Contemporary Value of Religion as Viewed by Kearlee Gregory

1359 Words3 Pages

Religion, which influences, and is derived from, the human beliefs of relations between the supernatural and natural characteristics of reality, should fit effortlessly into the lives of its supporters. It should help morally structure the person’s life without overrunning it or teaching that everyone else needs to hold those same beliefs, and instead inspire them to help accept other cultures without forcing their practice into others’ lives. Similar to Buddhism, the ideal religion should help people uplift themselves as well as others, by accompanying their differing base beliefs and encouraging the pursuit of knowledge, which is what we humans do naturally. The religion should not bring people to believe that their religion is the one and only truth in the universe, but instead encourage acceptance of differing beliefs and cultures, allowing them to thrive alongside one another.
Many religions’ place in the everyday lives of modern people has decreased significantly. Just as the ancient pagan religions were replaced by the more recent religions, those religions are now being replaced with science, denominations of the original religions, and material property. As years pass, every religion faces an increasing number of smaller, more personalized, religions branching from the original to accommodate people’s life changes. Each religion has divergent denominations, whose beliefs differ more and more from the original as people require more convenience in their lives. Spirituality is both decreasing and increasing in a confusing and impulsive manner. Many people are forgetting about it altogether as they are too busy simply trying to survive in this money-infatuated world. However, those that have a larger income have more luxury...

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...s through fear or threat. Of course, most people believe that they’re better than “those nuts,” or that their war is justified. That everyone else simply doesn’t know that they’re beliefs are wrong and need to be brought to the right path, because there’s just no way that they could be wrong. That realization is just too frightening.

Works Cited

De Bary, WM. Theodore. Introduction to Oriental Civilizations, Sources of Indian Tradition, Volume 1. New York: Columbia University Press, 1958. PDF.
Gregory, Kearlee. "Jaininsts and Theravada Buddhists: Reincarnation." Tulsa, 2014. Assignment.
Indiana University Northwest. "http://www.iun.edu/~hisdcl/h425/Daoism.htm." n.d. www.iun.edu. Web Article. 2 May 2014.
Thera, Narada. "Buddhism in a Nutshell." 1996. http://www.buddhanet.net/nutshell03.htm. Website. 2 May 2014.
Wheel of Time. Dir. Werner Herzog. 2003. Documentary.

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