Need one study comparative religions to be religious?

Great Debates
1

Can one profess an “enlightened” faith in a particular religion if they lack at least some awareness of how their particular belief system compares to and differs from other world religions? Can it be said that the religious beliefs of a person who has studied comparative religions are owed more respect than the beliefs of one who attends a particular church, “because my parents did?”

I admit difficulty selecting the particular adjectives above. Underlying this is my thought that religion is intensely personal. There is probably a particular belief system that is best for each individual. My choice may not be what is best for you, and vice versa. I believe each individual, at some time in their lives, ought to check out what the world’s cafeteria of religious thought has to offer, before they can profess to have an informed belief that the religion they practice best suits their taste.

It seems to me that I encounter some folk, both believers and nonbelievers, who have made a studied effort to identify what belief systems best comport with their view of themselves and the world. Others seem to adopt a religious affiliation (or lack thereof) out of inertia or convenience. And they are not aware of ways that their professed beliefs seem inconsistent with their actions. And they turn a blind eye to anything that is inconsistent with or suggests limitations to their chosen belief system.

2

If religion were strictly an intellectual pursuit I would agree completely. But, since it is largely spiritual in nature, looking over the whole buffet table isn’t going to change anything.
IMO, anyway. But that also means I’ve gone about trying to find a religion (when I was looking) entirely the wrong way in the first place, that is, I was looking to it as an intellectual pursuit.

3

Please explain the significance of the “spiritual” component. If all I’ve ever eaten is Dean’s brand vanilla ice cream, tho I may be able to say I really enjoy it, am I legitimately able to say it is my “favorite” ice cream flavor? I CAN say the more limited statement that is my favorite among those I’ve tasted. But any more than that is a statment bbased on ignorance.

Now if I know I don’t like chocolate candy bars, I can say I strongly suspect chocolate ice cream will not be my cup of tea. Or if I’ve tried a few different flavors, at least taken a lick or two, and have been disappointed, I have a god reason for sticking with my old tried and true when purchasing ice cream for myself. Or I can simply say Dean’s vanilla ice cream provides everything I desire in a frozen dairy product, and it is regularly available at the corner store, so I see no need to seek any further. In fact, no need to even try Breyer’s brand vanilla. So what if they say it tastes more like real vanilla? I didn’t say I wanted the closest approximation to a real-life vanilla bean experience. Besides, it has those little specks in it. And those fancy schmantzy brands are just passing fads. Nope. Give me good old Dean’s vanilla. If it was good enough for mom and dad, it’s good enough for me.

4

“Please explain the significance of the “spiritual” component.”
I wish I could because then I might understand much of why people are religious in the first place. I have no idea what “spirituality” means other than “non-corporeal stuff.”

I would think it should be a damn prerequisite to take tests before one becomes a member of any church, a test on other faiths, history surrounding your faith, etc. You can attend, worship, etc, but you ain’t a member. Sort of like a religious elite, sorta like registering firarms and requiring training classes (ha-ha).

It would seem logical enough that, due to the enormous amount of different religions throughout man’s history that it would be in one’e best interest to research as many as possible before making a decision.

Probably be a lot more pagans out there, methinks.

5

Love the ice cream analogy!

Short Answer: I’m going to answer the question posed in the OP, “Need one study comparative religions to be religious?” with a “No, one does not need to.”

Long Answer: Ok, here’s my qualifiers. I don’t think anyone’s religious beliefs are owed more respect than anyone else’s. Granted, I personally would probably be more interested in chatting up a person who had studied many religions in the course of pursuing their spiritual path, but I wouldn’t base “respect” as such on that. Whatever ice cream you serve in your home is your business, and I respect that, even if your reasons for choosing that ice cream are not exactly the same as my own.

(A disclaimer on my qualifier: I’m not talking about any brands of ice cream that are marketed specifically to fund, say, white supremacy, which I think is a different discussion, agreed?)

In the course of usual events, most people are exposed to different religions, and ice creams. You attend weddings and funeral services held in various houses of worship. Your college roommate might be of a different faith. You don’t necessarily have to set up a blind tasting of different ice creams in your house (although people certainly can if they want to), but you can still enjoy the free samples handed out to you as you go through life. If anything about them intrigues you (wow, this ice cream is completely great and unlike anything I’ve ever had before!), the person who served you the ice cream is probably willing to give you some more information about it’s history and um, ice cream beliefs (ok, this is getting a little thin). If you are not bowled over by the ice cream you are served at your best friend’s wedding, you can do what any polite person would do, finish up your sample to the best of your abilities (i.e. sit quietly and attentively in church, but remain seated for communion) and go home and enjoy a big bowl of your own ice cream.

