Response To Eck's View On Tradition Of Religion

For many people, religion is a very touchy subject. For most, it is a personal decision; people choose a faith that aligns with their beliefs, ideas, and faiths. Although people would like to think that religion is a personal decision, and they can adapt it to how they feel and what they believe, in practice, that is not the case. Religion represents a commitment to a set of principles that are not moldable, adaptable, or flexible. Religion, although it may be a personal belief, it is extremely defined, with little to no room for flexibility. If people try to modify their religion to their own beliefs or ideas, the pushback can be severe. The lines in religion and faith as to what is acceptable and what is not acceptable are clear, and

These types of beliefs and strong traditions have been good examples for western civilization absorbing their rules and respect. This has been ideal to help restoring their family values.

How could Christians use these beliefs to further enhance their interactions with those who are adherents of Hinduism?

Scholars prefer to focus on religious traditions rather than just “religion” because religious traditions are “a tradition is an historical context or network of linguistic, personal, and cultural relationships” (Portier 19). Traditions can be limiting like the legal tradition in America where we carry it around because it shapes our ideas of what is right and what is wrong. Traditions can also be freeing like the civil rights movement which ended slavery and ended a limiting tradition. Traditions are used as a resource to answer the deeper questions about life. Also, scholars prefer to focus on religious traditions due to a problem associated with “religion”. The problem with “religion” is what does the term “religion” actually refer to?

Maybe the societal events have shaped our views on certain religions, but it does not mean that we need to belittle and destroy what keeps people together, what gives them a reason to be. In the Virginia Statue for Religious Freedom, Thomas Jefferson stated that

In Dennis Covington’s book Salvation on Sand Mountain and David Haberman’s Journey Through the Twelve Forests: An Encounter with Krishna, we get two very different experiences of researches stepping into a world of different religion and perspectives than their own. While both Haberman and Covington focus on a certain religion and the traditions of its followers, Haberman does a better job with presenting an accurate representation of Hinduism and the Braj pilgrimage. This is because Covington’s book delves too deeply into his personal journey and opinion without explaining any details or history of Christianity and the snake-handling, while Haberman gives the reader history of Hinduism and the significance of the Braj pilgrimage.

Religious beliefs of a community are the beliefs and building blocks of a cultural environment. They dictate the beliefs in supernatural power. When a new member is added or moves in a new community which of course is bounded with particular religious beliefs, they find it a challenge to adapting to the new Christian ideas. To be well off with the places, what kind of worship they offer, how they do their offerings which is of course entirely different with the one from the new member's culture, they have to be dedicated to getting involved in the religious functions entirely. The most significant challenge comes when the new member in the literature does not show interest in the new environments religious beliefs and might be discriminated as people may view them as unholy or spies to their way of life hence might be chased away.

Traditions are common part of culture and religion in the world today; almost everyone has a tradition that they follow. The traditions you practice can be new and only just have started with your generation or the generation before yours. The traditions could also have been old, spanning many generations before your generation and your parents’ generation. Some traditions could be small and last for a few generations; an example of this would be like a yearly family cookout. One would invite their families to their house or local park to have fun and eat. It could be something small

Traditions that are taught at a young age are more difficult to get rid of, especially if it has been internalized and accepted as the

Traditions doesn’t have to stay till the end, till how much you can follow you could follow but you need not to follow every single thing they did in the past. We have a lot of superstitious beliefs, traditions I believe in a couple that I think makes sense. Before they would say, if you husband dies, you must burn your body and die as well. Well, in my dictionary I would be like why should I ruin my life when I could do so many other things for my husband when he had to die or died cause of a reason. And now a day, this isn’t happening anymore because there is no point of killing yourself and going thru all the pain just because your husband got into a bomb blast, or a car accident or many others.

The laws that one society has may only support one type of religion as another may support a different one. When cultures intertwine and mix, varied feelings will be felt and unpleasant actions may be the outcome from them. Take the story of Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, for example. In the story, the Ibo people were living in harmony and went about their daily routines until the English men arrived and damaged everything. They brought a new religion, Christianity, which had completely different concepts than the one that the Ibo tribe had been following. Many converted and chose to join the world of the Christians while the others stayed loyal to their culture. “He went back to the church… He would return later to his mother and his brothers and sisters and convert them to the new faith” (Achebe152). Nwoye was allured to this new way of life showed to them, and as an outcome, he joined the English men. By the end of this story, the whole Ibo culture was obliterated and destroyed. Their way of life became but a memory in the history of the world. Culture cannot only change the views one has on religion, but it can also destroy that faith.

Religion has changed dramatically over the past few decades. Where years ago, it was limited to a few specific set of beliefs in which the majority of people conformed to and few people deviated. Nowadays, religion is immeasurable and varies depending on where you live. Despite all the changes, there are a few basic elements that every religion follows such as; a set of stories, sacredness, community, belief of a higher power, rules/ethics, offer hope and a way to connect with the divine. Although the building blocks are the same, each organizations, religious practices and beliefs are unique.

This is my relation and reflection on to of the text I have read.First I want to answer the question what could happen if we ignore the past?Also the question Why is important to know beliefs and traditions?So when you read this I will be answering all of those questions in my writing.

My interviewee Tony Khanna, a fellow co-worker, took me to his temple he goes to worship, on a Sunday evening. He took me to the Sri Meenakshi Devasthanam located in Pearland, Texas. The first thing I noticed upon arrival at the temple is the beautiful architectural building design outside. I was in amazement of how beautiful the temple was. I had not seen something so beautiful in quite awhile. The temple is visible from a quite a distance away and has two stunning white towers. When coming up to the temple from the parking lot Tony indicated to me that the temple was established in 1977 and was a replica of a famous temple in India. There was a huge white gate we had to walk through to get to the main temple. Once inside I was greeted by many Hindu's that were quite pleasant and talkative towards this outsider that I was. Before the visit one of my questions to Tony was if Hindu's welcomed outsiders within their temples. He indicated that Hindu's are very open and that I would be welcomed. I was quite surprised for this to be so true. With in the confines of the temple there were many different kinds of symbols that I was not quite familiar with. A couple that I noted was a Diya, Om, and Swastika. There were

During the course of this class, I have learned a lot about different religions. I still have an unprejudiced view of religion. However, I did not suspend my belief to have an understanding of religion. I have been able to learn of other religious beliefs without feeling threatened of my own. I found there are many different practices in other religions, some I agree with and some I do not agree with. I have come to except others, ways of worship without getting upset. I have become humble in my conclusion now that I have a better understanding of others beliefs. The world seems to jump to conclusions and be judgmental about other religions. Postponing ones judgement on a religion is a difficult thing to do. Being raised and taught a certain religion and set of beliefs is distilled in to one’s mind. I, on the other hand, reserved my personal judgement until I have learned more about it.