When I was in the tenth grade, sitting in World History class, I discovered that I loved the study of religions. I have mentioned before, that my teacher for that class, Mrs. Kohler, was one of my favorite teachers. She taught with energy and passion. She made the content of the class something relatable to us.
We didn’t study dates, we studied movements. We didn’t focus on learning individual names of heroes, we learned about the people as a group — we learned about the cultures around the world. And that included the religions of the world.
After several weeks of studying the world religions, I had an epiphany. I thought we were studying the religions of the world to find all of the differences between them., but all I could see were the similarities these religions all shared.
I also learned in that class that people sometimes fought over religion — and sometimes there were even religious wars. I couldn’t believe that millions of Catholic and Protestant Christians would slaughter each other over such minor religious differences when it was clear that both sides ultimately believed in and worshiped the same God — a God whose primary commands were that we love one another and even love our enemy. The same can be said of Sunni and Shia Muslims. They share the same God, and yet they kill each other.
Well, that doesn’t sound like anything relatable to our world today, does it?
When I think of cultures of people, and the clash that sometimes exists between them, I am always reminded of a sentence one of my Professors at Ball State University used to say
“There are greater differences within cultures than between them.” — Dr. Phyllis Gordon
When I first heard that phrase, I didn’t really get it. The more I heard it and thought about it, the more I understood what she meant. Groups may appear to be different, but once you begin to study them, observe them, learn about them, we find a far greater number of similarities between them. The differences actually occur within groups that should be closer in attitudes, opinions and beliefs.
The same thing happens to us on the individual level. Even when someone appears to be dramatically opposite of who we are, we can find many things that we have in common if we are willing to take the time to get to know each other.
Religion can be described as an organized system of beliefs by followers, ceremonies, practices, and worship, that are centered around one supreme God, or deity. Religion can also be described as the way that humans attempt to gain the highest possible good for themselves by living their lives the best way they can according to some spiritual guidance.
The religion that we choose to follow is very tied to our early upbringing — where we were born, what our family of origin believed, and what was the culture of the time. As we move away from home and grow up, we may change our religious identification, or we may keep it, just as it was in our childhood.
Some people are part of a religious group, many are not.
As we think about the 4,000 religions, faith communities and denominations around the world, we can certainly think of many things that are different between them:
How they pray, who they pray to, the name of their Supreme Diety, the building they worship in, the structure of their services, and the number of times a week that they meet, what they can eat, and of course, what they believe.
Muslims pray to Allah five times a day, Christians pray to God when the pastor asks them to pray, or whenever they want to pray to God, those who follow Judaism often go to the synagogue to pray in the morning and in the afternoon.
But there are a large number of elements that are consistent across all of the world religions, faith communities and denominations:
Here are the things that all of the religions have in common:
First of all, A supreme being to worship. Something that we can’t see, but are asked to believe in.
In every single religion, God (or other Supreme Being) doesn’t appear to the masses directly, but uses a person from among the peoples to instruct them to follow God. Every religion has prophets or messengers who have received words from the Supreme Being and tells the people what that Supreme Being has said.
Sacred texts for instructions — Christians have the Bible, Muslims read the Qur’an, Hindus read the Vedas, the Bahái followers read the writings of Baháu’llah. Each group has a sacred text to read and study.
Each religion has its own Sacred days, and gathering places, and rituals. Now, certainly those sacred days, gathering places and rituals might be different, but they all have them.
Finally, all religions offer instructions on how we should act towards one another.
All religious groups believe that they have some good advice to pass on to those who participate in their services. All of them have a desire to help people to get along with each other and to become the best version of themselves that they can be. Along with, of course, growing spiritually and becoming closer to their Supreme Diety.
Instructions on how we should act towards one another that all religions share:
Feed the Poor
You will reap what you sow
Don’t judge
Honor Your Parents —
Do No Harm
Be Slow to Anger
Speak the Truth
Love your Neighbor
Forgive when possible
Follow the Spirit of the Scriptures, Not the Words
The Golden Rule — is the cornerstone of religious understanding.
The Golden Rule in all religions encourages people to treat others as they would like to be treated. In other words, we are to treat people fairly and justly, just like we would like to be treated.
Now when we think of the golden rule — which we all heard from the time we were young children — we are tempted to think of that rule as something just for children.
Once we become adults, we are no longer supposed to apply that rule during our business transactions or in our personal relationships.
Many of our cultural norms go against the golden rule, by encouraging us to take care of number 1 — ourselves — no matter what. So that might mean using other people, not caring about their needs or their work, or their feelings. Our culture often inspires us to do whatever it takes to get ahead. And if we are honest, we know that doesn’t involve applying the golden rule very often.
If we were all to follow the Golden Rule, this world would be so much better. Peace would cover the globe, and all people would come much closer to having what they need. Abuse would disappear, food would be more plentiful, and wars would end.
A long time ago in China, a young woman named Li-li got married and went to live with her husband and mother-in-law. In a very short time, Li-li and her mother-in-law were not getting along very well. The mother-in-law criticized her all of the time, and their personalities were very different. They were both so angry and unhappy that everyone in the house was in a bad mood all the time.
So Li-li decided she would go to her father’s friend who sold herbs and see if he would give her some poison so that the problem would end. The herb man said he would help her solve the problem, but Li-li needed to follow his instructions for it to work. She said she would obey his instructions, so he went into the back room and returned with a package of herbs.
He told her, “You can’t use a quick-acting poison to get rid of your mother-in-law or people would be suspicious. Therefore, I have given you a number of herbs that will slowly build up in her body.
Every other day prepare some pork or chicken and put a little of the herbs in her serving. Now, in order to make sure that nobody suspects you when she dies, you must be very careful to act friendly towards her. Don’t argue with her, obey her every wish, and treat her like a queen.”
Li-li was thrilled to have the solution to her problem. Weeks went by and she did exactly what she was told. After 6 months the whole household had changed. The two women were getting along, and in fact they treated each other like a real mother and daughter, and her husband was very pleased that everyone was getting along so well.
Li-li went back to the herb man. “Would you please help me to keep the poison from killing my mother-in-law? I love her like my mother, and I don’t want her to die.”
The man smiled and said, “Oh, there is nothing to worry about. I never gave you any poison. The herbs I gave you were vitamins to improve her health. Your attitude has changed, which helped your mother-in-law’s attitude to change. The love that you have given to her has changed your whole household.
The moral of this story is this: Have you ever realized that how you treat others is exactly how they will treat you? In China it is said: the person who loves others will also be loved.
It was Edwin Markham who said these words: “We have committed the Golden Rule to memory; let us now commit it to life.” — Edwin Markham
May we all strive to apply the Golden Rule to our behavior with much greater frequency in the days ahead.
Comments