Faith Assembly Of StCloud

Dalip Singh Wasan asked:


                     Religion.

       

      There are so many religions in this world and now we are establishing so many new sub religions and this process is going on.  This world and its people have divided themselves into religions and sub religions and now they have got separate religious books, separate religious places, separate way of living, separate attires, separate system of meeting each other, separate system of marriages and separate laws on divorce and maintenance of children and spouses.  All the religions have got their own system of worship and prayers.  Every child gets the religion in which he is born and very rarely people could change religion. 

               Actually the people of this world have been divided and now there seems no chance that they may unite and become one.  All efforts made till date to unite the religions and become one have failed.  We all are declaring that God is one, but still there are different religions and all the people have faith in their own religion and they do not believe that their prayer shall be accepted if they follow the methods prescribed in another religion.. 

               Religions had been playing good roles, but now they are dividing the people and they are becoming enemy of each other.  Some groups are turning terrorists and some are taking revenge through riots and therefore, in all parts in history of this man, the people in different religions had been fighting amongst each other and they had been killing innocent people and therefore, some roles of religions had not been good and even today, we are of the view that the next world war, if at all  is shall be there, it shall be fought amongst different religions and one religion shall be trying to write off the other religion.

              Time has come when somebody must come forward and unite all the religions and turn into one religion so that all these divisions of mankind could be abolished and if these divisions continue, one day this man shall destroy the man and all developments made update.  We all should pray before God and request Him to send a man of will who could unite all the people and turn them one.

seshya urpfr.org asked:


not Divide and Separate the peoples in the name of Religion because we have many religions but all the religions refer to the only one God.

Example: For the earthly life, the water is the most important one. We cannot live without water.

The water – The water is the English language.

The Paani - The Paani is the Hindi language.

The Pani – The Pani is the Sourashtra language.

The Thanni – The Thanni is the Tamil language.

The Aqua – The Aqua is the Spanish language.

The Wasser – The Wasser is the German language.

FINAL RESULT:

If the languages are different the name also differs but the absolute meaning will be the same as the water. Similarly we have many religions but all the religions refer to the only one God.

What kind of reform or present action we need in the religion?

Due to the misunderstanding in the religion so far we (the earth people) had shed so many bloods as an ocean till date. The beasts don’t have religion but the human being has the religion for his own civilization purpose. Otherwise we will become again as a beast by what? If it is true and we accept the truth of truth is

a. The religion exists only if the human being exists.

b. The religion is not a device but it is a practical procedures.

c. If a person admitted or enrolled in a medical college means at the moment he is a medical college student, after completing the course successfully he will come out with the degree of the doctor. The degree is certified by the university but after doing service to the people he is recognized by the people or by the society as doctor. This formula is same to the engineers also. Similarly if a man enters to a religion first he is the student of the religion. Now a day we are recognizing a religious man by his religious name but not by his religious perfect practice. If he practices the religious practice thoroughly and completely then only he belongs to that particular religion. The religious people must recognize the man as the religious man. This is just like the religious degree. After getting the religious degree he must come out and do service to the people as doctors and engineers. So service to the people is the religion purpose, the real spiritual purpose. We may know many religions or may follow one religion but the aim is service to the people. Here service means service to all the people not the particular religious people because the god, the Almighty is Omni potent and Omni present everywhere, every human beings, every creatures not in particular human beings or in particular creatures or in particular religion. If you realise the above facts you think yourself why still there is religious fight and blood shedding?



FINAL MANTRA:

God, Religion is to up lift all the beings.

God, Religion is to up lift all spiritual beings’ thoughts.

God, Religion is not to up lift any government body.

God, Religion is not to up lift any Political Individual.  

God, Religion is to up lift the universal real peace and freedom only.

MESSAGE:

We have many religions but all the religions refer to only one God, The God for spiritual purpose and not for political purpose. God and Religion loves peace not war, then why you love war In the name of God and religion? WAR means simply against THE GOD and Religion.

