Major Religions in the World
HinduismFundamental beliefs and basic history
Because it integrates a large variety of heterogeneous elements,
Hinduism constitutes a very complex but largely continuous whole,
and since it covers the whole of life, it has religious, social,
economic, literary, and artistic aspects. As a religion, Hinduism
is an utterly diverse conglomerate of doctrines, cults, and ways
of life.
The distinction between the level of popular belief and that of
elaborate ritual technique and philosophical speculation is very
marked and attended by many stages of transition and varieties
of coexistence. Primitive magic and feishism, animal worship,
and belief in demons occur beside, and often combined with, the
worship of more or less personal gods, as do mysticism, asceticism,
and abstract and profound theological systems or esoteric doctrines.
For example, worship of female local deities does not, in the
same milieu, exclude the belief in pan-Indian higher gods, or
even in a single High God. Such deities are also frequently looked
upon as manifestations of a High God.
In principle, Hinduism incorporates all forms of belief and worship
without necessitating the selection or elimination of any. The
Hindu is inclined to revere the divine in every manifestation,
whatever it may be, and is doctrinally tolerant, leaving others
- including both Hindus and non-Hindus - whatever creed and worship
practices suit them best. A Hindu may embrace a non-Hindu religion
without ceasing to be a Hindu, and since the Hindu is disposed
to think synthetically and to regard other forms of worship, strange
gods, and divergent doctrines as inadequate rather than wrong
or objectionable, he tends to believe that the highest divine
powers complement each other for the well-being of the world and
mankind. Few religious ideas are considered to be finally irreconcilable.
The core of religion does not even depend on the existence or
nonexistence of God or on whether there is one god or many. Since
religious truth is said to transcend all verbal definition, it
is not conceived in dogmatic terms. Hinduism is, then, both a
civilization and a conglomerate of religions, with neither a beginning,
a founder, nor a central authority, hierarchy, or organization.
Every attempt at a specific definition of Hinduism has proved
unsatisfactory in one way or another, the more so because the
finest Indian scholars of Hinduism, including Hindus themselves,
have emphasized different aspects of the whole.
Summary
Primarily the religion of about two-thirds of the people of India.
It comprises a variety of creeds derived from Brahmanic sources.
It is divided into three periods: Vedic, Epic, and Puranic. Its
supreme deities are the triad of Brahma, the creator, Vishnu,
the preserver, and Siva, the destroyer. Many other inferior divinities
and natural objects are also worshipped, numbering close to two
hundred million. In the modern, popular faith, Brahman lapsed
into an abstraction. Practical adoration is divided between the
other two members of the triad: Siva and Vishnu. Sivaite worship
is chiefly attracted by the wife of Siva, under various names:
Kali, Durga, Parbati, and so forth. Vishnu, again, is almost lost
in the worship paid to his two incarnations (avatars), Rama and
Krishna. Lesser divinities that are very popular include Hanuman,
the "monkey-god" and Ganesh, the "elephant god".
Hinduism is a medley of unfixed religious dogmas; there is no
standardization of the faith such as is found in other great religions.
It is above all a religion of castes and the Brahmans are the
ruling caste. All of the castes of Hinduism are subject to the
ruling of the Brahmans, whose word is law and whose shadows are
all benevolence. To a Brahman, all other castes are inferior;
he is supreme and his authority is unquestioned.
The Brahmans look to the Vedas, their holy writings, for their
authority. The Vedas are four metrical books: Rigveda, Samaveda,
Yajurveda, and Atharvaveda. The Rigveda is of great antiquity,
some of its songs dating from long before 1000 BC. It is a work
of poetic ritual and prayer to the gods. The Samaveda is a resume
of the Rigveda, presenting the songs and invocations in sacrificial
order. The Yajurveda (known to western scholars as the "White,
or Sacrificial Veda") is based upon the Rigveda, but contains
original formulas arranged in order for use at certain sacrifices.
The Atharvaveda is a collection of incantations against evil spirits
and formulas of exorcism. The Vedas form the basis of early Indian
social life and comprise its legal and political aspects as well.
From this beginning was born the faith. Brahman means "prayer";
the commentaries to be found at the end of the Vedas proper are
called Brahmanas; so that the religion of Hinduism is concerned
mainly with prayers and incantations.
It is full of ceremony; polytheistic, its myriad gods decked the
temples scattered throughout India. The cow is held in reverence,
since it is believed to be the repository of the spirits of long-vanished
gods.
Hinduism is a composite belief. Ancient practices and social distinctions
became crystallized in the caste system, which is the backbone
of the religion. For this reason, a continuous reading of all
four Vedic classics will bring incongruity to light; even after
the long centuries which have passed since the Vedas were first
written, these inconsistencies still litter the path of the Hindu
ritualist.
Hinduism, as now constituted, relies almost as much on the Upanishads
(esoteric treatises), as upon the Vedas. The Brahmanas referred
to above, explain the Vedas, the Aranyaks or "forest books"
(to be read in the solitude of the forest) explain the Brahmanas,
and the last sections of the Aranyakas form the Upanishads. These
are essays of lofty philosophy, of metaphysical speculation on
the essential nature of the spirit of the universe, which is called
Atman, or Brahma. Collectively, the Upanishads bear the name Vedanta,
which comes from the Sanskrit words Veda, "wisdom" and
Anta, "end" and signifies "supreme wisdom."
This name has given rise, within Hinduism, to a system of thought
called the Vedanta philosophy that deals with the fundamental
principles and the practice of religion, rather than with dogmas
and personalities.
The gods of Vedic were merely personified natural phenomena. Indeed,
Vedic Hinduism was a primitive nature worship. The next step was
a division of the gods into Celestial and Terrestrial. It was
not until much later (the period of the Atharvaveda) that magic
began to complicate the simple faith. Demons as well as gods multiplied
apace, and soon it became impossible to count the myriad gods
and demi-gods of the Hindu Pantheon. From very early times there
were three types of priests, the reader, the cantor, and the ritual
priest. These three later were multiplied into many subdivisions
as the caste system developed and further stages were added to
the Hinduistic superstructure.
Hinduism of one school leans toward a triad: Brahma (the Creator),
Vishnu (the preserver), and Siva (the destroyer). There was, at
the beginning, a triad of castes, also: Brahmans (priests), Kshatriyas
(warriors), and Vaisyas (merchants and agriculturists); today,
the different castes and sub-castes number nearly 200.
Hinduism accepts transmigration, holding that gods and men are
not essentially different from each other; the former are nearer
the goal, that is all. There is a wealth of mythology incorporated
in Hinduism and much valuable knowledge of purely Aryah India
can be gained from a study of the early songs and stories.
The principal gods of Hinduism are amoral; the lower gods are
immoral; and serve the purpose of impressing the people in their
capacity as "horrible examples". There are heavens and
hells as well as a Paradise for those who pass successfully through
all upward stages of existence. Much is made of a parade of religious
fervor, fasting, penances and the like, but it was the empty ineffectiveness
of Hinduism that turned Buddha's eyes inward seeking, "something
more lofty and ideal, something which the manifold sufferings
and penances of Brahmanism can not effect."
Hare-Krishna
Hare Krishna is a popular name for the International Society for
Krishna Consciousness, a Hindu movement founded (1965) in the
United States by A.C. Bhaktivedanta. The popular name derives
from the mantra Hare Krishna ("O Lord Krishna") chanted
by members of the group.
Devotees of the Hindu god Krishna, the members are divided into
two classes: brahmacarin ("students"), who live
in temples and vow to abstain from sex, meat, intoxicants, and
gambling, and grihasta, or lay members who marry and have
families. They are proselytizers who actively seek converts. In
the mid-1980s the Hare Krishna movement had more than 200 centers
in the United States, Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa.
In the United States it was troubled by internal disputes that
reportedly led to several killings, and was accused by critics
of other illegal activities as well.
Buddhism
Fundamental beliefs and basic history
Buddhism was founded by Gautama Buddha, north of Hindustan, about
the middle of the sixth century BC. Is present adherents are chiefly
in Burma, Nepal, Ceylon, Thailand, Tibet, and China, with small
numbers in Japan. It has, in recent years, made some inroads into
Europe and North America, though chiefly those in the West are
immigrants from Asia.
Buddhism is regarded by many as not a new religion, but rather
a reformation of Hinduism, and specifically of the Hinduism as
practiced by the highest caste, the Brahmans.
The attraction of Buddhism, especially in its original environment,
was the spirit of universal charity and sympathy that it breathed,
as contrasted with the exclusiveness of caste. It was, in fact,
a reaction against the exclusiveness and formalism of Hinduism
- an attempt to render it more universal and to throw of its burden
of ceremonies. Buddhism did not expressly abolish caste, but declared
that all followers of the Buddha who embraced the religious life
were thereby released from its restrictions. This opening of its
ranks to all classes and to both sexes no doubt gave Buddhism
one great advantage over Hinduism.
Max Muller says that the Buddha "addressed himself to castes
and outcasts. He promised salvation to all; and he commanded his
disciples to preach his doctrine in all places and to all men.
A sense of duty, extending from the narrow limits of the house,
the village, and the country, to the widest circle of mankind,
a feeling of sympathy and brotherhood toward all men, the idea,
in fact, of humanity, were first pronounced by Buddha."
The books of the Ceylon Buddhists, are in the language called
Pali, which is still the sacred language of Buddhism. Translations
from the Ceylon standards are used by the Buddhists of Burma and
Siam. Tibetan and Chinese translations were made from the Sanskrit.
