Bill M
2007-04-07 20:57:33 UTC
IS THERE ANY TRUE RELIGION?
How many religions are there in the world from which to locate the "true"
one?
According to David Barrett and team, there are 19 major world religious
groupings in the world which are subdivided into a total of about 10,000
distinct religions. Of the latter, there were 270 religions and
para-religions which had over a half million adherents in the year 2000 CE.
Even considering a single religion, Christianity, within a single country,
there are often thousands of individual "Christian confessions and
denominations." For example, Barrett et al. states that there are:
* 4,684 groups in the U.S.
* 3,364 in South Africa.
* 2,079 in Nigeria.
* 1,581 in Brazil.
* 1,327 in South-central Asia.
Among other English-speaking countries, there are:
* 828 groups in the UK.
* 469 in Canada.
* 267 in Australia
* 175 in New Zealand. 2
Differences in the beliefs and practices of various faith groups:
Probably the one area where religions differ the most is over the nature of
deity. Various groups teach Agnosticism, Animism, Atheism, Strong Atheism,
Deism, Duotheism, Henotheism, Monism, Monotheism, Panentheism, Pantheism,
Polytheism, the Trinity, and probably some others that we have missed.
Perhaps the next greatest range of beliefs are about the fate of people
after death: whether there is simple annihilation, some form of energy-less
existence as taught by the ancient Hebrews, Purgatory as taught by the Roman
Catholic Church, Heaven or Paradise as taught by many religions, Hell which
is also taught by many faiths, Limbo, reincarnation, transmigration of the
soul, nirvana, an alternative world much like Earth, and probably some other
places or states that we have missed.
There is also a great range of beliefs and practices among different
religions over other theological beliefs, ritual, organization, family
structure, personal sexual behavior, and other topics. For example,
differences exist on matters such as: abortion access, adult celibacy,
animal sacrifices. appearance factors (shaving, jewelry), birth control
usage, calendar, clergy celibacy, clergy gender, clergy organization,
meeting day, documentation, family power sharing, family types, gender of
deities, homosexual rights, meeting places, nature of deities, nature of
humanity, new year date, number of deities, origin of the universe, prayer,
pre-marital sex, role of women, sacred texts, suicide, surgical
modifications to the body, special clothing, symbols, etc.
To our knowledge, no two religions teach the same message or expect the same
practices from their followers. One would be hard pressed to find two faith
groups within the same religion which have identical teachings and
practices. If a "true religion" exists, then it would probably have to be
one or a few faith groups within one of the 10,000 religions. All of the
other religions and faith groups would be false.
What do faith groups teach about their own status?
Most religious groups teach that their own beliefs and practices are the
only true set, and that all other faith groups contain some degree of error
or are totally false. The Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox
Churches claim they are "churches in the proper sense." Dominus Iesus states
that religions
other than Christianity are considered to be "gravely deficient." Their
rituals can constitute "an obstacle to salvation" for their followers.
Other faith groups are either more inclusive or more exclusive than the
Roman Catholic Church regarding the "truth" status of other faith groups.
Which, then, is the true religion? Because religions are so different, only
one, if any, could be the "true religion." Perhaps none are.
Some methods of determining the "true" religion are:
Conduct an opinion poll: Unfortunately, beliefs differ around the
world:
In Saudi Arabia, the government claims that 100% of the population is
Muslim. So there is probably a very high probability that a given citizen
picked at random would firmly believe Islam is the true religion and that
theirs is the true faith group.
India is about 80% Hindu. There is a very high probability that any
given citizen believes that their tradition with Hinduism is the true
religion.
The U.S. is about 75% Christian. The population in the American
"Bible belt" is significantly higher than that. There is a very high
probability that any given citizen in South Carolina, for example, believes
that their denomination within Christianity is the true religion.
It is obvious that one's personal beliefs about the true religion is largely
a function of the country in which one happens to have been born, the area
of that country, and the beliefs of one's parent(s):
If Jerry Falwell had been born in Saudi Arabia of Muslim parents,
and obtained his religious education in that country, there is a near
certainty that he would be promoting Islam today.
If the late Sheikh Mohamed Mutwali al-Sharawilittle of Egypt, who was
called "The Arab world's best known television preacher of the Holy Qur'an,"
had been born and raised by Southern Baptists in Dallas, TX, that he would
almost certainly have promoted Christianity.
One's personal beliefs and the certainty with which one holds them is an
unreliable measure of truth, because they are largely determined by one's
culture and the faith of one's parents -- both largely accidents of birth.
So, an opinion poll might show what peoples beliefs are. But it would not be
helpful in locating the "true" faith group.
Pray to God and ask to be enlightened. The founder of the Mormon
movement, Joseph Smith, did precisely this. Mormons believe that God and
Jesus Christ appeared to him side by side, and told him that none of the
then existing Christian denominations were the true religion. He claims he
was
instructed to create a new denomination to restore Christianity to its first
century CE purity before it fell into heresy.
