The reason for writing this is a comment made by a man in a coffee shop. He remarked, “All religion is about belief in dogma, belief in God, and learning right from wrong.” As I reflected on this comment for long I came to notice that the statements he made are incorrect if applied universally and absolutely to all religions. Mary Pat Fisher in Living Religions makes this idea very clear. In the preface of the book she clarifies, “Religion is not a museum piece.” (Fisher, 2005. p 13).
On the contrary, in this new era it is alive in people and places around the world. The development, doctrines, and practices of the major religions of the world bear witness to the fact that the world is interrelated and the various religions are the result of various cultural traditions. A major theme of several religious traditions is to view the world as interconnected either in relation to human relationships, relationships with ancestors or with nature. In a Resolved Question conducted by a website on the interrelatedness of everything in the cosmos as it is expressed in many indigenous religions, the importance of these relationships developed, and the spiritual purpose, the best answer chosen by the voters read “spiritual purpose? Everything is interrelated, they were just stating a fact.” (Resolved Question).
There is much more than belief in specific dogma, in God, and other such things of the individual religions. To many religions, everything in the universe is initially interrelated. If all religion is about specific dogma, there would be no relatedness among the religions. But there are meeting points in the beliefs of the religions like in the case of human relationships. The essence of many a religion is the universal brotherhood of the humanity.
They all stress the universality of this relationship. The teachings of Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam may be taken to illustrate this point. Whereas Christianity advocates treat all the neighbors just as God, Hinduism is based on the universal brotherhood and fraternity. This human relationship is the main idea of most of the r=other religions as well. In the modern context, it is essential that we consider this interrelatedness of the world on the basis of human relationship. The root cause of all the miseries and conflicts related with the religions is the narrow view that the dogma of particular religion is primary and there is nothing beyond that. In fact, the religions of the world are based on a theory of the interrelatedness of the world.
The interrelatedness of the universe is constituted, also, by the relationship with the ancestors and nature. The philosophies of most of the religions are based on their relationship with the nature. They all profess a nature-based way of life in which there would be utmost priority to the nature and its forms. Accordingly, the essence of humanity is the life with nature and it has no existence without nature. The eastern religions particularly focus on the co-existence of nature and man. Both the world and nature are related and they exist in a mutual relation. The teachings, philosophies, and way of life of the religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and others focus on the same interconnection of the world. Christianity also teaches a nature-based philosophy.
Is it, then, matter of fact that all religion is about belief in dogma, belief in God, and learning right from wrong? It is true that the religions have their own dogma and beliefs. But the prominent theme of interrelatedness of the world cannot, at any cost, be overlooked. The religious traditions are various but they all focus mainly on the theme of interrelatedness of the world. Thus the entire world, to the religious traditions, is beyond the difference in the specific dogma and beliefs of God. The remarks of the man in the coffee shop were motivated by the narrow-mindedness of the understanding of the religions. People of this nature forget the theme of interrelatedness of the world that several of the world religions uphold.
Works Cited
Fisher, Mary Pat. Preface. Living Religions, (6th edition) Pearson Education. 2005. p 13.
Resolved Question. Yahoo! Answers. 2007. Web.