The Buddha had composed no work himself, but his chief followers
assembled in council immediately after his death and proceeded
to reduce his teaching to a canon. These canonical works are divided
into three classes, forming the Tripitaka (Pali: Tipitaka), or
"three baskets." The first consists of the Vinaya,
or discipline; the second contains the Sutras, or discourses;
and the third the Abhidharma, or psychology. The canon
was not reduced to writing till the first century BC. Besides
the Tripitaka referred to above, the canon of the Great Vehicle
(Mahayana) contains two special works, dating not earlier
than the first century AD. These are "The Lotus of the Good
Law," and the Lalita Vistara, the latter of which
contains the life of Buddha. To these may be added the Mahavastu,
which belongs to the second century BC. The Buddhacarita,
the earliest life of Buddha, dates from the first century AD.
The Buddhist religion early manifested a zealous missionary spirit.
A prince of the royal house of Magadha, Mahindo, carried the faith
to Ceylon, 307 BC. The Chinese annals speak of a Buddhist missionary
as early as 217 BC. And the doctrine made such progress that in
65 AD, it was acknowledged by the Chinese Emperor as a third state
religion. The Chinese Buddhists have always looked on India as
their "holy land", and beginning with the fourth century
of our era, a stream of Buddhist pilgrims continued to flow from
china to India during six centuries. Several of these pilgrims
have left accounts of their travels, which throw a light on the
course of Buddhism in India, and on the internal state of the
country in general, that is looked for in vain in the literature
of India itself.
A prominent name in the history of Buddhism is that of Asoka,
King of Magadha in the third century BC, whose sway seems to have
extended over the whole peninsula of Hindustan and even over Ceylon.
This prince was to Buddhism what Constantine was to Christianity.
He was at first a persecutor of the faith, but being converted
- by a miracle, according to the legend - he became a zealous
propagator of the religion - not, however, as princes usually
promote their creed, for it is a distinguishing characteristic
of Buddhism that it has never employed force, rarely even to resist
aggression. Asoka showed his zeal by building and endowing viharas
(monasteries) and raising topes and other monuments over the relics
of Buddha and in spots remarkable as the scenes of his labors.
Hiouen-Thsang, in the seventh century of our era, found topes
attributed to Asoka from the foot of the Hindu Kush to the extremity
of the peninsula.
For the glimpses we get of the state of Buddhism in India we are
indebted chiefly to the accounts of Chinese pilgrims. Fahien,
at the end of the fourth century, found some appearances of decline
in the east of Hindustan, its birthplace, but it was still strong
in the Punjab and the north. In Ceylon it was flourishing in full
vigor, the ascetics or monks numbering nearly 100,000. In the
seventy century - i.e. 1200 years after the death of the Buddha
- Hiouen Thsang represents it as dominant but decaying, though
patronized by powerful rajas.
During the first four or five centuries of our era, Buddhists,
perhaps driven from the great cities, retired among the hills
of the west, and there constructed those cave temples which, for
their number, vastness, and elaborate structure, continue to excite
wonder. There are reckoned to be not fewer than 900 Buddhist excavations
still extant in India. How the destruction of the Buddhist faith
in Hindustan came about - whether from internal corruption, or
the persecution of powerful princes, adherents of the old faith
- we do not know. But it is certain that from the time of Hiouen-Thaang's
visit its decay must have been rapid, for about the eleventh or
twelfth century the last races of it disappear from the Indian
Peninsula.
Doctrine
According to Buddhist belief, when a man dies he is immediately
born again, or appears in a new shape. That shape may, according
to his merit or demerit, be any of the innumerable orders of being
that compose the Buddhist universe - from a clod to a divinity.
If his demerit would not be sufficiently punished by a degraded
earthly existence - in the form, for instance, of a woman, or
a slave, or of some persecuted group, or a disgusting animal -
he will be born in one of the 136 Buddhist hells, situated in
the interior of the earth. These places of punishment have a regular
gradation in the intensity of the suffering and in the length
of time the sufferers live, the least term being ten million years;
the longer terms are almost beyond the powers of Indian notation
to express. A meritorious life, on the other hand, secures the
next birth either in an exalted and happy position on earth, or
as a blessed spirit, or even divinity, in one of the many heavens,
in which the least duration of life is about ten billion years.
But however long the life, whether of misery or of bliss, it has
an end, and at its close the individual must be born again and
may again be either happy or miserable - either a god or the vilest
inanimate object.
The Buddhist conception of the way in which the quality of actions
- which is expressed in Sanskrit by the word karma, including
both merit and demerit - determines the future condition of all
sentient beings, is peculiar. They do not conceive any god or
gods as being pleased or displeased by the actions, and as assigning
the actors their future condition by way of punishment or of reward.
The idea of a god, as creating or ruling the world, is utterly
absent in the Buddhist system. God is not denied; he is simply
not known.
Another basis of Buddhism is the assumption that human existence
is on the whole miserable and a curse rather than a blessing.
An enervating climate and political conditions may have aided
in producing the feeling common to Hindu and Buddhist that life
is evil. But the root of the matter is philosophical. Life is
a whole; nature is a whole; to be born is to become separate or
individualized from the whole. Individuality implies limitation;
limitation implies error; error implies ignorance. Hence birth
is an evil because it is inseparable from ignorance, and it is
only the removal of ignorance which can lead to the suppression
of desire, while only the suppression of desire can lead to peace.
This desire, which Buddha identified with the "will to live,"
he called trshna (Pali, Tanha) or "thirst." The little
value that Hindus set upon their lives is manifested in many ways.
The punishment of death has little or no terror for them and is
even sometimes coveted as an honor.
Death was no escape from this inevitable lot, or, according to
the doctrine of transmigration, death was only a passage into
some other form of existence equally doomed. Guatama saw no escape
but in what he called Nirvana, literally "extinction",
"blowing out," or "annihilation." Yet it would
be wrong to hold that the man who has freed himself from desire
and has recognized the essentially illusory character of this
world is utterly devoid of sentiment; on the contrary, the Buddha
and his followers lay stress on Love, which is the cardinal virtue
of Buddhism. While, in his perfect peace of mind, the "enlightened"
man is entirely indifferent to pleasure and pain and unmoved by
the vicissitudes of this world, his soul is not dead, but filled
with love and sympathy for everything which is still in the thrall
of desire, but without undue preference of one object over another.
This love, or charity, is called in Sanskrit Maitri. Complete
Nirvana, which in the original meaning of the term is attainable
during life, was in fact, attained by Guatama himself. The process
by which the state is attained is called Dhyana and is
neither more nor less than ecstasy or trance, which plays so important
a part among mystics of all religions. The individual is described
as losing one feeling after another, until perfect apathy is attained,
and he reaches a state "where there are neither ideas, nor
the idea of the absence of ideas."
The key of the whole scheme of Buddhist salvation lies in what
Gautama called his four sublime verities (truths). The first asserts
that pain exists; the second, that the cause of pain is desire
or attachment; the third, that pain can be ended by suppressing
desire; and the fourth shows the way that leads to this. This
way consists in eight things: right faith, right judgment, right
language, right purpose, right practice, right effort, right thinking
and right meditation.
In order to understand how this method is to lead to the proposed
end, we must turn to the metaphysical part of the system contained
in the "concatenation of causes," or "chain of
causation" (Pratityasamutpada), which may be looked
upon as a development of the second "verity", viz.,
that the cause of pain is desire (Trshna) - or rather,
as the analysis upon which that verity is founded. The immediate
cause of pain is birth, for if we were not born we should not
be exposed to death or any of the ills of life. Birth, again,
is caused by previous existence; it is only a transition from
one state of existence into another.
Contemplation and science or knowledge are ranked as virtues in
Buddhism and hold a prominent place among the means of attaining
Nirvana. It is reserved, in fact, for abstract contemplation to
effect the final steps of the deliverance. Thought is the highest
faculty of man, and, in the mind of an Eastern philosopher, the
mightiest of all forces. A king who had become a convert to Buddhism
is represented as seating himself with his legs crossed and his
mind collected; and "cleaving with the thunderbolt of science
the mountain of ignorance," he saw before him the desired
state. It is in this cross-legged, contemplative position that
the Buddha is almost always represented - that crowning intellectual
act of his, when, seated under the Bo tree he attained the full
knowledge of the Buddha, saw the illusory nature of all things,
broke the last bonds that tied him to existence, and stood delivered
for evermore from the necessity of being born again, being considered
the culmination of his character and the highest object of imitation
to all his followers.
Morality and Religious Observances
There are ten moral precepts or "precepts of aversion."
Five of these are of universal obligation: not to kill, not to
steal, not to commit adultery, not to lie, and not to be drunken.
The other five are for those entering on the direct pursuit of
Nirvana by embracing the religious life: to abstain from food
out of season (i.e., after midday); to abstain from dances, theatrical
representations, songs, and music; to abstain from personal ornaments
and perfumes; to abstain from a lofty and luxurious couch; to
abstain from taking gold and silver.
For the regular ascetics, or monks, there are a number of special
observances of a very severe kind. They are to dress only in rags,
sewed together with their own hands, and to have a yellow cloak
thrown over their rags. They are to eat only the simplest food
and to possess nothing except what they get by collecting alms
from door to door in their wooden bowls. They are allowed only
one meal, and that must be eaten before midday. For a part of
the year they are to live in forests, with no other shelter except
the shadow of a tree, and there they must sit on their carpet
even during sleep, to lie down being forbidden. They are allowed
to enter the nearest village or town to beg food, but they must
return to their forests before night.
Besides the absolutely necessary "aversions and observances"
above mentioned, there are certain virtues or "perfections"
of a supererogatory or transcendent kind that tend directly to
"conduct to the other shore" (Nirvana). The most essential
of these are almsgiving or charity, purity, patience, courage,
contemplation, and knowledge. Charity or benevolence may be said
to be the characteristic virtue of Buddhism - a charity boundless
in its self-abnegation and extending to every sentient being.