This method appears to be unreliable. When people pray to God for
enlightenment, most seem to conclude that their own religion and faith group
is the true one. If people could access the will of God on this matter, then
a vast majority of the world's population -- the folks who pray -- would
realize that their faith group was not the true one. They would gradually
migrate to the true religion. There would eventually be only one religion
and one tradition within that religion left standing. Otherwise, people
would be rejecting the will of God. All the other 10,000 religions and their
tens of thousands of denominations or traditions would be phased out.
The OCRT conducted a pilot study to determine whether a person can assess
the will of God through prayer. We used a controversial topic: whether God
favors same-sex marriage for homosexuals and some bisexuals. The answer that
we found was that people
appear to be unable to assess the will of God through prayer.
Communication from God: God could initiate a direct communication to
humanity. In order to be convincing, it would have to be totally
unambiguous, clear and convincing. One example might be for God to rearrange
a few thousand stars to spell out in the evening sky the name of the true
religion. Unfortunately, at least within the Judeo-Christian traditions, God
seems to be progressively withdrawing from humanity. He walked in person
with Adam and Eve. Later, he only appeared in rare occasions as at Mount
Sinai. Still later, he communicated with humans only through prophets. Most
Christians believe that Jesus Christ is God and walked among humans in first
century CE Palestine. However, he was seen by only a miniscule percentage of
the human race. Now, access to God is only claimed through prayer.
Unless God were to take the initiative, it appears that there is no way for
humans to determine which religion is "true."
There is often great wisdom in comic strips. In 1976, Charles Schultz had
Snoopy wrote a book on theology called: "Has it ever occurred to you that
you might be wrong?" In 1980, he had Linus ask his Sunday School teacher the
exact same question.
Imagine the results if more people in the world realized the simple fact
that there are over 10,000 religions in the world and that it is impossible
with our present knowledge to find out which is the "true" one. An
inevitable corollary to this belief would be that they would develop a
degree of doubt that their religion is the only "true" one. People might be
less inclined to oppress, discriminate against, murder or commit mass murder
and genocide against people of other faiths such as has happened during the
past decade in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Cyprus, Nigeria,
Sudan, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Sri Lanka, Philippines,
Indonesia, the U.S. etc.
Imagine the results if more people accepted their religion as the best faith
for them, but at the same time recognized that there are other religions
which teach about other deities, other systems of morality, other religious
practices, etc. And Accept the 'fact' that there is NO objective verifiable
evidence for the validity and 'true' nature of 'ANY' religion. They are all
based on pure 'faith' and 'hope'!
The 'foundation' of all religions is man's panic fear of death and what
comes after. They cannot consciously accept the finality of death!
How many religions are there in the world from which to locate the "true"
one?
According to David Barrett and team, there are 19 major world religious
groupings in the world which are subdivided into a total of about 10,000
distinct religions. Of the latter, there were 270 religions and
para-religions which had over a half million adherents in the year 2000 CE.
Even considering a single religion, Christianity, within a single country,
there are often thousands of individual "Christian confessions and
denominations." For example, Barrett et al. states that there are:
* 4,684 groups in the U.S.
* 3,364 in South Africa.
* 2,079 in Nigeria.
* 1,581 in Brazil.
* 1,327 in South-central Asia.
Among other English-speaking countries, there are:
* 828 groups in the UK.
* 469 in Canada.
* 267 in Australia
* 175 in New Zealand. 2
Differences in the beliefs and practices of various faith groups:
Probably the one area where religions differ the most is over the nature of
deity. Various groups teach Agnosticism, Animism, Atheism, Strong Atheism,
Deism, Duotheism, Henotheism, Monism, Monotheism, Panentheism, Pantheism,
Polytheism, the Trinity, and probably some others that we have missed.
Perhaps the next greatest range of beliefs are about the fate of people
after death: whether there is simple annihilation, some form of energy-less
existence as taught by the ancient Hebrews, Purgatory as taught by the Roman
Catholic Church, Heaven or Paradise as taught by many religions, Hell which
is also taught by many faiths, Limbo, reincarnation, transmigration of the
soul, nirvana, an alternative world much like Earth, and probably some other
places or states that we have missed.
There is also a great range of beliefs and practices among different
religions over other theological beliefs, ritual, organization, family
structure, personal sexual behavior, and other topics. For example,
differences exist on matters such as: abortion access, adult celibacy,
animal sacrifices. appearance factors (shaving, jewelry), birth control
usage, calendar, clergy celibacy, clergy gender, clergy organization,
meeting day, documentation, family power sharing, family types, gender of
deities, homosexual rights, meeting places, nature of deities, nature of
humanity, new year date, number of deities, origin of the universe, prayer,
pre-marital sex, role of women, sacred texts, suicide, surgical
modifications to the body, special clothing, symbols, etc.
To our knowledge, no two religions teach the same message or expect the same
practices from their followers. One would be hard pressed to find two faith
groups within the same religion which have identical teachings and
practices. If a "true religion" exists, then it would probably have to be
one or a few faith groups within one of the 10,000 religions. All of the
other religions and faith groups would be false.
