My parents have always taught me a healthy respect of other religions. While we have always been LDS, we've never not been someone's friend due to their religious beliefs.
One time, in 5 grade, I was at recess swinging on the swings with a friend when she said, "My dad said I can't be your friend anymore because you're Mormon." I remember saying, "Well, do you like me? Let's still be friends and not tell your dad." to which she agreed, though we didn't play as much as we used to. I remember feeling a little hurt by it, but I was still too young to understand. In later years, I realized how messed up it was.
I have Pagan, Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, every form of Christianity, Wiccan, Atheist, Agnostic...I could go on and on. I've felt that if you're a good person, it doesn't matter your beliefs. My parents even lived in the Middle East for a time, so I have a deep respect for the Islamic Faith.
A few years ago, when finishing my degree, I took a World Religion class to fill up some electives. I was enthralled. I learned a couple of truths, every religion has truth and kindness in it and more often than not, the things we see are man's version of the words of God, they have been twisted around for a person's benefit.
So, I wanted to shed some light on a few religions that have a lot of misunderstandings. Like every religion, the nuts and the fringe proclaimers of one religion steal the spotlight from true followers.
Islam. This is what cracks me up the most, fearmongers claim Islam is not a good religion, that Allah is a vengeful, horrible God....guess what?! They believe in the God of Abraham. They believe in Christ...their book (The Q'uran) was written by the Prophet Muhammad. In the Q'uran, Muhammad gave women the right to vote, to own land, he stopped infanticide (As a culture, they would kill baby girls to make way for a son)...he did this over 500 years before the US was even thought of! While there are some passages about "killing infidels those are ALWAYS taken out of context. In the Bible, there are passages that are similar. True believers and followers of Islam think it's horrible what the extremists are doing "In the name of God."
Buddhism: The 8 Fold Path is a beautiful one, very peaceful, very respectful. Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Effort, Right Concentration, Right Mindfulness. The story of the Buddha and The Bodhi Tree is very similar to that of Christ in the wilderness for 40 days fasting and being tempted by Satan. In the Buddhist story, it when Mara, the Lord of Desire tempted him.
Taoism: The Yin and Yang symbol, everyone's seen it. The basics are "There are opposing forces, and life will result when they unite.
Paganism: "Dirt loving hippies" is a common term used. They are very in touch with nature with, the spirit of nature, they see beauty and gods/goddesses in all. This year we are studying Lorenzo Snow in Relief Society, a few weeks ago, there was a quote with him saying "Our Mother Earth". There have been talks about the earth being a living spirit. We are the stewards of the earth. We have been commanded to take good care of our earth. Being in tune and loving nature, respecting it is a common goal we should both share.
Wiccan: While all wiccans are pagans, not all pagans are wiccans. Wiccan is a witch/warlock, plain and simple. The misunderstanding is the different "colors" of wiccans. People assume all wiccans are into evil. Yes, there are dark wiccans. They are not nice people...but, the wiccan's main statement is basically "What you do unto others, you will receive back 3 fold." So, it's a very karmic circle, most wiccans are very peaceful ones. The rituals or "spells" that involve weird looking things are normally protection spells, weather spells, etc...it is their form of prayer. Do we not pray for protection and rain?
I could go on for years about many others, but I wanted to focus on a few that have REALLY had a bad rap lately.
Hope you enjoyed, learned something new, learned that with any religion, there is beauty and idiots.
<3
Jessie
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