Benevolence to animals, with the tendency to exaggerate a right
principle, is carried among the Buddhist monks to the length of
avoiding the destruction of fleas and the most noxious vermin,
which they remove from their persons with all tenderness. The
sect of the Jains carried this to absurd extremes.
There are other virtues of a secondary kind, thought still highly
commendable. Thus, not content with forbidding lying, the Buddha
strictly enjoins the avoidance of all offensive and gross language,
and of saying or repeating anything that can set others at enmity
among themselves; it is a duty, on the contrary, especially for
a Sramana, to act on all occasions as a peacemaker. Patience under
injury and resignation to misfortune are strongly inculcated.
The Buddhist saints are to conceal their good works and display
their faults. As the outward expression of this sentiment of humility,
Gautama instituted the practice of confession. Twice a month,
at the new and at the full moon, the monks confessed their faults
aloud before the assembly. This humiliation and repentance seems
the only means of expiating sin that was known to Gautama. Confession
was exacted of all believers, only not so frequently as of the
monks.
The ritual or worship of early Buddhism is very simple in character.
There are no priests, or clergy, properly so called. The Sramanas
or Bhikshus (mendicants) are simply a religious order - a class
of monks, who, in order to accomplish the more speedy attainment
of Nirvana, have entered on a course of greater sanctity and austerity
than ordinary men; they have no sacraments to administer nor rites
to perform for the people, for every Buddhist is his own priest.
The only thing like a clerical function they discharge is to read
the scriptures or discourses of the Buddha in stated assemblies
of the people held for that purpose. But in northern Buddhism
there is a complete ritual, with rites and worship strangely like
that of the Roman Catholic Church, through whose missionaries
these traits may have been introduced.
In some countries the monks are exceedingly numerous; around Lhassa
in Tibet, for instance, they are said to be one-third of the population.
They live in monasteries, and subsist partly by endowments, but
mostly by charity. Except in Tibet, they are not allowed to engage
in any secular occupation. The vow is not irrevocable. This incubus
of monasticism constitutes the great weakness of Buddhism in its
social aspect.
Lamaism, the form of Buddhism prevalent in Tibet and Mongolia
is a combination of Buddhism with Sivaism and Shamanism or spirit
worship. The nature worship of the nomad Mongols was probably
influenced by the precepts of Lao-Tse and Confucius and the preaching
of Nestorian monks before it absorbed a Buddhism which had already
become weak.
The acceptance of Buddha as an incarnation of the divine essence
resulted in the establishment of a hierarchy in Tibet. There were
two Lama popes, the Dalai-lama or "grand lama" and the
other bearing the titles of Tashi-lama, Bogdo-lama, or Pen-Ch'en.
While both popes have the same rank and authority, the Dalai-lama's
diocese was larger, giving him greater influence.
Lamaism possesses a lower clergy, which recruits its ranks on
the principle of merit. It has four orders: the novice; the assistant
priest; the religious mendicant; and the teacher. All these make
a vow of celibacy, and live in convents. At the head is a Khubilghan,
or an abbot. Lamaism also has its nuns.
The adoration of the statues of the Buddha and of his relics is
the chief external ceremony of the religion. This, with prayer
and the repetition of sacred formulas, constitutes the ritual.
The central object in a Buddhist temple, corresponding to the
altar in a Catholic church, is an image of the Buddha, or a dagoba
or shrine containing his relics. Here flowers, fruit, and incense
are daily offered, and processions are made with singing of hymns.
Of the relics of the Buddha, the most famous are the teeth that
are preserved with intense veneration in various places.
With all their admiration of the Buddha, his followers have generally
never made a god of him. Gautama is only the last Buddha - the
Buddha of the present cycle. He had predecessors in the cycles
that are past (24 Buddhas of the past are enumerated); and when,
at the end of the present cycle, all things shall be reduced to
their elements, and the knowledge of the way of salvation shall
perish with all things else, another Buddha will appear, again
to reveal to the renascent beings the way to Nirvana. The Buddha,
then, is not a god; he is the ideal of what any man may become;
and the great object of Buddhist worship is to keep this ideal
vividly in the minds of the believers.
Esoteric Buddhism
In the early period of Gautama's teachings, Buddhism was a simple
enunciation of the value of contemplation and a call to renunciation
of the material things of life. Shortly after the collection of
the sayings of Buddha, communities of ascetics were formed, having
as their sole object the continual contemplation of the sayings
of Gautama. Thus were evolved some of the "hidden doctrines",
not written in the ordinary works, but practiced by those who
were to become adepts. The trend of this teaching was increasingly
toward the exercise of thought as the sure means of emancipation
from rebirth and its attendant evils. For many centuries this
teaching was withheld from all devotees below the grade of Bodhisat,
one who has the essence of knowledge. Having become Bodhisat the
devotee had but one life more to live before attaining Nirvana.
Then came the great schism, the division into Mahayana (Greater
Vehicle), and Hinayana (Lesser Vehicle), which demanded a complete
revision of the terminology then in use in the schools. The central
power of Buddhism had now shifted to Ceylon and Southern India.
These were the centers of conservative Buddhism and here were
maintained the early principles as enunciated by Buddha himself.
The northern Buddhists, progressive and aggressive, built up a
new development (Mahayana) and in large measure evolved Esoteric
Buddhism.
At first the elementary principles remained unchanged, and contemplation
was merely brought to bear until new aspects of old principles
gave hints of something as yet unknown. Then Nirvana took on new
qualities and the word Parinirvana (complete, perfect nothingness),
came into use. For a long time Gautama was the one and only Buddha.
Later some of his utterances were given what really amounts to
undue prominence. In these he had elected his successors (one
a woman), in future cycles of existence to be the enlightening
Buddhas of unknown, untold future generations. Buddhism in the
hands of the Mahayana leaders became limitless, there was no termination
of cycles, and Parnirvana became more distant than ever before.
"Beyond our best there ever rises a better hope" - a
supposed utterance of Buddha - was taken so literally that the
Buddhist began to look for a new Buddha who should be more perfect
than Gautama. Gradually new adaptations from pure philosophy,
from Hinduism and Brahman ritual, began to mingle with the finer
elements of Buddhist belief and from this mixture arose the new
rules of life for the novice and for all grades up to Arhat, Bodhisat,
and Buddha. But above all rules and orders, thought is paramount,
an unruffled serenity of mind is supreme.
There has been much confusion between Esoteric Buddhism and Theosophy.
That Buddhism as a whole contributed much to the development of
Theosophy is agreed, but faiths and belief systems have been laid
under contribution to form the latter. So great has this confusion
become that Esoteric Buddhism has been identified wholly with
Theosophy, an error too glaringly obvious to need stressing. Buddhism
by its stand on the great principles of transmigration, Nirvana,
and contemplation is exclusive. Theosophy will accept anything
coming within the range of knowledge of the Divine. The Upanishad
which form a large part of the basis of Theosophy were mostly
rejected by the early Buddhists, parts only surviving in Buddhist
books.
Zen Buddhism
The Chinese: Ch'an (from Sanskrit dhyana, meaning "meditation") is an important school of Buddhism in Japan that claims to
transmit the spirit or essence of Buddhism, which consists in
experiencing the enlightenment (bodhi) achieved by the Gautama
Buddha. The school arose in the 6th century in China as Ch'an,
a form of Mahayana Buddhism; its development in Japan dates from
the 12th century. In its secondary developments of mental tranquillity,
fearlessness, and spontaneity - all faculties of the enlightened
mind - the school of Zen has had lasting influence on the cultural
life of Japan.
Zen teaches that the Buddha-nature, or potential to achieve enlightenment,
is inherent in everyone but lies dormant because of ignorance.
It is best awakened not by the study of scriptures, the practice
of good deeds, rites and ceremonies, or worship of images but
by a sudden breaking through of the boundaries of common, everyday,
logical thought. Training in the methods leading to such an enlightenment
is best transmitted personally from master to disciple. The methods
recommended, however, differ among the various sects of Zen.
The Rinzai (Chinese Lin-chi) sect, introduced to Japan from China
by the priest Ensai in 1191, emphasizes sudden shock and meditation
on the paradoxical statements called koan. The Soto (Chinese Ts'ao-tung)
sect, transmitted to Japan by Dogen on his return from China in
1227, prefers the method of sitting in meditation (zazen). A third
sect, the Obaku (Chinese Huang-po), was established in 1654 by
the Chinese monk Yin-yan (Japanese Ingen). It employs the methods
of Rinzai and also practices nembutsu, the continual invocation
of Amida (the Japanese name for the Buddha Amitabha), with the
devotional formula namu Amida Butsu (Japanese: "homage to
Amida Buddha").
During the 16th century period of political unrest, Zen priest
not only contributed their talents as diplomats and administrators
but also preserved the cultural life; it was under their inspiration
that art, literature, the tea cult, and the No theater, for example,
developed and prospered. Neo-Confucianism, which became the guiding
principle of the Tokugawa feudal regime (1603-1867), also was
originally introduced and propagated by Japanese Zen masters.
In modern Japan, Zen sects and subsects claim about 9,600,000
adherents. Considerable interest in various aspects of Zen thought
has developed also in Western countries in the later half of the
20th century, and a number of Zen groups have been formed in North
America and Europe.
Confucianism
Confucianism, the philosophical system founded on the teaching of Confucius (551-479 BC), dominated Chinese sociopolitical life for most of Chinese history and largely influenced the cultures of Korea, Japan, and Indochina. The Confucian school functioned as a recruiting ground for government positions, which were filled by those scoring highest on examinations in the Confucian classics. It also blended with popular and imported religions and became the vehicle for articulating Chinese mores to the peasants. The school's doctrines supported political authority using the theory of the mandate of heaven. It sought to help the rulers maintain domestic order, preserve tradition, and maintain a constant standard of living for the taxpaying peasants. It trained its adherents in benevolence, traditional rituals, filial piety, loyalty, respect for superiors and for the aged, and principled flexibility in advising rulers.
