interesting stuff
http://www.religioustolerance.org

Interesting, yeah. For those of you that fit in this category: how do you believe that contradictory religions can all be valid and true?

This seems like a really interesting website, I will go through and read more when I get to work. I did get to read some of the hate mail they've gotten, and I think that's crazy.

Well, if nothing else, they do provide some information that can be used in comparing various religions.

Posted by katwoman Interesting, yeah. For those of you that fit in this category: how do you believe that contradictory religions can all be valid and true?

I know it's a bit late buuuut.
One thing that attracted me to Buddhism is the innate tolerance for other religions, the logic goes like this.
Most all religions are founded one the same ideal, boundless love. Each religion tries to reach that ideal in different ways. To A Buddhist achieving boundless love is the goal no matter what path you follow. It is even said that many Buddhas (the ultimate embodiment of boundless love for this purpose) exist but do not even know that they are Buddhas themselves.
Now many religions may think themselves the best path but no two people are the same! One person may love country music and hate rock while another may love rock and hate country. There is no clear winner, each person is different so the music affects them differently. Religion is the same, Buddhism fits me, Islam fits you, so be it.
In fact, it often said that it is becoming of a Buddhist to help someone of a different religion practice their religion the best they can.
In this way I am not Christian but I am versed in the bible and I've often quoted from it to help my Christian friends through tough times.

Peace & Love.

I have heard the phrase "It works for me" or "Whatever works for you" used quite a bit when referring to religion. I find this attitude disturbing because it implies that all religions are equally good.
Religion at it's heart is simply the search for truth much like science. And like science there are those who are right and those who are wrong. There are religions in the world today that promote hate, murder, slavery, and child sacrifice. These are all things which we know through innate morality are wrong. And just as there is a right and wrong in the clear differences, so is there a right and wrong in the not so clear differences. For example Christianity preaches that God is knowable on a friendship level, while Islam preach that God is aloof and not knowable as a friend. Either one is right or both are wrong.
I feel that it is very important to weigh the evidence to find out what beliefs withstand scrutiny and what beliefs don't.

Pardon the philosophy lesson. This is all just to say that it scares me a little when I hear phrases like that because it seems to reflect an amount of lazy mindedness, an unwillingness to think things through and settle with what feels comfortable.

Very well said, and I wholeheartedly agree.

Posted by Max-Heapify I have heard the phrase "It works for me" or "Whatever works for you" used quite a bit when referring to religion. I find this attitude disturbing because it implies that all religions are equally good.

Or rather, it implies, as per your understanding, that MY religion is correct, while yours is not. This is (moral) absolutism at it's worst.

ALL religions are bad, or at least faulty.

Religion at it's heart is simply the search for truth much like science.

Religion is a cultural phenomenon. It is culturally relative, which is to say that it is specific to particular cultures...Arab culture (to be reductive here...sorry) has a particular school of thought regarding it's relationship with Allah. Western Christianity is specific to Western culture...Eastern Christianity is specific to Eastern culture.

Religion is, in my view, a means of control

Faith...one's personal relationship with God, Karma, Buddha, Allah...whatever...is individual, though is totally informed and predicated by one's cultural invironment.

And like science there are those who are right and those who are wrong.

Again...reductive. You've reduced the totality to two binary oppositions. Good vs. evil. Black vs. white. It's NOT that simple. Stop listening to your idiot president: life is more complicated...issues are more complicated than what the very simple 'right vs. wrong' arguments allow.

There are religions in the world today that promote hate, murder, slavery, and child sacrifice.

And Western Christianity...mainly American Christianity (didja know that the United States of America is rapidly becoming a Right-wing Christian theocracy...not unlike Afganistan was a right-wing Islamic theocracy...think about that over your morning bible-study group, folks) is leading the pack in terms of preaching an immoral stance re: intolerance of diversity, both religious and political.

Either one is right or both are wrong.

Again...not so simple. Water is hot or it's cold? No...there are degrees of difference. Hot is relative to one's personal experience, just as 'knowing God' is relative to one's experience. Relativism is NOT, contrary to popular belief, a bad thing.

Um...about this 'tolerance' business...

Who wants to be tolerated when one can be accepted?

Posted by KublaKhan Um...about this 'tolerance' business... Who wants to be tolerated when one can be accepted?

The most intelligent statement yet

Posted by The Doctor The most intelligent statement yet

I blush. Really.

But seriously...it only seems obvious, doesn't it?