I agree with the statement that “religion is intensely personal,” but I would ask that you not be so quick to dismiss the “because your parents did” scenario. For many people, the feelings of family and community are a big part of their spiritual life. It’s essentially secular, yes, but the tradition and history of your family’s association with a religion can be an important component of your experience with your church. I realize this is not a part of everyone’s spirituality, nor does it make one a “better” church goer. If you have elegant cut crystal ice cream bowls that were handed down to you from your grandmother, why not use them as you serve ice cream to your family? It doesn’t make the ice cream taste better, but it can add an additional special touch.

I don’t have much respect for people who boldly refuse to acknowledge other religions – now I’m talking about people who refuse to attend the wedding of a colleague because it will be a Hindu ceremony, someone who loudly objects to a prayer said before dinner when they are a guest in someone else’s home, or ignores someone’s request for Kosher food. But I don’t think the problem with these people is a lack of comparative religion, I think the problem is that they are nasty self-centered jerks.

6

I would say no. Of course, the main reason that I would say this is that my personal beliefs are a result of both intellectual and spiritual contemplation, preceded by actual experience with the beliefs and practices of many, though not all, major and minor world religions. Most people couldn’t possibly take the time to be as thorough as I was, but nonetheless, I definitely draw a line between people who have deliberately chosen a belief system as opposed to those who have merely accepted one that was pressed on them. I draw another line between those who have good, though not necessarily rational, reasons for their beliefs, and those who simply chose what seemed the most convenient.

Let’s suppose, for example, that I tended to respect the faith of Larryism, while simultaneously detesting the practices of Moeism. Despite of being obviously prejudiced against Moeists, I would still regard as more “honest” the faith of Lenny, who had carefully studied both systems and knew why he preferred Moeism, rather than that of Carl, who had simply never questioned the truth of the Larryism his parents practiced.

This doesn’t mean, incidentally, that don’t respect people simply because they practice their parents’ (or country’s) religion. It means, specifically, that I have an additional degree of respect for people who have shown a degree of both intellectual and spiritual refinement by basing their beliefs on something personal and concrete (though not, as I said before, necessarily rational).

YMMV, of course.

7

Given the context, I thought this was a funny typo. But anyway, I think the very definition of “enlightened” means that the person professing enlightened faith would have had to, minimally, research their own faith thoroughly. So no, you can’t very well say that you have enlightened faith in a religion without knowing your own faith’s structure, or how it compares to other religions. In other words, you better know the ingredients and nutrition facts of your ice cream, and at least have read the ingredients of some other flavors & brands.

8

I don’t think that the ice cream analogy is very good. The statement “I’m a Catholic” does not mean “Catholicism is my favorite religion”. It means “I believe in the priciples of Catholicism, and have decided to live my life based on them”. I think a better analogy would be choosing a major in college. If you really like physics, then go ahead and study physics. You don’t have to take a bunch of history classes just to make sure that that is what you want to study. Granted, it is a good idea to look into history to see if you would like it, but I would not consider a person who did so a “better” physicist just because he considered majoring in history. Now, if one finds that one is really not enjoying physics, then one should look into other majors. I would have a problem with someone who has no affinity for physics, but majored in it anyway because he never bothered to see if anything was better. Similarly, I would have a problem with someone that says “Well, I disagree with the official Church policy on many issues, but I still consider myself a Catholic” if that person hasn’t even looked at any other relgions. If, after a lengthy study, the person decided that while not perfect, Catholicism best agrees with their beliefs, that’s fine. But saying that “Catholicism isn’t perfect, but it best agrees with my beliefs” seems really silly if you haven’t even looked at anything else.

9

The
I like your analogy of the college major. One possible problem, tho, is that most folk do not choose their college major as infants, unlike religions that practice infant baptism. I wonder what percentage of “churchgoers” go where they do simply because that’s the way they have always done it?

I think I’ll start a survey along these lines over in IMHO.

Moreover, what percentage of college students do you think select their major based on what they really like? I’m sure some do. But others study what comes easy to them, what has high earning potential, what their family and friends influence them to study …

And, of course, neither my ice cream example, nor your college major example, involves proselytizing. I’m better than you because I eat vanilla ice cream. Everyone should study physics like me.