Confucius
Westerners use Confucius as the spelling for K'ung Fu-tzu-Master K'ung-China's first and most famous philosopher. Confucius had a traditional personal name (Ch'iu) and a formal name (Chung-ni). Confucius' father died shortly after Confucius' birth. His family fell into relative poverty, and Confucius joined a growing class of impoverished descendants of aristocrats who made their careers by acquiring knowledge of feudal ritual and taking positions ofinfluence serving the rulers of the fragmented states of ancient China. Confucius devoted himself to learning. At age 30, however, when his short-lived official career floundered, he turned to teaching others. Confucius himself never wrote down his own philosophy, although tradition credits him with editing some of the historical classics that were used as texts in his school. He apparently made an enormous impact on the lives and attitudes of his disciples, however. The book known as the Analects, which records all the "Confucius said, . . . " aphorisms, was compiled by his students after his death. Because the Analects was not written as a systematic philosophy, it contains frequent contradictions and many of the philosophical doctrines are ambiguous. The Analects became the basis of the Chinese social lifestyle and the fundamental religious and philosophical point of view of most traditionalist Chinese intellectuals throughout history. The collection reveals Confucius as a person dedicated to the preservation of traditional ritual practices with an almost spiritual delight in performing ritual for its own sake.
Doctrine
Confucianism combines a political theory and a theory of human
nature to yield a tao-a prescriptive doctrine or way. The political
theory starts with a doctrine of political authority based on
the mandate of heaven. The legitimate ruler derives authority
from heaven's command. The ruler bears responsibility for the
well-being of the people and therefore for peace and order in
the empire.
Confucian philosophy presupposes a view of human nature in which
humans are essentially social animals whose mode of social interaction
is shaped by li (convention or ritual), which establishes value
distinctions and prescribes activities in response to those distinctions.
Education in li, or social rituals, is based on the natural behavioral
propensity to imitate models. Sages, or superior people-those
who have mastered the li-are the models of behavior from which
the mass of people learn. Ideally, the ruler should himself be
such a model and should appoint only those who are models of te
(virtue) to positions of prominence. People are naturally inclined
to emulate virtuous models; hence a hierarchy of merit results
in widespread natural moral education.
Then, with practice, all people can in principle be like the sages,
by acting in accordance with li without conscious effort. At that
point they have acquired jen (humanity), the highest level of
moral development; their natural inclinations are all in harmony
with tao (way). The world is at peace, order abounds, and the
harmony between the natural and the social sphere results in material
well-being for everyone. This is Confucius' utopian vision, which
he regards as modeled on the practice of the ancient sage kings.
Historical Development
Confucianism emerged as a more coherent philosophy when faced
with intellectual competition from other schools that were growing
in the fertile social upheavals of preimperial China (c.400-c.200
BC.) Taoism, Mohism, and Legalism all attacked Confucianism. A
common theme of these attacks was that Confucianism assumed that
tradition or convention (li) was correct. Mencius (c.372-c.289
BC) developed a more idealistic version of Confucianism stressing
jen as an innate inclination to good behavior that does not require
education. Hsun Tzu (c.313-c.238 BC), on the contrary, argued
that all inclinations are shaped by acquired language and other
social forms.
Confucianism rose to the position of an official orthodoxy during
the Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220). It absorbed the metaphysical
doctrines of Yin (the female principle) and Yang (the male principle)
found in the I Ching (Book of Changes) and other
speculative metaphysical notions. With the fall of the Han, the
dynastic model, Confucianism fell into severe decline. Except
for the residual effects of its official status, Confucianism
lay philosophically dormant for about 600 years.
With the reestablishment of Chinese dynastic power in the T'ang
dynasty (618-906) and the introduction of the Ch'an (Zen Buddhist)
premise that "there is nothing much to Buddhist teaching,"
Confucianism began to revive. The Sung dynasty (960-1279) produced
Neo-Confucianism-an interpretation of classical Confucian doctrine
(principally that of Mencius) that addressed Buddhist and Taoist
issues. The development of this philosophy was due mainly to Cheng-hao
(1032-85) and Cheng-i (1033-1107), but for the orthodox statement
of Neo-Confucianism, one turns to Chu Hsi (1130-1200). His commentaries
on the four scriptures of Confucianism were required study for
the imperial civil service examinations.
Neo-Confucianism focuses on the term li, which here means "lane"
or "pattern." Correct behavior is held to follow a natural
pattern (li) that is apprehended by hsin (heart-mind). Mencius'
theory of the innate goodness of man is a theory of the innate
ability of this heart-mind to apprehend li in situations and to
follow it. To become a sage, one must study li and develop the
ability to "see" it by a kind of intuition. Later, in
the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Wang Yang-Ming claimed that the
heart projects li on things rather than just noticing external
li. To become a sage, one cannot just study situations, one must
act before li becomes manifest. Thus the heart-mind, which guides
the action, is the source of li (moral patterns).
After the disastrous conflicts with Western military technology
at the dawn of the 20th century, Chinese intellectuals blamed
Confucianism for the scientific and political backwardness of
China. Chinese Marxism, nonetheless, differs from Western Marxism
in ways that reveal the persistence of Confucian attitudes toward
politics, metaphysics, and theories of human psychology. Anti-Confucianism
has been a theme in various political campaigns in modern China-most
notably during and just after the Cultural Revolution. Increased
toleration for all religions since Mao Tse-tung's death may lead
to a moderate revival of Confucianism, although the interest seems
to be mostly in historical issues.
In Taiwan, by contrast, Confucian orthodoxy has survived and serves
to underpin an anti-Marxist, traditional authoritarianism. Serious,
ongoing Confucian philosophy, however, is found mainly in Hong
Kong and among Chinese scholars working in the West.
Taoism
The term Taoism refers both to the philosophy outlined in the Daode Jing (Tao Te Ching) (identified with Laozi or Lao-tzu) and to China's ancient Taoist religion. Next to Confucianism, it ranks as the second major belief system in traditional Chinese thought.
Taoist Philosophy
The formulation of Taoist philosophy is attributed to Laozi (fl. 6th or 4th century BC) and Zhuangzi (Chuang-tzu) (c.369-c.286 BC) as well as the Lie Xi (Lieh-tzu) (compiled during the Han dynasty, 202 BC-AD 220). Three doctrines are particularly important: Tao (way) is nonbeing (wu), the creative-destructive force that brings everything into being and dissolves everything into nonbeing; return (fu) is the destiny of everything-that is, everything, after completing its cycle, returns to nonbeing; and nonaction (wu wei), or action in harmony with nature, is the best way of life. Zhuangzi taught that, from a purely objective viewpoint, all oppositions are merely the creations of conceptual thought and imply no judgments of intrinsic value (one pole is no more preferable than its opposite). Hence the wise person accepts life's inevitable changes. The Lie Xi said that the cultivation of Tao would enable a person to live for several hundred years. Taoism teaches the devotee to lead a long and tranquil life through the elimination of one's desires and aggressive impulses.
Taoist Religion
Often regarded as a corruption of Taoist philosophy, the Taoist
religion began in the 3d century BC with such practices as alchemy
(the mixing of elixirs designed to ensure the immortality of the
body). The alchemy was carried out by Taoist priest-magicians
at the court of Shih Huang-ti of the Qin (Ch'in) dynasty (221-207
BC). These magicians were also acclaimed as spirit mediums and
experts in levitation. They were the heirs of the archaic folk
religion of China, which had been rejected by the early Confucianists.
Among the prominent features of Taoist religion are belief in
physical immortality, alchemy, breath control and hygiene (internal
alchemy), a pantheon of deities (including Laozi as one of the
three Supreme Ones), monasticism and the ritual of community renewal,
and revealed scriptures. The Taoist liturgy and theology were
influenced by Buddhism. Its scriptures, the Daozang (Tao-tsang),
consist of hundreds of separate works totaling more than 5,000
chapters.
Among the principal Taoist sects to emerge was the Heavenly Master
sect, founded in West China in the 2d century AD. It advocated
faith healing through the confession of sin and at one time recruited
members as soldiers and engaged in war against the government.
The Supreme Peace sect, also founded in the 2d century, adopted
practices much like those of the Heavenly Master sect and launched
a great rebellion that went on for several years before ending
in AD 205. The Mao-shan (Mount Mao) sect, founded in the 4th century,
introduced rituals involving both external and internal alchemies,
mediumistic practice, and visionary communication with divinities.
The Ling-pao (Marvelous Treasure) sect, also founded in the 4th
century, introduced the worship of divinities called T'ien-tsun
(Heavenly Lords). The Ch'uan-chen (Completely Real) sect was founded
in the 12th century as a Taoist monastic movement. Eventually
the Heavenly Master sect absorbed most of the beliefs and practices
of the other sects and, in the 20th century, became the most popular
Taoist group.
Sikkhism
Sikhs are followers of Sikhism, an Indian religion that originated
in the Punjab in northwest India. In 1990, India had approximately
16 million Sikhs, 1.9% of the population. Small communities of
Sikhs also exist in the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States,
Malaysia, and East Africa.
The movement was founded in the Punjab by Guru Nanak (1469-1539),
who sought to combine Hindu and Muslim elements in a single religious
creed. He taught "the unity of God, brotherhood of man, rejection
of caste and the futility of idol worship." He was followed
by nine masters, the last of whom was Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708;
guru 1675-1708), who involved his followers in an unsuccessful
martial struggle against Mogul rule.
