AboutJohn of AllFaith Expertise To varying degrees I have worked and studied with many different groups including:
The Noahides, Gaudiya Vaisnavism, Swami Muktinanda's Sidha Yoga Foundation, the Yoga Society (of Sri Ramamurti Mishra), Sikhism, various Pagan and neo-Pagan groups, Sunni Islam (Wahabi), Taoism, various Buddhist sects (including the Dharmad Hatu of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche), various diverse Hindu sects, numerous Christian denominations and movements, and have been involved with numerous other groups and movements too numerous to mention. I refer to my personal beliefs as AllFaith.
See my questions and answers at allfaith.com/questions
A Statement to Students about Plagiarism any why I answer questions:
Plagiarism is a crime.
Plagiarism can end careers, lead to expulsion from school, the loss of financial aid, and can even result in fines and imprisonment in some cases. Its not worth it!
Despite this a small percentage of those who ask questions at AllExperts, Yahoo Answers etc. copy and paste our answers as their own, often without giving credit. This is plagiarism. Its not worth it!
We all know that one can google a homework question and in many cases find an easy response, but so can your teachers! Many teachers are aware that some students do this and catch their cheating students.
To read more about this go to the following link. Its a conversation between one such teacher from a respectable institution of learning and me: where she writes: ...I have had over 20 students copy your work in the past 3 months...
Understand that if you plagiarize you are cheating your instructors, your answerer, your fellow students, everyone who respects you... and ultimately yourself. Its just not worth it!
Please use our answers to help in your research, not to replace it.
Learn, don't cheat.
Experience Experience: A lifetime spent Reaching for the One.
I hold an MA in Religious Studies from JFKU. I hold three Christian ordinations. I hold a counseling ordination from the Interfaith Seminaries of Santa Cruz. I am an initiated Vaishnava bramana (Gopinath Gaudiya matha and ISKCON), have practical experience with many other branches Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Paganism, Wicca (Welsh Traditionalist mainly), Judaism and other traditions. I own and manage AllFaith.com
Question QUESTION: Relgion is declining in modern urban and industrial contexts. Is this the truth?
ANSWER: With the exception of Islam I would agree.
Islam is growing like wildfire around the globe.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: why may some people observe a certain religious practice but claim to have beliefs which at first sight seem to be incompatible with what one might expect from that practice?
Answer Hi Shawn,
Each person is an individual and interprets her/his faith accordingly. What a commandment or religious law/principle means to one person is not necessarily what it means to another. Likewise everyone reads the sacred text (whatever it is) according to their own beliefs, cultural paradigms, expertise and so on.
Most religious people or people who say they are a (pick a religion) identify with that religion because its the one they grew up in. They say, "Well, I'm a Christian but I still like to (drink, smoke, party, etc)...." I'm a Hindu but there's nothing wrong with a little meat..." "I'm Jewish but Christmas is so pretty..."
And so on.
Also there are levels of spiritual realization and practice offering arguably deeper understandings into what it means to be godly or religious.
My own bias come out here: For one Believer "do not kill" applies only to killing humans. Such people go hunting (or to the stores etc.) and participate in the deaths of millions of innocent animals and think it a righteous or at least spiritually permissible activity. Another member of the same religion perhaps understands the sacredness of all life and takes the same command to mean we are to walk gently on this earth, killing and harming no living thing when possible and hence eats no meat. Who is right? Who is practicing their religion consistently?
The diverse issues themselves aside (whether dancing, meat eating, abortion etc is right or wrong) surely it is the consciousness with which the acts are done that determines whether the person is observing her/his religious faith consistently or not. Looks can be deceiving and one who is wise does not judge others in such matters (even though they may actively oppose or support the various issues).
As the Christian Apostle Paul wrote, "He who knows to do good but does it not, for him it is sin." Most religions teach the same, all too often ignored, truth.
Of course, its also true that religious hypocrisy abounds!
I mentioned in my original reply that Islam is growing while all other noteworthy religions seem to be dying. The reason for this, in my opinion, is that Islam is doing what most religions used to do. They disciple and discipline their followers.
Muslims know what is expected of them, what they are supposed to believe, how they are supposed to behave etc. They have established beliefs and interpretations and they allow little or no room for personal interpretation (this is helped by the belief that the Qur'an must be read in its Arabic original -- there are countless contradictory versions of the Bible and other sacred texts leading to uncertainty and doubt). It has correctly been stated that, "There are no liberal, conservative or radical Muslims, there are only those who submit ("islam") to Allah and those who do not." This provides meaning and direction to the lives of Muslims that is generally missing in other religious communities. Most other religions have largely surrendered themselves to relativism and to what is known as the New Age philosophies of eclecticism. In Islam everything is "black and white."
Please don't misunderstand me here, I am NOT supporting Islam over other religions (nor am I Muslim) but I believe this is one major reason why the deen of Islam is growing today while Christianity and other religions are not. Again, generally speaking -- and the churches etc. that are growing are usually the more dogmatic and fundamentalist ones.
People need certainty in their lives. People today feel ungrounded, uncertain, adrift. A primary function of religion has traditionally been to provide a sense of stability and security: "God said it, I believe it, that settles it!" Today very few non-Muslim religious people are willing to stand firm in their doctrines, beliefs, practices and lifestyles. Fewer still are willing to demand their followers do the same. Due to the uncertainties, hypocrisies, in-fighting etc. most religions seem to be in states of major decline.
So, "why may some people observe a certain religious practice but claim to have beliefs which at first sight seem to be incompatible with what one might expect from that practice?"
Because they are not clear on what it is they believe and want to "fit in" with the world around them. As Prophet Y'shua (Jesus) explained to Church through John the Apostle:
Revelation 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
But most people no longer know how to repent nor what the truth is they should embrace.
Hope this helps,
~ John of AllFaith
~ Jagannatha Prakasa
~ Sat Kewal Singh
~ Muhammad Yahya Saleem
~ Ben Ruach ha Kodesh