You please do not use God and Religion name for money making and political purposes, use only for SPIRITUAL PURPOSE. Then there is no social crisis, no social fight and war. Only Universal real Peace and Freedom exists in ALL HEARTS

You may REALISE THIS AT ONCE, OR YOU MAY TAKE YOUR OWN TIME.

CONVERSION BY COMPULSION IS UNKNOWN TO ME; I AM THE LEAST OF LEASTS OF ALL CREATURES IN THE UNIVERSE.





- By SESHYA URPFR.ORG

Rick McBride asked:


A sundance brother recently asked my views on the differences between religion and spirituality for possible inclusion in his doctoral thesis. An interesting question, I thought, as the common assumption is that religion is spiritual, that the two terms are interchangeable, even synonymous. To question that is to ask if religions actually lack a true spiritual foundation. This is not only a large topic, but borderline heretical in some circles. To do it justice requires an exhaustive study of the teachings and actions of literally every known religion and every nonreligious, but spiritual practice, including an extensive lexicon, all of which are well beyond the scope of this article and capacity of its author. But so what, let’s consider these two phenomena anyway through the device of some admittedly homemade definitions, loaded with limitation and opinion.

As I see it, all religions throughout time and throughout the world, are human-made constructs that attempt to define some higher power, both temperamentally and attributively, in what are essentially self-serving terms. From this, a hierarchy usually evolves, what we call a “clergy” in this country; professional social engineers. Another common characteristic of corporate religion is to impose itself at large, and sometimes violently as witnessed in the Inquisitions prosecuted by the Catholic Church spanning some 600 years, to the recent exploits of the Talibahn in Afghanistan, to a number of Christian churches gleefully acting as Indian reservation agencies in the late 1800s US. The inconsistencies here of preaching love while advancing war or trampling other cultures under foot are not at all limited to these religions, either. The Pews of History are filled with heroic tales of religious wars, religion-promulgated, influenced, or condoned imperialism to the lesser sins of religious chauvinism, to innumerable ethical scandals.

I think it’s fair to say that virtually all religions have exceeded the bounds of their legitimate purpose, whatever they might claim it to be. How many nations associate themselves with a particular brand of religion, even today? More than we might realize. Some overtly in their constitutions; England and the Church of England, Israel as a Jewish State, and Iran as an Islamic State. Others putting considerable effort into becoming constitutionally mandated; the USA, where religion and state are supposedly separate, yet there has been a steady and aggressive calling to baptize the nation into Born Again status, even before it was born the first time. And it has had an effect: Witness the litmus test of every candidate having to proclaim some form of Christianity to be acceptable leadership material, and what about national holidays founded in Christian mythology; Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter?

In 1993 I interviewed Deepak Chopra for publication. Now, whenever I spoke with the more interesting personalities, there was usually an agenda or two imbedded in the interview. Chopra’s interview was no exception. And so, I asked him if he thought religions had helped or hindered the growth of human consciousness. I honestly had no idea if he would even take on the question, or cut me off short. You decide.



“R

 



C:

 

I think all religions in all times have been the bastardization and corruption of spirituality. When spirituality becomes corrupt, it becomes religion because religion as we have experienced it throughout the course of history, and this is true of Hinduism and Buddhism and all kinds of current religions, have been bastardized into dogma, ideology, and belief systems. And as long as the religion has a belief system, and all religions have one, all without exception, then they hinder man’s evolution. So I think religion is toxic to society, all religions. And that includes the Eastern religions. The Eastern religions, before they became religions, they were spiritual devices or you might say spiritual styles of living with an exact science and methodology to find the truth about one’s own nature. But when they became institutionalized, they became a set of rules and regulations and beliefs and ideas and dogmas and ideologies and there is no religion that I know of, whether it is from Judeochristianity or it is from the East, that has not propagated war and destruction and murder and killing. We have this popular myth in society that Hinduism is a nonviolent religion. Well, the Hindus are burning the Buddhists in Sri Lanka and the Buddhists are doing the same in southern India, so, you know, religion is a very dangerous force, as far as I’m concerned. ” 1…As a very general statement, do you think that modern religions, especially in the United States because that’s what we’re most familiar with, are hindering the evolution of consciousness or are they growing with it and helping to facilitate it?