After Gobind's assassination, the Sikhs were persecuted by the
Muslim Mogul rulers until 1799 when, under Ranjit Singh (1780-1839),
they laid claim to a large part of northwest India. After Ranjit's
death his Sikh kingdom disintegrated into anarchy. The British
moved into the Punjab, and the Sikh Wars followed (1845-46, 1848-49).
The Sikhs were defeated, and the British annexed the Punjab. Sikhism
did not recover until the 20th century, when the Sikhs were given
control of their holy places (gurdwaras). When the Indian
subcontinent was partitioned in 1947, the western Punjab became
Pakistani territory and the eastern Punjab part of India. The
Sikhs were victimized by the ensuing communal rioting, especially
in Pakistan's Punjab, and about 2,500,000 moved from Pakistan
into India.
The holiest place for Sikhs is the Golden Temple at Amritsar (now
in the Indian state of Punjab) founded by the fourth guru, Ram
Das (guru 1574-81). The fifth guru, Arjun (guru 1581-1606), gave
Sikhism its holy book, the Granth Sahib, which contains
hymns of Sikh gurus as well as those of Hindu and Muslim saints
such as Kabir.
Sikhs are readily identifiable by their turbans. They take a vow
not to cut their hair as well as not to smoke or drink alcoholic
beverages. When Gobind Singh founded (1699) the martial fraternity
Khalsa ("pure"), his followers vowed to keep the five
K's: to wear long hair (kesh), a comb in the hair (kangha), a
steel bracelet on the right wrist (kara), soldier's shorts (kachha),
and a sword (kirpan). The tradition persists to the present day.
Some of India's Sikhs favor the establishment of a separate Sikh
nation (Kalistan). In the early 1980s Akali Dal, a Sikh nationalist
party, provoked a confrontation with the Indian government by
demanding greater autonomy for Punjab. Unassuaged by the election
of a Sikh, Zail Singh, to the largely ceremonial office of president
of India in 1982, the militants continued to stage violent demonstrations.
As fighting between Sikhs and Hindus became widespread in Punjab,
the central government took direct control of the state in 1983.
By April 1984, 50,000 troops occupied Punjab and the neighboring
state of Haryana. In June 1984, Indian troops attacked the Golden
Temple, where the militants had established their headquarters.
This angered many Sikhs and was believed to have led to the assassination
of Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi by Sikh members of her
bodyguard later that year.
Shintoism
Shinto is the indigenous religious tradition of Japan. Unlike
some religions, Shinto has no historical founder; its roots lie
deep in the prehistoric religious practices of the Japanese people.
Nor does Shinto have any canon of sacred scriptures, although
important elements of its mythology and cosmology may be found
in ancient Japanese chronicles (the Kojiki and the Nihonshoki),
and ritual prayers called norito were compiled into written collections
at an early date.
The name Shinto is actually the Sino-Japanese reading for the
more purely Japanese kami no michi, which means
the "way of the kami." The kami are innumerable
Japanese deities that may be thought of as full-fledged gods (such
as the sun-goddess Amaterasu, from whom the imperial family is
said to descend); the divinized souls of great persons (warriors,
leaders, poets, scholars); the ancestral divinities of clans (uji);
the spirits of specific places, often of natural beauty (woods,
trees, springs, rocks, mountains); or, more abstractly, the forces
of nature (fertility, growth, production).
Kami are generally worshiped at shrines (jinja),
which are established in their honor and house the go-shintai
(sacred objects) in which the kami are said to reside. Worshipers
will pass under a sacred arch (torii), which helps demarcate
the sacred area of the shrine. They will then purify themselves
by washing their hands and rinsing their mouths, approach the
shrine itself, make an offering, call on the deity, and utter
a silent prayer. Special times for worship include important moments
in the life cycle of individuals (birth, youth, marriage, and,
more recently, school entrance examinations) and festival dates
(matsuris) that reflect the rhythm of the year: the New
Year, the advent of spring, rice planting, midsummer, harvesting,
and so on. In addition, each shrine will usually have its own
special matsuri particular to its own history or foundation.
On any of these occasions the shrine will be crowded with worshipers,
many of whom may wish to have their fortunes told or to receive
special blessings or purifications from the Shinto priests. Certain
shrines have also taken on national importance. The Grand Shrine
of Ise, for example, is sacred to Amaterasu. Because she is associated
with the imperial family, her shrine is a national center of pilgrimage-the
focal point for paying respect to the emperor and, through him,
to Japan.
With the establishment of Buddhism in Japan during the Nara and
Heian periods (AD 710-1185), Shinto quickly came under its influence
as well as that of Confucianism and Chinese culture as a whole.
On the one hand, it became more highly structured, following the
Buddhist lead. On the other hand, certain kami came to
be thought of as manifestations of particular Buddhas or bodhisattvas.
(Amaterasu, for example, was identified with the cosmic Buddha
Vairocana.) Thus the two religions both mixed and coexisted at
the same time.
During the Tokugawa period (1603-1868), the Buddhist sects became
tools of the feudal regime and neo-Confucianism served as the
guiding ideology. Shinto was overshadowed in the process. Gradually,
however, certain nationalist scholars, reacting against what they
considered foreign ideologies, turned more and more to Shinto
as the source of a uniquely Japanese identity.
With the Meiji Restoration in 1868-and the disestablishment of
both the Tokugawa regime and the Buddhism that had accompanied
it-Shinto naturally came to the fore. In the 1880s the government
guaranteed freedom of religion to practitioners of all faiths
but also drew a distinction between shrine Shinto (sometimes called
state Shinto) and sect Shinto. The former was a nominally secular
organization by means of which the state transformed shrines into
centers of a patriotic and nationalistic "cult" applicable
to followers of all faiths. In the 1930s shrine Shinto was used
by the ultranationalists and militarists as one of several vehicles
for their views. Sect Shinto, on the other hand, was a separate
category for various popular religious groups (a total of 13 Shinto
"denominations" were distinguished), which were thereby
separated from the state-sponsored shrines and had, like the Buddhist
sects and Christian denominations, to rely on private, nongovernmental
support. These sect Shinto groups were, in many instances, the
prototypes of various new religions that have emerged in Japan
during the 20th century, especially since World War II.
With the end of World War II and the American occupation of Japan,
the shrine Shinto system was dismantled and Shinto as a whole
was disassociated from the state. Following that period, however,
the shrines were revitalized and today remain one of the sacred
focuses of Shintoism
Judaism
Fundamental beliefs and basic history
Judaism traces itself back to Moses, who is regarded as the author
of the first five books of the Bible, where he laid down the law
of God to the nation. Salvation was a work of God, demonstrated
by the Exodus. Since God had the power to save the nation from
Egyptian bondage, so God had the power to save people from bondage
to sin. The law was given after salvation from Egypt, not accidentally;
it illustrates that salvation is a work of God, and that obeying
the law is a consequence of the work God has begun in the heart
- a loving response to his grace.
Unfortunately, as so often happens, the concept of the nature
of salvation quickly became perverted. Israel quickly fell into
allowing their beliefs to be dictated by their culture, and as
the surrounding culture was polytheistic, they quickly started
worshipping other gods in addition to Yahweh. The prophets warned
the people of God's displeasure, but repentance was never complete
until after Israel suffered the indignity of first Assyrian and
then Babylonian exile and captivity.
Afterward, Israel was never tempted to worship idols or other
gods; however, Judaism became increasingly legalistic in its orientation,
with salvation being tied to keeping the law, performing the sacrifices,
and doing what the priests ordered. The cart was placed before
the horse, as it was.
Three main sects developed in Judaism, the Pharisees, who believed
in the books of Moses and also the Writings and the Prophets and
who taught that external righteousness was the way to achieve
God's favor. The only difference that the Saducees, another sect
had with the Pharisees, what that the Saducees did not accept
any of the Bible but the five books of Moses. Consequently, they
also didn't believe in angels, demons, or the resurrection of
the dead (no afterlife at all, in fact). The Eseens were like
the Pharisees in most ways, except they viewed the nation as hopelessly
corrupt, and so they separated themselves and lived in the hills,
waiting for God to send a reformer like Moses who would eliminate
the corruption and restore a legalistically pure religion.
The zealots were entirely political in orientation, and argued
for the use of force to drive out the Romans. They contented themselves
with acts of terrorism until they eventually became the dominant
force in the nation and in AD 66 began a seven year struggle,
ultimately unsuccessful, to drive out the Romans.
The result of their activity was the destruction of the nation
and the burning and destruction of the temple, ending the possibility
of sacrifice.
As most of the Saducees had been priests, they mostly died when
the temple was destroyed. The zealots were also mostly dead at
the hands of the Romans, and the Esseens didn't involve themselves
with anyone. Also, being celibate, they didn't reproduce and finally
died out.
The only group left to reconstitute Judaism after the disastrous
Jewish War were the Pharisees, and so modern Judaism is essentially
the child of the Pharisees and bears scant resemblance to the
Judaism of the Old Testament.
Since the temple no longer exists, Judaism had tried to get around
this significant lack by arguing that God prefers acts of righteousness
and mercy better than sacrifice. The result is that Judaism emphasizes
doing good deeds in order to stay of God's good side and to ensure
a good afterlife. Salvation is a process of personal redemption
by bettering oneself and bettering mankind.
Books/Holy Writings
Judaism accepts as its most important text the five books of Moses called the Law or the Torah. In addition, the books of the prophets and the writings are also authoritative. Additional works of importance in Judaism are the Talmud (both the Babylonian and Palestinian), which is a compendium of commentary and teaching by the rabbis of the first few centuries AD through the Middle Ages. Other important religious writings include the Kabbalah, a compendium of mystical writings dating from the second century AD and later, though the most important Kabbalistic writers date between the 13th and 16th centuries AD.
