Anyone who has a sense of spirituality wants a place and people with he or she can share their beliefs. In order to attain that spirituality, we have religions that enable people to practice rituals and customs of their chosen dieties as their ancestors had done. Many religions have rules and customs that require their followers to live a certain way, eat certain things, wear certain clothes, and practice certain rituals. In our modern times due to economic circumstances, people of different religions have to work together, study together, as well as live together in cities and countries. Sometimes this works out very well and other times there is friction due to the differences.
The question then comes up is when does one religion or belief have more rights than the other in their own domain or territory so they feel their own sense of spirituality and identification. In privately owned buildings such as religious buildings, homes, or businesses, people are allowed to create their own rules within reason so they practice their own principles. In publc, semi-public, or semi-private places, the administration or owners of the spaces must accomodate a wide variety of people as the state, national, or other laws allow.
In some countries or cities it is more simple when one religion dominates but in more cosmopolitan countries, people and administrators must be more compliant and flexible so as not to offend one group or another. Is there a limit and should we have some organizations who can clarify these issues more? In many countries we have a separation between religion and state but some times this can hurt as well as help people since their religious beliefs are not being allowed. Sometimes one group is not allowed to practice their ritual since it might intefere with another group.
People living together in modern times therefore is much more complex in many respects than in ancient times since people of different religions have to interact with each more than not. Most of the times these interactions are good but many times, one group feels it does not have to respect the other group’s rights and belief. Instead of leaving this to chance, cities and countries should create some multifaceted organizations who can deal with these differences before problems start. This should be done in such a way that even the common person on the street is aware of the issues and not just the upper eschelons of society.
Tags: customs, living together, Religion, rituals, spirituality
June 19, 2008 at 11:04 am
Up to some extent I understand what are you trying to say like people with same religion have some ease to perform the rituals but what about cosmopolitan countries, where people from various different cultures & religions cohabited. Well, at the same time your intention is not to offend anyone, what I think we need to unite our self more with spirituality then religion, because religion is very basic thing, but spirituality is something which is at some high level, I mean we should try to avoid conflicts arising due to religion, for this we need to practice spirituality, this will help in broadening our view. If we can keep this in mind that God is one, God is same, He is the only one who is coming to you in various forms, these various cultures and religions which you see, are not coming from somewhere else, though they seems to be different, yet they are coming from same source, and the source is one that Omnipresent .
June 19, 2008 at 11:52 am
Yes I agree that the Omnipresent is there in all spiritual communities and organizations but each group has a different way of reaching that place. Every group might say have a common avenue to reach the Omnipresent but through our human history and culture, each group has developed their own street or lane. Many of these streets and lanes are different due to the communities that have evolved in them but that’s what makes the city beautiful in its diversity. But that is not exactly the main issue I am trying to address.
Our predecessors have already created our different paths for reaching that Omnipresent and I am not just taking about a few people, but these paths effect hundreds of thousands of people. Usually when there is a large enough group that follows a certain set of rituals, beliefs, and principles, that we call it a religion or even sect. The point I am trying make is we are agreed that the Omnipresent is there or what each group considers spirituality but it is through those rituals and customs that a group reaches that spirituality. You cannot separate the devotional acts and customs from the spirituality since it has in most cases already been created and we just follow. So I don’t see how in anyway this could be offensive but we have to deal with the realities that in most places, there is either one dominant group and smaller minority groups and in some places there are equal amounts of different groups.
We already have many large enough spiritual groups that we call them religions in place so the point is that in our modern world with increased transportation, migration, globalization, and interdependence, we should try to deal with the realities that different religions have to somehow live together. But I think it is alright when a larger group might exist as a dominant religion in a country but it should try to understand or somehow acknowledge how the the others are reaching that omnipresent in realistic terms.
Even if there was not one Ominipresent, as you say, that all religions are attaining, but different Omnipresents that are equal to all other religions, that is saying the same thing you are. Suppose if we say that 1 + 1 +1 +1 +1 = 5 and 5 is the Omnipresent and each “1″ is a religion or spirituality, are they not all adding up to the same thing. However each “1″ is different and in itself and that’s what our predecessors have created and has been accepted by large groups of people through out the world. In some places there might be a 3 + 1 + 1=5 and the “3″ represents a larger group but the smaller “1″ groups still need to be acknowledged for the entire “5″ or Omnipresent to exist.
But I don’t see why there is anything offensive or bad about having different rituals or groups to attain that spirituality. If a large enough group has deemed it their path to spirituality, than why should the other groups deny that right. But it is better to be open about the differences and discuss them before hand since that increases understanding. Some people might think it is taboo to discuss religion or spirituality and their differences but it might make for better communiication between groups. Also I don’t think you can make everyone happy. What I say or what one group thinks might not make everyone happy but they still exist in nature. Do lions and deer exist happily together in nature? Even one den of lions and another den of lions have differences and live in different areas.
In many respects, it would hard to say that one group’s Omnipresent is the same as another group’s Omnipresent. Even though they might add upto a larger Omnipresent, each group’s Omnipresent has it’s own characteristic and mentality. My brain is not the same as your brain but might be similar to someone whose Omnipresent is the same since we have developed together from our predecessors. I don’t think it is good to try to force people together of different Omnipresents in an attempt to unite into one larger Omnipresent since our minds and bodies will react to it. It is better to accept and understand our different Omnipresents and that we all add up to a still larger Omnipresent.