Inter Religious Dialogue

Stephen Prothero’s “God Is Not One” is a survey of world religions, comprising vital information on a vast array of different sets of belief. As someone who has never studied religion before, nor belongs to a particular faith, the variability within these religions is staggering. One might be satisfied to define religion as “how a person goes about believing in God,” but soon finds that even that definition has its holes. Thankfully, “God Is Not One” does an amazing job of cluing its reader into the nuances that are sometimes forgotten about the religions it approaches.

　　There are many books on religion that try to break down each with enough facts to get the reader to understand. Though books are filled fact after fact and at times, slight biases, they sometimes forget to include values and reasons why people follow them. Because of this, students can miss out on a chance to get a deeper understanding of religion and the people that follow it. Huston Smith’s The World's Religion, Revised & Updated is that book that can broaden students’ viewpoint of all religions.

Although religions today take on many shapes and forms, and may seem so dramatically different from each other, in order to study and understand these religions, their similarities must be identified. This paper will first present a definition of religion that will connect to all religions at the simplest base. Then this paper will examine the common practices and experiences that are present in both the primary religions of the world, as well as the indigenous religions. Finally, this paper will discuss the issues that are critical to the academic study of religions.

Religion is a universal term that is widely used for a human’s belief system. The views on how religions compare to one another can be defined differently. One view explains religions using a united belief system by their common goals. Another view explains that different religions are just a shared essence and have vast differences between their specific traditions and customs. This shared essence, but vastly different theory, is explained by Stephen Prothero, using the term “pretend pluralism”. There are many major and minor religions that have guided people in their morals and beliefs. Religions, such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. All five of these current, major religions have vast differences, but may have common goals in their morals, traditions, etc. Two of the most practiced religions, of these five, are Christianity and Islam. These two religions are constantly at battle with one another, but what many people don’t see is that there are just as many similarities between these two religions as there are differences. Through this paper we will discover the underlying similarities and differences between these two religions and, hopefully, conclude that supports either the common goal theory or the “pretend pluralism” theory.

Daily communications and interactions at school, work or other places can expand Canadians’ knowledge about religions and also it would stretch their relationship borders internationally with other people who are from diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds. Meanwhile, Canadians can enjoy the benefits of pleasant learning about different religions from their friends as well as make comparisons conveniently between advantages or disadvantages of each religion and discuss them with their friends. For example, if someone has a false belief about a particular subject in others` religion or even does not understand some part of a religion, s/he can ask their friends in order to clarify the

This will be based on the chapter 4 Religion as "Truth-Claims", posted on Blackboard. First of all, Dianne L. Oliver makes a preface about her writings saying that religions claim to get the truth, and followers of diverse religions say that their truth is the only one true, and cannot be compare with any other. Also, she remarks that many of those religion followers use violence to uphold their own version of truth. Moreover, she let us know that she is going to consider the "True-Claims" of different religions, and show how those claims can influence the practices, behaviors, and ideas of religion followers. Next to the introduction, she considers that religion is very essential for understanding the fundamental questions in our daily lives.

Using proven facts and methodologies, the author supports her argument that various faiths can coexist outside of a singular perspective. Ward acknowledges every faith has defining guidelines followers must embrace, but maintains the

Throughout his book, Tillich references faith as an ultimate concern to emphasize the importance of faith in the personality of individuals. Furthermore, Tillich believes faith is a vital part of human nature and that even the rejection of faith is, in itself, an act of faith. This displays Tillich’s understanding that faith will never disappear from society because it is a piece of the puzzle in what makes up humanity (Tillich).

The introduction to The Religion Toolkit: A Complete Guide to Religious Studies by John Morreall and Tamara Sonn establishes the basic purposes behind studying religion. It tries to show its readers that religion may be a much broader and undefined topic than they might be expecting. The Religion Toolkit discusses how the academic study of religion differs from the normative study of religion, how religion is not clearly described, and how Religious Studies compares and contrasts religions against each other.

Interreligious Dialogue comes from different perspectives on gender, religions, and race. When people are present, people demonstrate how their perspectives could be understood from different gender, religions, and race. One thing that religion lacks is the perspective of women in dialogue. In “Women and Interreligious Dialogue” by Cornille and Maxey, series of case studies and essays were presented about women from different religions bring something distinctive to the dialogue. Women from different religions do bring some distinctive to the dialogue because the case studies and essay have proven an improvement of a diverse dialogue within women. Even though women do bring a distinctive to the dialogue, there are still some flaws.

Religion is a fundamental element of human society. It is what binds a country, society or group of individuals together. However, in some instances it destroys unity amoungst these. Religion is a belief in a superhuman entity(s) which control(s) the universe. Every religion has its differences but most strive for a just life and the right morals. The three major groups are the primal regions which consist of African, Aboriginal and Native American religions, Asian which consist of South Eastern Asian religions and Abrahamic religions which consist of Middle Eastern religions. The foci of this essay are the differences between the Abrahamic religion, Christianity, and the Asian region Buddhism as well as making reference to the Islamic

Religion plays a huge role in today’s day and age. In fact, religion has been of huge importance since cavemen were, well, cavemen. Religion is the factor that keeps many people going in life but at the same time, the same reason our world has so many problems and has been torn apart. Through studying the main tenets in call, Judaism, Christianity and Islam were analyzed for weeks. Christianity and Islam take the cake for the two biggest religions in today’s population however, Judaism plays the smallest role. These three religions, although different, are easily able to be compared and contrasted because of all of the history and information we have attained towards these separate beliefs. I think it is crucial that these religions be studied by people all around the world so that we can be understanding towards other religions, not just our own. Through religious beliefs, things we can learn through teachings and comparing and contrasting we can learn more about Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

Subsequently, these images of the divine run the risk of becoming immanent, barren idols meant ‘just’ to give the community the means to self-identify. This way any genuine connection with God is lost, and at the same time any chance of seeing the whole of creation as in communion with him is blocked. In this respect, not only the concept of monotheism justifies the existance of multiple true religions, but it makes it a desirable condition. Paraphrasing Shanks, one could say that the advantage of there being more than one genuine religion is that this makes easier to grasp the presence of God through each of their own symbols. Thus, to take part in interreligious dialogue brings forth enrichment in multiple fashions, and contribute to the health of the traditions involved.

On this vast planet religions are becoming more prevalent and are being studied more frequently in recent times. Many individuals want to study and learn about the origins of some religions, on where they were developed and what was the cause of this glorification of a divine. The art of religion is processed by many ideologies, background, beliefs, myths, and rituals. The five major religions of the world include: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism are solely based on these ideologies, and ultimately leads to one goal, to follow the path of god, or to seek a euphoric state of salvation. In spite of all the differences among the world’s five major religions, they have very similar ethical constructs, which should encourage more mutual respect among them.

What is faith? Faith is something different to everyone. If you asked a hundred different people, it is possible that you would get many diverse answers. Religious faith and non-religious faith are two very distinct terms. Faith holds an extremely complex meaning when discussing it in the context of religion. Faith is a belief. That holds true to every religious and non-religious person. Every faith involves a decision. It is not about what we claim to believe, but what we actually do believe, that is true faith. Throughout this paper, I am going to discuss Christian faith, how it pertains to daily life and Christianity as a whole. I also intend to delve into George W. Forell's discussion of Christian faith and analyze and