What do faith groups teach about their own status?
Most religious groups teach that their own beliefs and practices are the
only true set, and that all other faith groups contain some degree of error
or are totally false. The Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox
Churches claim they are "churches in the proper sense." Dominus Iesus states
that religions
other than Christianity are considered to be "gravely deficient." Their
rituals can constitute "an obstacle to salvation" for their followers.
Other faith groups are either more inclusive or more exclusive than the
Roman Catholic Church regarding the "truth" status of other faith groups.
Which, then, is the true religion? Because religions are so different, only
one, if any, could be the "true religion." Perhaps none are.
Some methods of determining the "true" religion are:
Conduct an opinion poll: Unfortunately, beliefs differ around the
world:
In Saudi Arabia, the government claims that 100% of the population is
Muslim. So there is probably a very high probability that a given citizen
picked at random would firmly believe Islam is the true religion and that
theirs is the true faith group.
India is about 80% Hindu. There is a very high probability that any
given citizen believes that their tradition with Hinduism is the true
religion.
The U.S. is about 75% Christian. The population in the American
"Bible belt" is significantly higher than that. There is a very high
probability that any given citizen in South Carolina, for example, believes
that their denomination within Christianity is the true religion.
It is obvious that one's personal beliefs about the true religion is largely
a function of the country in which one happens to have been born, the area
of that country, and the beliefs of one's parent(s):
If Jerry Falwell had been born in Saudi Arabia of Muslim parents,
and obtained his religious education in that country, there is a near
certainty that he would be promoting Islam today.
If the late Sheikh Mohamed Mutwali al-Sharawilittle of Egypt, who was
called "The Arab world's best known television preacher of the Holy Qur'an,"
had been born and raised by Southern Baptists in Dallas, TX, that he would
almost certainly have promoted Christianity.
One's personal beliefs and the certainty with which one holds them is an
unreliable measure of truth, because they are largely determined by one's
culture and the faith of one's parents -- both largely accidents of birth.
So, an opinion poll might show what peoples beliefs are. But it would not be
helpful in locating the "true" faith group.
Pray to God and ask to be enlightened. The founder of the Mormon
movement, Joseph Smith, did precisely this. Mormons believe that God and
Jesus Christ appeared to him side by side, and told him that none of the
then existing Christian denominations were the true religion. He claims he
was
instructed to create a new denomination to restore Christianity to its first
century CE purity before it fell into heresy.
This method appears to be unreliable. When people pray to God for
enlightenment, most seem to conclude that their own religion and faith group
is the true one. If people could access the will of God on this matter, then
a vast majority of the world's population -- the folks who pray -- would
realize that their faith group was not the true one. They would gradually
migrate to the true religion. There would eventually be only one religion
and one tradition within that religion left standing. Otherwise, people
would be rejecting the will of God. All the other 10,000 religions and their
tens of thousands of denominations or traditions would be phased out.
The OCRT conducted a pilot study to determine whether a person can assess
the will of God through prayer. We used a controversial topic: whether God
favors same-sex marriage for homosexuals and some bisexuals. The answer that
we found was that people
appear to be unable to assess the will of God through prayer.
Communication from God: God could initiate a direct communication to
humanity. In order to be convincing, it would have to be totally
unambiguous, clear and convincing. One example might be for God to rearrange
a few thousand stars to spell out in the evening sky the name of the true
religion. Unfortunately, at least within the Judeo-Christian traditions, God
seems to be progressively withdrawing from humanity. He walked in person
with Adam and Eve. Later, he only appeared in rare occasions as at Mount
Sinai. Still later, he communicated with humans only through prophets. Most
Christians believe that Jesus Christ is God and walked among humans in first
century CE Palestine. However, he was seen by only a miniscule percentage of
the human race. Now, access to God is only claimed through prayer.
Unless God were to take the initiative, it appears that there is no way for
humans to determine which religion is "true."
There is often great wisdom in comic strips. In 1976, Charles Schultz had
Snoopy wrote a book on theology called: "Has it ever occurred to you that
you might be wrong?" In 1980, he had Linus ask his Sunday School teacher the
exact same question.
Imagine the results if more people in the world realized the simple fact
that there are over 10,000 religions in the world and that it is impossible
with our present knowledge to find out which is the "true" one. An
inevitable corollary to this belief would be that they would develop a
degree of doubt that their religion is the only "true" one. People might be
less inclined to oppress, discriminate against, murder or commit mass murder
and genocide against people of other faiths such as has happened during the
past decade in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Cyprus, Nigeria,
Sudan, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Sri Lanka, Philippines,
Indonesia, the U.S. etc.
Imagine the results if more people accepted their religion as the best faith
for them, but at the same time recognized that there are other religions
which teach about other deities, other systems of morality, other religious
practices, etc. And Accept the 'fact' that there is NO objective verifiable
evidence for the validity and 'true' nature of 'ANY' religion. They are all
based on pure 'faith' and 'hope'!
The 'foundation' of all religions is man's panic fear of death and what
comes after. They cannot consciously accept the finality of death!