You have no idea how stoked I was when he stepped up to the plate and gave the answer I hoped he would. Not only did he speak directly to the ubiquitous negative effects of religion, he gives us one of the most eloquent informal definitions of spirituality I’ve heard; “…they were spiritual devices or you might say spiritual styles of living with an exact science and methodology to find the truth about one’s own nature…” To fully appreciate his words, we need spend a little time on the term “spiritual.”

 

In the Medicine Wheel workshop, we define a few terms, two of which are Soul and Spirit. I offer them here for your consideration only. Whether you agree or not is up to you, it is none of my business. But I offer these in an effort to shed light from a different direction:

 

“Soul & Spirit: I recognize we all have our own ideas of what Soul and Spirit mean. I offer the following definitions of them for the purposes of this class. Thinking of them in this way may help you connect with the Wheel on a deeper level.



Soul



Spirit

Soul is the “Being.” Spirit is the “Actions of the Being.” We know the Soul by what the Spirit does. Spirit is Soul in action, expressing in the physical through us. Spirit is the relational link between Soul and all others. Since Soul is part of the Great Mystery, and all Souls are, of all that is, animate and otherwise, all souls are one. Spirit, then, is the Great Mystery experiencing itself through infinite avenues of expression.

Soul is the Center of our being, it is the Cause of us, that which catalyzes life into existence and action, outside the physical Void, outside of space-time. The Skan.

There is no separation between the spiritual and the material, though mainstream society and its various religions would have us think so (heaven in the sky, spirit only accessible in the afterlife, God looking down upon us “from a distance,” that sort of thing.) Without the spiritual, the material would not function as we know it. Do not confuse “spirit” with “religion.” They are in no way interchangeable.” 2

 

(as a verb): That through which the Soul relates to all others, and to the various environments it operates in; the physical body of the individual, the physical environment of the Earth, the environment of concepts, ideas, intention, and thought, the emotional environment, the environment of All Our Relations. The Lakota call it the Taku Skan Skan (dakoo shkah shkah), that which is behind everything that moves. The Spirit is the actor that connects everything to the Soul. It is the energy through which the Soul touches, reaches out to, and communicates with all other life.(as a noun): Who and what we are throughout time and outside of time, from the beginning of time and before. The Void, or Cause of all that we are; in the physical and energetically, the invisible. Part of the Great Mystery.

We need also to broaden our discussion of “spirit” to include its use when referring to nonphysical beings, or the intelligent, self-aware energies we call “the Spirits.” One popular perception of Indigenous ceremonial practice is its reputation for working directly with these Spirits, in real time and real contact. This idea fairly rankles most professional clergy when you get right down to the truth of it, except for certain strains of Evangelical Christianity, a relatively recent phenomenon, and one I’m not so sure was not inspired by or heavily influenced by Indigenous practices. In my lifetime I have heard from more than one pulpit on how the Spirits, what many call Angels, told about in the Good Book no longer talked to humankind, that was then, this is now, they have spoken, end of story. Makes it tough when sincere religious people start having direct contact with the Spirits.

Corporate religions actually deny direct contact from the Spirits, especially by the unclean, denigrating those who claim such experience, the intimidation so aggressive from the pulpit most of the flock will close down to the possibility, thereby taking themselves out of the processional long before the first note is even played. For instance, the whole idea of the “personal relationship with Jesus” actually serves to block out any kind of personal relationship with any Spirit not Jesus, as Jesus is the only approved Spirit, but held in such high esteem that we can never expect that he would actually be present at our next prayer meeting in such a way as to physically reveal himself as do the charlatan spirits of pagans.