Zoroastrianism
During the 7th and 6th centuries BC the ancient polytheistic religion
of the Iranians was reformed and given new dimensions by the prophet
Zoroaster (or Zarathusthra). Zoroaster's life dates have been
traditionally given as c.628-551 BC, but many scholars argue for
earlier dates. Linguistic evidence suggests that he was born in
northeastern Iran, but the prophet's message was to spread throughout
the Persian Empire. Adopted as the faith of the Persian kings,
Zoroastrianism became the official religion of the Achaemenid
empire and flourished under its successors, the Parthian and Sassanian
empires. Its theology and cosmology may have influenced the development
of Greek, later Jewish, Christian, and Muslim thought. The Muslim
conquest of the 7th century AD marked the beginning of a steady
decline of Zoroastrianism. Persecution resulted in the migration
(about the 10th century) of the majority of Zoroastrians to India,
where the Parsis of Bombay are their modern descendants.
The religion of ancient Iran was derived from that of the ancient
Indo-Europeans, or Aryans. The language of the earliest Zoroastrian
writings is close to that of the Indian Vedas, and much of the
mythology is recognizably the same. Two groups of gods were worshiped,
the ahuras and the daevas. The worship of the ahuras (lords) may
have reflected the practice of the pastoral upper classes, and
tradition holds that Zoroaster was born into a family that worshiped
only the ahuras. The message of the prophet, however, was that
Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord, was the sole creator and lord of the
world and that the worship of the daevas was the worship of evil.
In Zoroaster's theology the Amesha Spentas, or Bountiful Immortals,
were divine beings who acted essentially as agents of the power
of Ahura Mazda; they were traditionally seven in number: Bounteous
Spirit, Good Mind, Truth, Rightmindedness, Dominion, Health, and
Life. The first of these, Spenta Mainyu, is of special importance
in that he is paired with a "twin," Angra Mainyu, or
Hostile Spirit. When given a choice between good and evil, or
truth and the lie, Bounteous Spirit chose truth and Hostile Spirit
the lie. Creation becomes a battleground, with the demoted ahuras
invoked for the doing of good and the daevas enlisted by Angra
Mainyu in the doing of evil. Nevertheless, Ahura Mazda has decreed
that truth will triumph, and the old world will be destroyed by
fire and a new creation instituted.
In the period following Zoroaster, for which little evidence remains,
Zoroastrianism consolidated its position and spread throughout
Iran. The rise of the southern Persians and Medes seems to have
been accompanied by the reinstatement of many of the ahuras, although
Ahura Mazda is still recognized as supreme god. Among the most
important figures to revive at this time were Mithra, usually
associated with the sun, and Anahita, associated with the waters
and fertility. Ahura Mazda (who becomes Ormazd) becomes identified
with Spenta Mainyu, and Angra Mainyu (Ahriman) remains his antagonist.
Ahura Mazda has relinquished some of his absolute supremacy and
appears to need the assistance of the lesser ahuras, particularly
Mithra, who appears as mediator and protector of the created world.
This dualist view eventually became the orthodox position. Its
development may have owed much to the Magi, a hereditary priestly
caste, although their role is unclear. From them, however, the
Greco-Roman world learned much of what it knew of the religion.
An important reform movement, however, arose within Zoroastrianism-the
movement around Zurvan. The Zurvanites posited a supreme god,
Zurvan (Infinite Time), who had sacrificed for 1,000 years in
order to gain offspring. At the end of that time he experienced
momentary doubt, and from that doubt arose Ahriman; at the same
time, Ormazd came into being because of the efficacy of the sacrifices.
At the end of 3,000 years Ahriman crossed the void that separated
them and attacked Ormazd. The two made a pact to limit the struggle,
and Ahriman fell back into the abyss, where he lay for 3,000 years.
During that period Ormazd created the material and spiritual world;
in retaliation, Ahriman called into being six demons and an opposing
material world. In the next 3,000-year period Ahriman attempted
to corrupt the creation of Ormazd; he was successful but was trapped
in the world of light. The final period of 3,000 years was ushered
in by the birth of Zoroaster, who revealed this struggle to man;
the prophet is to be followed by three saviors, appearing at intervals
of 1,000 years. At the appearance of the last, a day of judgment
will occur, the drink of immortality will be offered to those
who have fought against Ahriman, and a new creation will be established.
The sacred literature of Zoroastrianism is found in the Avesta,
which was compiled sometime during the Sassanian period (AD 224-640)
from much earlier materials. Only a portion of the Avesta remains,
but the language of its earliest sections is extremely ancient,
closely related to that of the Indian Vedas. These sections, the
Gathas, are thought to be by Zoroaster himself. They are hymns
and form the primary part of the Yasna, the central liturgy of
the religion. Also contained in the Avesta are the Yashts, hymns
to a number of the ahuras, and later in date than the Gathas.
Finally comes the Videvdat, which is concerned with purity and
ritual. A large body of commentary exists in Pahlavi, dating from
the 9th century AD, which contains quotations from earlier material
no longer extant.
The rituals of Zoroastrianism revolve around devotion to the good
and the battle against the forces of evil. Fire plays a major
role, being seen as the manifestation of the truth of Ahura Mazda,
as preached by Zoroaster. Also important is the ritual drink,
haoma, which is related to the Vedic soma.
Islam
Fundamental beliefs and basic history
The term "Islam" means "submission".
Becoming a Moslem is simplicity itself; one much merely affirm
that, "There is no God but God and Mohammed is his prophet."
The word Allah is merely the Arabic word for God. It is not a
name.
Moslems are expected to read and study the Koran, to give alms
to the poor, pray five times a day (24 hours) facing Mecca, to
fast during the month of Ramadan, and, at least once if they can,
make a pilgrimage to Mecca. Islam has no clergy. Circumcision
is practiced, and they are forbidden to drink alcohol, eat pig
flesh, eat blood, or eat meat that has been sacrificed to idols,
or that has been killed by a blow, fall, strangulation, or by
another animal.
The head of civil and religious law is the Caliph. His vice-regent
in religion is the Grand Mufti or Sheikh ul Islam, under whom
are the gild of Ulema or experts.
God is gracious and kind in Islamic teaching, and essentially
one is required to do the best one can, but if you don't, that'll
be okay.
Islam permits a man to have up to four wives, and as many concubines
as he can handle. One achieves heaven or paradise by being a good
Moslem and doing the best you can to keep the commandments of
the Koran.
The Koran explicitly denies and condemns several beliefs of Christianity,
for instance, that Jesus is God and that he died on a Cross. The Koran is somewhat schizophrenic
in both condemning Jews and Christians and encouraging their elimination,
and commending them as "the people of the book."
Historically, this is the consequence of Mohammed's hot and cold
relations with Jews and Christians. As both groups rejected his
message, he came to hate them and went to war against them. This,
despite the fact that he gained his concept of God and most of
his theology from second and third hand accounts of what Christians
and Jews believed. The Koran retells, often rather oddly, many
of the same stories that are in the Bible. They are retold as
Mohammed heard them or remembered them.
It should be kept in mind, too, that Mohammed was illiterate,
and so he dictated the Koran rather than writing it out himself.
Books/Holy Writings
The Koran (also spelled Quran) serves as the basis for all Islamic doctrine and teaching. It is made up of a series of chapters which claim to be discourses by God to Mohammed.
Sects
Two main sects exist in Islam: Shiite and Suni.
At the death of Mohammed, Abu-Bekr was elected Caliph without
dissent. Omar, his successor, likewise had the vote of all the
faithful. But Othman's misrule, succeeding, ended in his assassination,
and finally Ali, a son-in-law and favorite of the dead prophet
was chosen. The Ommiads, however, opposed this election, especially
as Ali's followers claimed that only the Prophet's family had
the right to the caliphate. This dispute soon caused a permanent
split among Moslems into Shiites and Sunnites. A third party,
the Kharijites, claimed that any man, of any degree, might be
called to leadership; in fact, that there was no absolute need
for any imam. further division occurred among the Shiites after
765 AD; two brothers, Musa and Ismail al Kasim, each claimed their
father's spiritual inheritance.
The Ismailis played an important part in Islamic history, dating
from the leadership of Abd Allah, a reformer of keen and vigorous
mind, who aimed to rationalize Islam, keeping the more advanced
philosophic tenets for the "strong-minded," mysticism
for the fanatics, and miracles for the ignorant. His sect soon
grew to be a power that, especially under the Karmathian form,
threatened the very existence of the Caliph's dominions. After
extensive conquests during the ninth century, the Karmathians
were subdued toward the end of the tenth.
The Assassins, another offshoot of the Ismailians, rose to power
through a secret organization in Persia and for two centuries
defied the strongest Muslim armies sent against them. The Mongol
invasion(1255) reduced them. In the Syrian mountains two other
sects appeared, the Nosairians, who recognized the claim of Musa
instead of Ali; and the Druses, derived from the Mahdi, founder
of the Fatimite dynasty (909). Under the influence of Greek philosophy
a further rationalistic sect, the Mutazilites, arose in Persia,
and this in turn divided into many branches according to differing
concepts of the nature of God, free-will, etc. The 12th and 13th
centuries witnessed the rise of the mystical fanatics, the various
orders of Dervishes - howling, whirling, dancing, and so on.
Babism and Bahaism were the last Shiite religious movements. The
first-named was founded by Mirza Ali Mohammed, who was shot in
1850; the latter was founded by Husain Ali Nuri, a follower. Bahaism
again has ended in schisms. In the middle of the 18th century
the powerful Wahhabis, a reform sect, conquered Mecca and Medina,
and were finally defeated by Egyptian troops. However, the strong
Wahhabi State of Nejd was established in central Arabia, with
Riyadh as its capital. Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud succeeded in conquering
all of Arabia and created the current Wahhabiite kingdom of Saudi
Arabia.
