RB – Humanities – Religions of the World – Response One

Rosalind Blanckenburg

To me, religion is a cultural system involving a set of beliefs that explain various aspects of life that give individuals ritualized guide lines and moral (hopefully) goals to follow. One religion does not, by any means, encompass or suit everyone; here the saying "one say fits all" has no place when religion is involved. However, people are given opportunities to shape their lives in a more ideal fashion than would otherwise be the case. Stephen Protero’s description of the religions, and their followers, of the world as not one group of one kind mountaineer climbing different sides of the mountains, but rather several kinds of mountaineers with their unique approaches climbing any number of peaks or crevasses. Before hand I viewed the different religions as facets of the same gem, but Stephen Protero’s clever description makes more sense. Buddhists believe in the eternal soul but have no god whereas Hinduism supports the concept of karma, which in turn points to the existence of God (s). Those two religions are closely related but have a few prominent differences.
The description above caught my interest because it teaches us that though religions may share many similarities they have qualities that set them apart from each other. In order to accept them and avoid conflict from misunderstandings an effort must be made to understand them in their own right. For example; religious extremists such as those who ran the the planes into the Twin Towers. Because of their actions, what many people think of when they think of Islam is violence whereas only a minority of Muslims fit the description of terrorists.