10

I am assuming that a search for the truth includes acceptance of at least the possibility of a “higher power”; after all you are talking about religions, which usually include belief in such. I guess the problem I have with how the question is set out is that it is awfully human-centric. Man doesn’t define what the truth is to suit his needs; the Truth exists and doesn’t change to suit what man feels good about. It’s like the perspective of the question is backward.

11

Gigi, that’s an honest take on the affair, but really. How many different religions have there been since recorded history? Surely (metaphysical)truth isn’t as easy to pin down as one would hope. This is largely why I started down the atheistic path so many years ago…all I saw were a bunch of salesmen. All I gots to say is: no soliciting! :smiley:

12

I’m not sure I follow you, gigi.
Are you saying that there is only one Truth, and that some people have been successful in identifying it?
If so, please fill me in on what that Truth is, and who the perceptive folk are?
How do they (or you) know they are correct?
And that means everyone else is wrong?
Is there a possibility that instead of one big-T Truth, there are a whole bunch of (lower case-t) truths, some of which have individualistic components?

13

Back at Georgetown, the Jesuits believed that an unexamined faith was insufficient. To that end, student were mandated to take at least two semesters of theology classes regardless of their major. The primary class people took was “The Problem of God”, which looked at faith and religion from various Christian and non-Christian, even atheist viewpoints.
Every once in a while, the school would get an irate letter from a parent alleging that the class had turned their child into an atheist. The Jesuits didn’t back down - they considered this acceptable if the majority came out of the class with a mature faith, or at least mature reasons for their belief/lack thereof.
I agree with their POV

V.

14

A really nice OP, and some quite insightful comments!

Gaudere and I were going round on this basic topic in another thread before New Years, and I’m not certain that either of us fully understood the other’s point well enough.

My reaction would be that one ought to investigate and learn from those particular things which life/chance/God/whatever thrusts into one’s path in this regard, but need not seek out each and every belief structure which has suggested itself to somebody somewhere. To determine that the Episcopal Church’s mode of worship and theology is more compatible with my worship style and intellectual grasp of God’s nature and relationship with me and the rest of his creation than are the Baptists, the Pentecostals, or the Roman Catholics is a step I must take. To know that, e.g., a naturist paganism is not for me on the basis of an honest appreciation of what it’s trying to say about the world in toto and one’s relationship to it, is something I need to do to be honest to myself, my God, and my pagan friends. To follow up on (to use Gaudere’s example) the Falun Gong in the improbable hope that they have a handle on some aspect of the supernatural that everyone else has neglected is not something I need to do.

Common sense and moderation actually apply here. There are reasonable limits to what should be done and what need not. And if one believes, as I do, that God has a purpose for each person, then one may expect to be confronted with those particular aspects of other belief structures which He particularly wants one to deal with, through His intervention. I think Sqrl was doing His bidding when he took me through the discussion of paganism. And I think he and Falcon and Matt_mcl have challenged me to confront my initial dismissal of modern paganism as not something I ought to be interested in through their rational posts on the subject, and that that too was God’s doing. Though I understand Him through a Christian perspective, I’ve never made the mistake of believing that He works only through Christianity. Heck, some of my best answers have come through Gaudere’s probing questions (she may call herself an atheist, but she’s great at dialectical diagnosticism!;))

15

I think that, in a sense, many people are “baptized” into a specific field rather early. Parents with a strong interest in astromony will give their children books on astronomy and telescopes. Parents that believe that their daughters should be housewives when they grow up will encourage them to focus on “womanly” subjects.

I don’t think that post-adolescent proselytizing is really very effective. They may get a lot of converts, but I think that is because their vict… I mean, ummm, subjects, have been “primed” to accept certain worldviews already.

gigi:

The vast majority of what religions are about is not “Truth”. Relgions are about ritual. I don’t think that very many educated Catholics believe that if they don’t have Communion, they’ll go to hell. It’s ritual. Christianity, at least, is about having a relationsship with God through Jesus. Some people are more comfortable with one type of relationship, while other poeple are comfortable with another type. That doesn’t mean that one is “right” and the other “wrong”.

16

{pokes head in}

{skims thread}

{makes obligatory remark about you all being closet Unitarian Universalists}

{leaves the rest to Dinsdale}

{leaves quietly}

Esprix