Some of you may have heard me say or read it on the website, that the Red Road is not a religion, that in general, traditional Indigenous spiritual practices are not a religion (ancient Aztecs, Mixtecs, Inca, Toltecs, et al excluded). Granted, there has been a great erosion of these ways. Consider the hyper-aggressive imposition of Christianity in the Western Hemisphere, Australia, and New Zealand for instance. When you hear an informed person use the word “religion” when discussing the Red Road, it will be more in the nature of an accommodation to those in the mainstream who are unaware of the differences. In our June newsletter (Ceremony) we touched on some of the differences between ceremony and ritual, the most notable being that religion is primarily ritualistic while the Lifeways of Indigenes are more ceremonial in nature. Further, you’ll recall one of the differences between ritual and ceremony is that ritual tends toward rigid and is usually the exclusive domain of professional clergy. Ceremony is flexible and seeks to include everyone present in its execution.

From this, we see it becomes a question of power. In religion, all power is vested in the Church, Temple, or Synagogue etc., usually what is termed religious (Church) Law, and carried out, or franchised, through its various orders or sects, and their clergy. Spirituality, whether Indigenous, New Age, neo-Pagan, or unaffiliated, tends toward acknowledging Creator is in every literal “thing,” be it animated or not, and that we as two-leggeds are directly connected to all Life, not separate from it, neither above nor below it. Where religions perceive their assorted deities generally in anthropomorphic images, they are also set apart in some fictitious place, such as heaven, which is significant as it underscores the erroneous idea of separation. Indigenous spirituality and ceremonial practice tends toward the mundane, its dominant purpose being to support life right here, right now and with immediate benefits. Unlike most major world religions, there is no Great Payoff that can only be received in the afterlife. And where this idea of perpetual forgiveness doled out by the Church for the same repetitive sins actually breeds irresponsibility (”Hey, I can do this…all I gotta do is ask to be forgiven…again…”), the Lifeways of Indigenes may be a little more difficult in that they require one take responsibility for his or her actions now. In other words, there is no Heaven or Hell at the end of this road, we just keep moving ahead.

As you can see, this is indeed a very large subject. We’ve not even gotten into the geographic foundations of religion or spirituality, of how language impacts whether a culture develops religious institutions or remains centered in a living spirituality (the implication here that religions are spiritually void is intentional), nor have we discussed how exporting religions changes them, of how they shift out of geographic relevance and into a historical archive when that happens, of how merging a religion into government fully compromises any spiritual efficacy it might have once claimed, of how religions are damaged when they involve themselves in economic exploitation, or bind themselves to or even instigate the blind religio-nationalism we see in so many countries today, including the US. In the coming months and years, we may consider these.

1: © Rick McBride, Connexions Magazine, 1993

2: © Rick McBride, Teaching of the Medicine Wheel, 2007

This article © Rick McBride, 2008

be well, Rick

Emeka Esogbue asked:


The African Traditional Religion is a religion practiced on the African continent. It is the indigenous religion of Africans with its own distinct features and character of the people who practice it just as Islam has the character of the Arabs, Judaism of the Jews, and Hindus of the Indians. Like other religions, it is difficult to tell when this religion originated but we know it is as old as the Africans.

The African Traditional Religion is not totally different from other religions even though it came under sever the criticisms of the early Europeans who came to Africa to propagate Christianity. This religion was handed down to Africans in oral form exactly the same way other religions emanated and is a way of life of the Africans. This may become reflective in the day to day attitude of the African. Thus the tenets and ideas of this religion exist largely in oral forms and are still very much understood by the Africans themselves who practice the religion.

Another interesting feature of this religion is that it has no sacred book which has caused some critics to readily misleadingly conclude that it is not a revealed religion or religion of the book. Some have also labeled the religion, a religion of backward people. The African traditional religion has no imposing and magnificent buildings such as those of the churches, mosques, temple, pagodas where worshippers could troop in and out to worship. This development has portrayed the religion in bad light in the eyes of the early Europeans that came to the continent.

