the more religions you are exposed to, the less attached you become to your own religion?
Do you find that That the more religions you are exposed to, you become less attached to you own religion, or more?I was baptised christian but find that I now agree with buddhist ideas more so than christian. I guess it depends whether you are brought up in a religious environment etc, but it will be interesting to see the response.
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9 Comments to “the more religions you are exposed to, the less attached you become to your own religion?”
May 29th, 2008 at 8:12 am
It depends. But generally, yes.
And it makes you constantly question your own beliefs. But that can only make your faith even stronger, because you don’t just blindly follow it out of tradition.
It also makes you more tolerant towards other religions, because you’ve experienced them intimately. You know how they think.
Growing up multi-faith is a bit like being a third culture kid, but for religions. A third religion kid. lol
But religion is unlike culture, you may find similarities between then, but in the end, you can’t mix them up. You have to pick a dominant belief system and stick with it. It’s a bit like choosing a restaurant; you can’t mix Chinese with Mexican food, because it won’t be Chinese anymore.
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May 29th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Religion is a very personal thing - or at least I think it should be kept that way.
I don’t think people necessarily lose faith when they are exposed to other religions, but I should hope they do become more tolerant.
We have enough hostility and blood shed going on in the name of some God and I don’t like it at all personally.
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May 29th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
I am a deeply spiritual person but a natural sceptic so religion as followed by the masses does not work for me. I have tried it - been baptized, taken Shahadah but it just always feels wrong. But when I jst live life acting from my best I feel in balance. So, I flow with that.
I also cannot understand how people justify conservative ideas through religion when nearly all prophets for all the major faiths were against the status quo.
But that is just my personal opinion
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May 29th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
I’m baptised a Roman Catholic but I spent a few years in a Muslim country, where you can hear the call for prayer 5 times a day, they offer Islam in school.. the whole 9 yards. However, the UAE permitted practicing your own religion so my dad got me to take those Catholic classes…
I have doubts every now and then, but I’m only human. I agree with some stuff in the religion, and disagree with some, but I guess that nothing is really perfect. I’m not sure why I believe, I guess I was just raised that way.
Like Ayako said, it’s a personal thing.
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May 30th, 2008 at 1:22 am
Being a missionary kid I grew up in a very “churchy” environment, since I’ve always lived right in the middle of Theological colleges full of students wanting to be pastors
I guess I first came to think more about the variety of religions last year, and I thought a lot about it. I have all kinds of friends; Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Atheist… And on top of it all, I’ve been around so many Christian denominations that I think it has shaped me quite a lot.
I do think it makes you more tolerant if you’re exposed to many religions. I lived in Singapore for 5 years and I think that was the best chance I had to be among people from many different religions. I was pretty young though, so it never made me wonder about my own faith. Then last year I started thinking more about religions in general, especially since in my school many people make it sound as though God doesn’t exist. It did make me doubt my own faith very much, but I think in the end all that did was strengthen it.
Overall I think living among many religions can make us more tolerant, but also make us think more about why we believe what we believe. If I were in a country with one big dominant religion, and weren’t part of a minority group as I am now, it would be easy to just go along. Living in the middle of other religions has made me actively decide for Christianity, rather than just following along because it’s my parents’ religion.
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May 31st, 2008 at 9:20 pm
i have definitely grown less attached to organized religion. I was raised Protestant, but lived in Egypt and Trinidad and was exposed to all sorts of belief systems. Even as a kid i always felt a little awkward in church, just listening or praying to something i wasn’t too sure about. I always have preferred community services or voulenteering as something of a religious activity, because i feel confident that what i am doing will make a difference for the better. i now consider myself an agnostic. I have had all sorts of denominations as friends. the most important thing to me is the ‘moral compass’. this is how we approach all of the basic ethical questions man has to answer. people can have a bad moral compass and still be Hindu, Muslim or Christian, or atheist. but it is the moral compass which determines who i am and who others are and that is what my exposure to religions has taught me, to value the moral compass more than religious affiliation.
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June 1st, 2008 at 1:38 am
Definitely it makes you a more tolerant person.
I’m a baptised Christian, but I was brought up in Indonesia and Malaysia, two very predominantly muslim countries. The Philippines was half Christian and half Muslim depending on which island you stayed on, South Africa was a predominantly Christian nation and Australia is quite apathetic. All in all, I grew up to be really tolerant of other religions, although I have never strayed from Christianity.
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June 1st, 2008 at 8:39 pm
I think it just makes us more tolerant of other religions.
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June 30th, 2008 at 6:46 am
I think your religion is whichever you prefer to believe in.
I personally study a bit of all and take advice from all hehe.
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