tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post1217531988080873836..comments2023-09-25T04:26:51.568-06:00Comments on The Barefoot Bum: Protestants are from Mars, Catholics are from VenusLarry Hamelinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08788697573946266404noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-46878103275418321142007-07-18T02:13:00.000-06:002007-07-18T02:13:00.000-06:00Surely, if people didn't believe that their faith ...Surely, if people didn't believe that their faith was the 'correct' one they wouldn't adhere to it?anticanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18135207107619114891noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-13156884744795551462007-07-17T13:14:00.000-06:002007-07-17T13:14:00.000-06:00I remain fairly superficially informed about the n...I remain fairly superficially informed about the nature of Hinduism, but many of India's modern-day problems tend to revolve upon sectarian conflict as much as caste or culturally-based disputes. Occasional persecutions of Sikhs and the persistent conflict between Hindus and Muslims come from the top of my head. I think Humbition conflates traditions of tolerance with claims to truth. After all, most tribal cultures, pagan or otherwise (and really, one person's faithful is another person's pagan, no?), perceived victory in battle as proof of their gods' superiority over the others. Perhaps "truth" is, as you said, overly ambiguous. But the larger sentiment, of adherence to the "correct" faith, I think remains.James F. Elliotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16747033407956667363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-77324107587665775402007-07-17T12:31:00.000-06:002007-07-17T12:31:00.000-06:00Humbition brings up a great point, but as much as ...Humbition brings up a great point, but as much as I would like to agree with it, there are some passages in the Bhagvad Gita that can be read to justify any act in the name of the strictest sort of monotheism. <BR/><BR/>Hinduism isn't considered monotheistic in any sense (a thousand and one gods, million and one names or forms) and the order in which those gods are worshiped changes depending on where you might grow up in India. It's a cultural and traditional difference, not religious. The same goes as far the "one truth" is concerned, I don't think there is anything strictly religious there either, unless you want there to be (i.e. reading the Gita selectively). <BR/><BR/>There is conflicting and wrong information in the ancient texts just like there is in the gospels. Most of it just isn't taught or touched on by priests because the Vedas are so much more voluminous than the gospels. <BR/><BR/>I've made one too many analogies that I don't like, but I wouldn't say Hinduism is above such inclusive or exclusive ecumenical discussions. It just depends on where you might have grown up in India, I'm sure.Devanghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08039407801743458960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-78013620729070280262007-07-17T09:56:00.000-06:002007-07-17T09:56:00.000-06:00It is historically inaccurate to say all religions...It is historically inaccurate to say all religions believe they "have" the truth.<BR/><BR/>Monotheistic "Abrahamic" religions claim this -- Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. <BR/><BR/>Buddhism claims to have verified its truths, as it were, experimentally. The indigenous Chinese religions make similar claims, as I see it.<BR/><BR/>The classic "pagan" religions such as those of classic Greece and Rome, Egypt, and Mesopotamia, and pre-modern Hinduism, were not exclusivist. They did not claim that the gods and goddesses of other traditions were false, though sometimes they assimilated different deities to each other (Venus to Aphrodite, Jupiter to Zeus). But their pantheons were infinitely expandable to assimilate the pantheons of other traditions, and they were noted for their toleration of other religions (except for atheism and monotheism, interestingly enough).<BR/><BR/>But the spectacle of religions consigning each other's sincere believers to Hell does not occur before the triumph of Christianity and Islam, and had no equivalent in premodern India or China.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-352888796755680392007-07-17T09:52:00.000-06:002007-07-17T09:52:00.000-06:00anticant,I always found it telling that Pope Bened...anticant,<BR/><BR/>I always found it telling that Pope Benedict XVI chose for his papal moniker a name closely associated with the Inquisition.James F. Elliotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16747033407956667363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-51614677212074027952007-07-17T08:42:00.000-06:002007-07-17T08:42:00.000-06:00Well said, James and Larry. Of course ALL religion...Well said, James and Larry. Of course ALL religions claim to have the truth. ["What is truth?" asked Pilate - and did not stay for an answer.] And the Pope has more historical pretensions behind him than most others for this sort of thing.<BR/><BR/>I've just been reading reviews of "The Reign of Fear", by Toby Green - a history of the Inquisition. He argues that the Inquisition was far more cruel and horrific than most people now realise, and that it had a socially blighting effect on Spain and Portugal, where it flourished for three centuries.<BR/><BR/>Maybe someone will send Green's book to Pope Benedict for bedtime reading. HIS review of it would be interesting.anticanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18135207107619114891noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-43595664871881305892007-07-16T12:30:00.000-06:002007-07-16T12:30:00.000-06:00The idea of religious ecumenicalism has always puz...The idea of religious ecumenicalism has always puzzled me; the notion seems as... counter-intuitive... as the idea that we could have many different theories of gravity, all of which say different things.<BR/><BR/>Of course, viewing religion as merely the embodiment of <I>authoritarianism</I>, the notion makes a little more sense: One can understand declaring fealty to a different lord and master, but the notion of true independence might well be anathema.<BR/><BR/><I>[A]theists who think that if they rid us of religion they will be ushering in an age of untold peace and intellectual prosperity are taking one too many hits off the peace pipe.</I><BR/><BR/>Very few atheists actually think this way, and most of them are <I>literally</I> smoking way too much dope. Most atheists, I think, have opinions more along your lines of one fewer reason to kill each other.<BR/><BR/><I>But at least she was civil about it, and kept it to herself.</I><BR/><BR/>Until you opened your big mouth! '-)Larry Hamelinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08788697573946266404noreply@blogger.com