African Traditional Religion can best be understood through oral and non-oral devices. These oral devices are still living with Africans today and are expressed mostly in proverbs, names, songs and others. The non-oral devices consist of artifacts mostly recovered from archeological excavations and some present day art works. Contrary to the beliefs of the early European visitors to the continent, Africans hold the idea that an Almighty God exists, creator of Heaven and Earth.

“Chukwudi” (There is God) is a popular name in Ibo land, South-East of Nigeria best justifies this idea. It is therefore incontrovertible that even before the coming of the Europeans Africans had clear the knowledge of the existence of God. God therefore did not come to the African continent with the Europeans. The Europeans only came with their own version of God. And the African Traditional Religion supports this fact even indisputably.

In fact what these early visitors to Africa did was to attempt to destroy the continued existence of the religion together with its values by labeling it an evil religion from the dark continent, full of savages, a religion which highly glorifies the Devil implicitly suggesting that nothing good can come out of an evil place such as Africa the land of all sorts evils and vices. Interestingly, some Africans bought this idea hook, line and sinker. Africans had always known that a true Supreme God existed.

The Europeans and other visitors to the continent did this in order to achieve their full aim of propagating religions hitherto strange to the people of the continent.

Incidentally, to a very large extent, they succeeded because of the geographical condition of the continent which rendered the understanding of the continent almost impossible, multiplicity of cultures and ethnic –nationalities in the continent also contributed to this development. It was this diverseness in the cultures of Africans that led to generalization.

However, we know today that all religions are exactly the same in terms of beliefs and ideas. All religions hold the existence of a being(s) supreme to man and the African Traditional Religion cannot be an exception

Andrew clinton asked:


Terrorism in the name of religion, riots in god’s name, killing innocents for not worshipping a particular god, hatred or dislike for people of a particular religion, looking at worshippers of a certain god with suspicion….unfortunately such is the reality of today’s world.

Religion is a personal choice which is supposed to bring peace of mind and guide you to your life’s purpose. Loving god should encourage you to love everything he/she has created…yet why is there so much destruction and violence in the name of religion? Perhaps it’s because we focus on our differences more than our similarities. We look for ways to **** others because they are different from us. We use religion to create “Us” and “Them”.  Religion is something that can actually unite all humanity; it’s only a matter of how we choose to view it.

Religions are like books with different covers, names and supposedly different philosophies, but if you read between the lines, you’ll observe that every religion promotes and encourages the same basic virtues. Let’s examine the similarities one by one:

*Reap as you sow- Every religion believes in this concept, though the names given to it may differ. While some call it sin, it’s known as Karma or the threefold principle in others. Whatever you call it, the basic principle remains the same; if you do or think of something that harms or hurts others, you will pay a price! Every religion in its own way encourages goodness. What constitutes goodness may be different, but again if you read between the lines and remove the layers of corrupt human interpretation you will realize that peace, kindness and love define goodness in its purest form.

* The Concept of soul- All religions believe that the soul is indestructible, though there may be different beliefs about what happens to the soul after death. Yet to all, the soul exists as a fundamental universal religious concept. If you believe in the soul you know it can’t be destroyed, then why attempt to destroy human lives, when you know you have no power over the soul? Why even try to destroy something that’s indestructible! Isn’t that acting against the will of any religion’s god?

* The purpose of life- Reaching god or becoming one with him is considered the purpose of life. Every religion may prescribe a different path to attain that goal, but the goal is essentially the same; reaching your creator, whether in heaven or by attaining salvation by becoming like him, free of the cycle of life and death.

