Religion, politics… etc. Taboo topics that can get heated. Sometimes we avoid talking with others about their beliefs, or we don’t want to hear about beliefs that differ from our own, especially if we already feel that a particular religion or person is “wrong” or has “false ideas”.
With this mindset, we can also ask, “why bother learning about other beliefs?” That’s a tough question, and has many answers for sure, that hopefully we will explore through this community.
On the flip side, if we believe in our own religion very strongly and are not interested in converting to another faith, why shouldn’t we learn about other belief systems?
Well, to be sure, it is easier to not participate in activities and discussions with other religions. It requires a large degree of tolerance, patience, good communication, and “fair fighting” to talk about religion, a typically heated subject among congregations of diverse and opposing theologies.
Maybe that’s reason number one. That in being open to hear about others’ beliefs without being abrasive or angry, we build the character virtues of tolerance, patience, good communication, and fair fighting. Isn’t that worth something right there?
A common local divide between Utah religious communities– the question “Are Mormons Christians?” can help to illustrate. It is definitely true that there are differences between mainstream Christian belief and Mormon belief– but there are also common beliefs, as well, for example, that both religions believe in Jesus (though the theology and practices are different). But in asking and defending the answer to this question, sometimes we lose the opportunity to collaborate together because we are afraid to openly hear what the actual beliefs are.
There is also a contrast between a Hindu faith (which doesn’t have the concept of Jesus at all) and that of Christianity. Yet, can’t we still be interested in learning about the Hindu theology, and be genuinely interested in our Hindu friends, and willing to ask them directly about their faith in an open manner?
Even so, whether religions or are similar or widely different, there is a benefit to hearing and learning about beliefs and interacting positively with each other.
One thing that we are trying to promote here is to allow each religious voice the opportunity to share their beliefs directly, so that we can all learn from each other, from a first-hand account perspective, instead of hearing inaccurate information from anti or inflammatory or even overly evangelical sources. There is a place for evangelism and criticism, but that is not the purpose of the community at Utah Religion.
There is everything right with having a strong conviction in your personal religion & beliefs, even your opinions about other churches and their practices.
But what can be demoralizing to a society is to allow that conviction to get in the way of having conversations between persons of different religions, but still of good moral fiber, and prevent ourselves from associating together in good community projects and truly learning about and comprehending what each other believes.
If we choose to have discussions that are abrasive instead of open, do we really inspire others with the actual benefits of our personal beliefs, or do we push them away from our friendship, our religion, and fail to collaborate in ways that are important to pushing forward good causes that are direly needed by good people?
Christianity is moving south—not to the Bible belt—but to Latin America and Africa , says author Philip Jenkins in his book “The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity,” selected as the fall 2006 Book of the Semester by the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies.
