or obtain power in their country. These folks tend to find
like-minded people to create a group and these groups are often the ones we hear about when it
comes to supposedly "representing" that particular religion.

1. I agree with your insight into paganism, and am also astounded by the multitude of beliefs that exist in the Pagan
Community. As for the second part of your comment, I find that it is human nature for people to have the need to
"justify" their beliefs. Unfortunately, this leads to a congregating of people of like minds, who interpret scripture and
tradition to validate their way of thinking, and the larger the group gets, the louder they get, leading to the "religious"
uprisings (for lack of a better word) we are finding today. It is a well-known fact that the squeaky wheel gets the
grease, and the more vocal of these groups get the attention. Unfortunately for humanity, once these people buy into
their own propaganda, there is nothing anyone can do to influence their thought process or behavior, as they will go
through the scriptures, ignore anything that contradicts them and run with that which they can interpret as enforcing
them as being right.

As someone who is of indigenous/tribal culture from the Philippines, our culture is mixed with religion
and tribal beliefs. My dad is part Igorot (of the Ifugao tribe) and, though he is Roman Catholic, the
Ifugao tribe blends the Christian beliefs with tribal practices and also does not disqualify the roles of
our ancestors and local deities and spirits in our daily life. An Ifugao can go to church on Sunday and
do the rosary as well as offer pitik (rice wine) and atang (food offering) to the rice spirits and the
pictures and names of our ancestors. Chicken blood sacrifice to Jesus is also common in not only
the Ifugao tribes, but the other Igorot tribes that are found in the Cordilleras of the Philippines. My
mother is part Moro (of the Iranun tribe). The Moro people are Islamiced tribes of the Philippines and
mostly Sunni-Sufi. Kulintang gong music is not played on Fridays because of Jummah, but our
culture is matriarchal with majority of the family last names coming from the mother's side. There are
also shamanistic rituals done to heal the sick, ward off evil spirits, and for prosperous crop season
while also praying 5x a day. My mother's other side is Lipi (of the Hambali/Sambal tribe). The Lipi
people are considered Christianized or semi-Christianized tribes of Luzon, Philippines. She is also
Roman Catholic, but does ancestral offerings and ask for blessings from the Mountain God of Mt.
Pinatubo for support.