Black Islam
Black Muslims is a widely used name for the adherents of an American
black nationalist religious movement whose self-designation changed
in 1976 from "The Lost-Found Nation of Islam" to "The
World Community of Islam in the West." The movement traces
its beginnings to the enigmatic figure of Wallace D. Fard (Wali
Farad), known as "Prophet Fard," "The Great Mahdi"
or "The Savior," who attracted 8,000 followers in the
short period between his appearance in Detroit in 1930 and his
disappearance in June 1934.
The movement, with its present headquarters in Chicago, gained
ground significantly under Fard's successor, Elijah Muhammad,
who exercised strong leadership until his death in 1975. He saw
himself as the "prophet and apostle of Allah," claiming
that God had appeared in the figure of Fard. Preaching an anti-integrationist
message, Elijah Muhammad frequently voiced warnings about "the
human beast . . . the people or race known as the white."
He called "every Black Man in America to be reunited with
his own" and urged a sense of black self-reliance and separation
from the white society, even economically. One of the best-known
Black Muslim ministers during this period was Malcolm X, converted
while he was in prison in 1947, who broke with the movement in
March 1964 and was assassinated 11 months later.
A radically different phase began under Elijah Muhammad's son
and successor, Warith Deen (or Wallace D.) Muhammad. He called
for a new sense of patriotism, urging blacks to "identify
with the land and flag." Advocating the "religious unification
of the world's Muslims," W. D. Muhammad abandoned unorthodox
notions and expressions that had presented obstacles for many
other Muslims' recognition of this movement as being authentically
Islamic. In May 1985 he announced the dissolution of the American
Muslim Mission to unify its members with the worldwide Muslim
community.
A splinter group led by Louis Farrakhan, however, retains the
earlier separatist principles and the name "Nation of Islam."
During the 1984 presidential campaign Farrakhan's racial comments
stirred controversy. In subsequent years, he has repeated anti-Semitic
remarks at large rallies, as have his subordinates in the movement.
Bahai
Baha'i is a religious movement founded in the 19th century by
the Persian Bahaullah. It claims members in practically every
country of the world. Objecting to polygamy, slavery of any kind,
religious prejudices, and politicized religion, Baha'is call for
world peace and harmony. The ideals of a world federalist government
and a new world language are also a part of their teachings. Recognition
of the common ground of all religions is seen as fostering this
move toward global unity; Krishna, Buddha, Moses, Zarathustra,
Jesus, and Muhammad are all recognized as divine manifestations,
a series of prophets culminating in Bahaullah. Nonresistance,
respect for persons, and legal recognition of the equal rights
of both sexes constitute additional aspects of Baha'i teaching.
By the time of Bahaullah's death in 1892, the Baha'i faith had
won adherents throughout the Middle East. Under his son Abbas
Effendi (or Abdul Baha, 1844-1921), who succeeded him as the movement's
leader, it spread to Europe and the United States. Abbas Effendi
was succeeded by his grandson, Shoghi Effendi (1897-1957). Since
Shoghi Effendi's death, the Baha'is have been governed by elected
leaders. Divided into more than 130 national assemblies and more
than 26,000 local assemblies, they are estimated to number about
2 million worldwide. Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic
of Iran in 1979, the discrimination to which Baha'is have always
been subjected in the country of their origin has escalated into
outright persecution.
Christianity
Fundamental beliefs and basic history
Christianity affirms that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh; yet,
since the Bible proclaims that there is but one God, but in the
same breath affirms that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
are each God, the doctrine of the Trinity was developed to reconcile
this apparent contradiction. The biblical analogy to explain the
nature of a single, triune deity is that of a family, inherent
in the names of the three members of the godhead, and reflected
in the femininity of the Holy Spirit, especially in the Old Testament.
Christianity also affirms that Jesus came to Earth for the express
purpose of dying for the sins of humanity, solving what would
otherwise be an insoluble problem. Christianity teaches that Jesus
was born of a virgin - essentially, to put it in modern terms,
Mary was a surrogate mother. The reason that he had to be born
of a virgin is because sin is a genetically inherited trait; we
are born this way. Therefore, for Jesus to escape the taint of
original sin, he could not be descended from Adam.
Christianity affirms that Jesus was crucified by the Roman authorities
and died, was buried in a rich man's tomb, and that three days
later, Jesus rose from the grave. He preached to his disciples
for another forty days, and then ascended back to the Father in
Heaven, promising to return some day "in the same manner
as you saw him leave."
The disciples of Christ, being average Jews of the first century,
were not looking for a new religion; instead, their interest was
in the coming of the promised Messiah, who would be king and would
liberate the nation from the hated Roman oppressors. Even following
the resurrection, his disciples kept pressing him, "are you
now going to establish the kingdom?" That is, are you now
going to get rid of these horrid Romans.
After Jesus' ascension back to heaven, the Holy Spirit was sent
to the followers of Christ. This altered, or corrected their thinking
so that they finally fully understood that Jesus' purpose was
not to liberate them from political bondage, but rather to liberate
them from spiritual bondage.
Christianity remained a sect of Judaism, and was tolerated by
the Roman government as such, until the Jewish War when the Jewish
people attempted by use of force, to liberate themselves from
Rome. Christians refused to participate in this action, and as
a consequence were kicked out of Judaism.
With the rising numbers of non-Jews converting to Christianity,
its Jewish nature has become increasingly obscured.
Books/Holy Writings
The holy writings of Christianity consist of the Law, the Prophets
and the Writings of Judaism, which Christians call "The Old
Testament"; they are a collection of writings produced by
Jewish people between about 1400 BC and 500 BC. In addition to
these ancient writings, Christians accept as their scripture what
they call "The New Testament" which is a group of writings
written mostly by Jewish people between 45 and 100 AD (the only
parts of the New Testament not written by Jews are the Gospel
of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, also written by Luke, which
records the early history of the Church up to about 60 AD, just
before the persecution under the Roman Emperor Nero)
Catholicism accepts, in addition to the above writings, several
other books that Protestantism classifies as Apocryphal or deutero-canonical.
They are religious writings of Jewish origin produced between
about 400 BC and AD 100 which were not accepted by the Jews as
scripture. Catholicism accepts them now as scripture principally
as a reaction to the Protestant rejection of the books; until
the 1600's they had been studied and used by the Catholic church,
but had not been explicitly labeled as scripture. The Protestant
rejection forced the issue.
Sects
The three major branches of Christianity, which can then be further subdivided, are:
Orthodoxy
Orthodoxy (Greek, Russian, Coptic, etc.) are those churches in the Eastern half of the Roman Empire which did not accept the Bishop of Rome as the head of the visible church. Like Catholicism, salvation is a matter started by Christ that the believer contributes to by his or her actions. Tradition is equally authoritative with the Bible, and no believer is free to interpret the Bible for himself; interpretation must be in line with the received traditions. The split between the Catholic church and the Orthodox churches came AD 1054.
Catholicism
Catholicism claims an unbroken line from Peter, as the first Pope (Bishop of Rome, in charge of the visible Church of Christ) to the present. Salvation is considered to be the product of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross combined with certain good works and sacraments; therefore, a person contributes to their salvation by going to church, taking communion, and following the commands of the church. In Catholic theology, the words of the Pope, church councils and tradition are placed on the same authoritative level as the Bible, and the Bible is to be understood as it has been interpreted in the past. In fact, the laity is dependent upon the priests as their intermediaries to God, and as the explainers of the meaning of Scripture.
Protestantism
The result of Martin Luther's protest to the sale of indulgences was a split in the western church in the early 1500's AD. The pillars of the reformation are three:
1. Salvation by grace through faith, not by works.
2. Only Scripture is authoritative.
3. Priesthood of all believers.
The concept of Priesthood of the believer, where each individual Christian may for him or herself interpret the Bible and decide what to believe opened the floodgates for freedom; it also, not surprisingly, resulted in an increasing fragmentation within Protestantism over questions of doctrine. Divisions within Protestantism for the most part are over the following questions:
1. Church organization. There are three basic ways churches have organized themselves:
a. Authoritarian - church/denomination run by a single individual.
b. Presbyterian - church/denomination run by a group of elders
elected by the churches of the denomination.
c. Congregational - each church is autonomous and is run according
to democratic principles, with the individual members voting for
what they want. Denomination is run by the individual churches
cooperating voluntarily.
2. Baptism
a. to baptize or not to baptize infants
b. is baptism a necessary part of salvation?
c. mode of baptism: by immersion only, or is pouring and sprinkling
also valid methods?
3. Communion
a. The bread and wine become the literal body and blood of Jesus.
b. The body and blood of Jesus are mystically present in the bread
and wine.
c. The bread and wine are merely symbolic representations to remind
the believer of Christ's sacrifice.
Other divisions in protestantism are largely the result of national
divisions; for instance, the reason for different Lutheran denominations
in the US is the consequence of them having been founded by German
or Norwegian immigrants. Consequently, in the twentieth century
we have witnessed the unification of some of these Lutheran denominations
since all of them speak English now, rather than different languages.
Some of the divisions have been of relatively recent origin, the
result of the so-called Modernist/Fundamentalist controversy over
the nature of Scripture: is it an inerrant product of God, or
is it of purely human origin and therefore, obviously, flawed.
Several new Baptist denominations came out of the American Baptist
Convention (formerly Northern Baptist Convention) over this issue.
The Baptists first split in the United states in 1845 over the
issue of slavery. While the Northern Baptist Convention has since
been renamed and has further fragmented, the Southern Baptist
Convention retained its name and has yet to fragment, though in
the 1980's it went through the same controversy.
Another division within Christianity since the early 1920's has
been the so-called Charasmatic movement, which has emphasized
personal spiritual experience and personal revelations, and "gifts
of the Spirit", especially the speaking in tongues: glossilalia.