Human interpretation has corrupted almost every religion; it has given us a reason to **** each other. We are told we are different because our religion insists that ours is the only god. Does that mean people who don’t follow our religion are not god’s children?  How is that possible? We are all humans, we all have two eyes, two legs, two hands, and one nose…our skin colors may differ but our blood is all the same color! You wouldn’t **** your sibling if he called your father “papa” instead “dad”? Would you? Then why **** humans if they address their god by a different name? You wouldn’t **** your siblings if their philosophy of life was different from yours? Then why **** people who follow different religions?

There may be a lot of differences in the way we live and the philosophies we follow. We might also believe that we are headed towards different goals, after all Islam’s heaven is not the same as Christianity’s heaven which is different from a Hindu’s heaven, which is again unlike the Buddhist heaven, or Jewish heaven…yet if you ask yourself what heaven is, all religions believe it is a place of infinite bliss that only those of pure souls reach and hatred is the antithesis of purity.

There’s no denying that there are a lot of differences in the philosophies of religions, but if we learn to focus on our similarities instead of our differences, we’ll learn how to love and accept each other as fellow humans; children of god, even if they address him or her by different names!

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Andrew Sandon asked:


What Is Religion?

Religion has existed for thousand years, but still there is no concise and even accurate definition of religion, which would reflect the nature of this phenomenon. Every person has his own understanding of religion interpreting things in a peculiar way. In the world, there are dozens contemporary religions exist, and there were dozens of “dead” religions which disappeared. Nevertheless, it does not diminish their role in general formation process.

Taking into account the nature of religion, it is possible to say that religion is a strict, unwritten code of essential rules (including morals and traditions) established by humans in order to control social life of the society.

Unity of meaning is the main source that allows the construction and experience of religion. As a collective sentiment, religion needs to be upheld and reaffirmed at regular intervals. The concept of religion is not a static one evolving during centuries. Egyptian religion or religion of Ancient Greece do not disappear, they transformed and matured, and became the core for newly developed religions such as Christianity or Catholicism. On the other hand, it is important to underline the fat that understanding of religion is also transformed as a person matured. In childhood, we believe subconsciously in superficial power of some thing beyond our understanding, in adolescence period, we deny everything being unable to join scientific knowledge about the world and unscientific knowledge on which religion is based. When we mature, we understand the limits of our science and, as the most important (if we are not skeptics), develop and coin personal interpretation and understanding of religion. This point of view can be supported by numerous example from every day life. For instance, if you ask truly Christians about the meaning of religion, all of them interpret it differently. It does not mean that they are “poor” believers, but it means that life experience and personal values have a direct impact on our understanding of religion.

I suppose that my definition of religion is a subjective one, because all people are influenced greatly by socialization processes and accident of birth. Also, people who have communicated with their god are not merely people who see new truths of which the unbeliever is ignorant; they are individuals who are stronger, feel more powerful in enduring the trials of existence, or in conquering them. I suppose that my interpretation reflects bias, because knowledge of the religion is discovered through an understanding of the whole congeries of social and communal bonds which determine character, and this in turn depends on an appreciation religious life. Nevertheless, I do not bias against any religion seeing it as a part of the process.

Seeing religion as “an identity presupposed by the unity” does not limit religion to what it has in the past allowing to apply this definition to the present. It is possible to say that the essence of religion has not been changed. Pagan religion or Hinduism share the same core structure, but expressed through different rituals. Ritual plays a crucial role here. In essence, there is little difference between different religions in their object, the results which they produce, or the processes employed to attain these results. The power of ritual dominates in religion.

I suppose that my definition of religion has a sufficient precision, because I try to be as much objective as possible. I do not account on any religion, but interpreted religion as a universal process based on “humans beliefs in abnormal phenomenon”.

To answer the question “What is religion?”, I can say that religion is a set of abstract rules for anonymous agents to live by, but consists of distributive practices, sanctioned by a tradition of behaviour, within which identifiable agents can achieve some kind of unity with a social whole that exists apart from their choices. This is a universal approach which helps to understand religion as a process free from prejudices and bias.

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