Within the last twenty years or so some of the fastest growing
denominations and churches have been those which are explicitly
charasmatic.
Traditionally, the issue that has separated Baptists from other
denominations has been baptism by dunking people, and their insistence
on separation of Church and state; only in recent years have some
Baptists started to drift from this firm belief that churches
have no business involving themselves in politics or vice versa.
Under Protestantism may be included the non-orthodox, marginal
sects which arose in the United States in the 19th century, such
as Jehovah's Witnesses, who deny the Trinity, see salvation as
the result of works, and believe that Jesus is a created being,
not God, and reject the notion of Hell. Mormonism also rejects
the Trinity, sees salvation as the result of works, rejects the
notion of Hell, and is explicitly polytheistic. They believe that
God was once a man, and that someday each individual will rise
to the same status and be put in charge of his own world. Extremely
patriarchal, they believe that the purpose of women in eternity
is to give birth to an endless supply of "spirit babies,"
to populate the worlds each man will control. Also, in the middle
of the 1800's, the Millerites became a popular movement, which
believed in the soon coming of Jesus Christ and set a date in
1847. When Jesus failed to materialize, the movement transformed
itself and became what today is known as Seventh-Day Adventism.
Seventh Day Adventists today are essentially orthodox, except
for their insistance on conducting church services on the "sabbath"
- i.e., Saturday - a strong legalistic streak, and a tendency
toward vegitarianism; the writings of White are also a very strong
influence on the group.
Cults
Cults are non standard versions of world religions: some cults
become world religions, i.e. Budhism, a reform movement of Hinduism,
Christianity, an outgrowth from Judaism. What transforms a cult
from cult status to world religion status? Principally: how big
it gets and how clearly differentiated it becomes from its parent
religion.
There is no definition of cult that is universally accepted by
sociologists and psychologists of religion. The term cult is popularly
applied to groups characterized by some kind of faddish devotion
to a person or practice that is significantly separate or distinguishing
from the cultural mainstream. For example, certain kinds of activities
may take on cultlike ritualistic characteristics (recent widespread
interest in intense physical exercise has been termed the physical
fitness cult). Movie stars, entertainers, and other public figures
sometimes generate passionate bands of followers that are called
cults (the Elvis Presley cult, to cite one). Groups that form
around a set of esoteric beliefs - not necessarily religious -
may also be termed cults (for example, flying saucer cults). When
applied to religious groups, cult retains much of this popular
usage but takes on more specific meaning, especially when contrasted
with other kinds of religious organizations.
The most commonly used classification of religious organizations
is as churches or sects. Although there have been numerous modifications
of the original distinction, the following points are generally
retained.
Church refers to a religious organization claiming a monopoly
on knowledge of the sacred, having a highly structured or formalized
dogma and hierarchy, but also being flexible about membership
requirements as the organization attempts to minister to the secular
society of which it is a part.
Sects, on the other hand, are protests against church attempts
to accommodate to secular society. A sect views itself as a defender
of doctrinal purity, protesting what it interprets as ecclesiastical
laxity and excesses. As protectors of the true faith, sects tend
to withdraw from the mainstream of worldly activities, to stress
strict behavior codes, and to demand proof of commitment.
Cults have some of the same characteristics as sects. In fact,
some scholars prefer not to make a distinction. There are, however,
some noteworthy differences. Cults do not, at least initially,
view themselves as rebelling against established churches. Actually,
the practices of cults are often considered to enrich the life
of the parent church of which they may be a part. Cults do not
ordinarily stress doctrinal issues or theological argument and
refinement as much as they emphasize the individual's experience
of a more personal and intense relationship with the divine. Most
of these groups are ephemeral, seldom lasting beyond a single
generation; they are transient and suffer from a fluctuating membership.
Mysticism is frequently a strong element in cult groups. Religious
orders such as the Franciscans began as cults built around the
presence of a charismatic leader who emphasized a life-style dedicated
to attaining high levels of spirituality. Mormonism began as a
cult, became a sect, and eventually evolved into a church. All
the great world religions followed this same pattern of development
as they accumulated members and formalized hierarchy and dogma.
Contemporary Cults
Cults are as old as recorded history, but contemporary interest
in cults became amplified during the late 1960s and early 1970s
as numbers of educated middle-class youths abandoned traditional
religions and embraced beliefs and practices that were either
culturally unprecedented (Eastern religions) or seemed to be throwbacks
to an earlier era (Fundamentalist Christianity). During this period,
young people were increasingly found living in various types of
religious communes and engaging in unconventional behavior, such
as speaking in tongues (glossolalia), faith healing, meditating
(often under the tutelage of a spiritual leader or guru), and
following leaders that conventional society tended to look upon
with suspicion and distaste. Interest in cults turned to a combination
of fascination and revulsion upon the mass suicide of the Jones
cult in November 1978, and national attention was focused in a
similar manner years later in Waco, Texas, when federal agents
engaged in a shoot-out late in February 1993 with sect leader
David Koresh. Even more recently, members of the group Heven's Gate gained notoriety from their mass suicide, which they saw as a means by which they could hook a ride on the passing comet, Hale-Bopp.
Modern cults come in a bewildering variety of ideologies, practices,
and forms of leadership. They range from those adhering to a sort
of biblical Christianity to those seeking satori (sudden
enlightenment) via the pursuits of Zen Buddhism. Some cults have
a flexible, functional leadership, such as many groups in the
Charismatic Movement emanating from the mainline Christian religions,
and others have mentors who control and orchestrate cult events,
such as the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, leader of the Unification
church. Some Hindu gurus, such as Bhagwan Shree Rajineesh of the
Rajineeshee sect have been believed by their followers to be living
embodiments of God.
The common denominator of all the modern cults is an emphasis
on community and on direct experience of the divine. In a cult,
participants often find a level of social support and acceptance
that rivals what may be found in a nuclear family. Cult activity,
which is often esoteric and defined as direct contact with the
divine, generates a sense of belonging to something profound and
of being a somebody. The modern cult may be viewed as a cultural
island that gives adherents an identity and a sense of meaning
in a world that has somehow failed to provide them these things.
Several factors have been suggested as contributing to the quests
of modern youths for meaning and identity via cults. Each of these
factors relates to a disenchantment with, or loss of meaning of,
traditional ways of viewing reality. A list of these contributing
elements would include the following: the turmoil of the 1960s,
including the unpopular Vietnam War, the assassinations of several
popular national leaders, and growing evidence of top-level political
incompetence and corruption; continued widespread drug use among
youths, which tends to disrupt family relations and fosters the
formation of drug subcultures stressing esoteric experience; the
rapid expansion of technological innovations such as computers,
and social organizations, such as bureaucracies, that tend to
erode the individual's sense of being in control of his or her
own destiny; the apparent failure of traditional religions to
solve problems of war, hunger, and alienation; the growth of humanistic
education that tends to discredit traditional ways of believing
and behaving; the threat of ecological and nuclear disaster; and
finally, affluence, which provides the means to pursue alternative
life-styles.
Cults are challenges to conventional society. As such, they engender
intense questions concerning their possible impact. The modern
cults have clearly raised anew the legal issue of how far a society
is willing to go to guarantee religious freedom. Some of the cults
have been accused of brainwashing members and thereby violating
the 1st Amendment to the Constitution. Court cases involving young
people who were forcefully removed from cults by parents are still
being decided. Future court decisions could significantly modify
traditional protection of religious diversity in the United States.
Some cults, Hare Krishna being one, have established a legal defense
and public education organization to fight for their rights to
exist and practice what they believe.
Other impacts are less clear. This wave of cults could crumble
into the dust of history as so many others have. Conversely, this
age could also be one of those historical junctures that produces
an enduring change in theories of human nature and in the structure
of social organizations. If so, the new cults provide some idea
of the nature of that change. Almost all of them represent an
emotional and personal approach to religious experience; they
emphasize continued adaptation in a changing world; they stress
the attainment of individual power and excellence via the pursuit
of cult practices; and they often stress the necessity of harmony
between humankind and other aspects of nature. As such, contemporary
cults reinforce many traditional American values, such as independence,
achievement, self-mastery, and conservation or ecology, that have
lost ground in the face of affluence and self-seeking. Just as
the Protestant Ethic supported early capitalism, the general ethic
of the cults may be the stabilizing element in future society.
If so, cult members may well be the leaders of that new age. Clearly,
however, a historical verdict must be awaited.
The Christian's Attitude Toward Other Religions
Paul's approach in Athens serves as a good example for the Christian to follow as he or she considers other religions. In Acts 17 the following is recorded:
The men who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left
with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as
possible.
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed
to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the
synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as
in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.
A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with
him. Some of them asked, "What is this babbler trying to
say?" Others remarked, "He seems to be advocating foreign
gods." They said this because Paul was preaching the good
news about Jesus and the resurrection. Then they took him and
brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to
him, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are
presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and
we want to know what they mean." (All the Athenians and the
foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but
talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men
of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For
as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship,
I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.
Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim
to you.
"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord
of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.
And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything,
because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything
else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should
inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them
and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that
men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him,
though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live
and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said,
'We are his offspring.'
"Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think
that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone-an image
made by man's design and skill. In the past God overlooked such
ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice
by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all
men by raising him from the dead."
When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them
sneered, but others said, "We want to hear you again on this
subject." At that, Paul left the Council. A few men became
followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member
of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of
others.
After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
It is instructive to note that although their idol worship disturbed
him, when Paul talked to them he did not condemn them; rather,
he found a point of agreement and moved from that point to a presentation
of the Gospel without condemning them or overtly criticizing their
religious beliefs. Why? Because he knew that once a person accepted
Christ, the Holy Spirit would enter them and that such a transformation,
such an encounter with the living God, would take care of their
paganism once and for all.