During the millennia of human existence, religion and spiritual practices and beliefs have been present. In my amateur study of various religions over the years, I have come to a realization that most religions have their roots in something worthwhile and beneficial to people. Very few, if any, were started with a major purpose to take advantage of or harm other people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But most of us have also learned that throughout history, people have used religion or some manifestation of God’s will as justification, even as motivation, to commit atrocities against people. Even in recent times, we’ve heard of ISIS and their evil murders of Christians. In the past there have been other religiously motivated atrocities that were more vast than what ISIS has done, such as the Crusades or the “French Wars of Religion.” But I don’t think that it would be accurate, in these cases, to say that what they did was the intended result of the religious teachings that were handed down from the founding of the religions. In the case of the French Wars, both sides were Christian, just different denominations. (See this short article on religion and atrocities in history: religion-and-the-100-worst-atrocities-in-history<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rather than blame religion, we must look at human nature. People fight about most everything. We fight over political parties and ideologies. We fight over abortion rights and gun rights. We fight over whose team is best. We even fight over Black Friday sales. Should it surprise us to see people fighting over religion too? In this case, if religious doctrine is used to justify the unjustifiable, I call it malpractice of religion. When people get too wrapped up in their wants and passions, emotions can often derail us from what we know is right. I believe that has often been what took place with the religion-based atrocities. Unfortunately, in some of those cases, someone with significant power was able to convince enough others to participate in a polluted and unfaithful version of religion that harmed\/killed thousands, millions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But this is not what religion is about. It is not the purpose for which the major religions came into existence. As I said in my previous blog post, “many religions had their origins in the intent to bring good to the lives of people.” And if you really dig into the beliefs, the holy books, etc. you can still find light in those religious foundations, regardless of what specific individuals or whole congregations may manifest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So how do we identify the light that we should find in religion? How do we determine if a particular religious group is a source of light, a place to look for guidance or solace? There are a few basic principles that I would expect to find in a religion that emanates light through its teachings and activities. I believe the most fundamental principle that must be present in such religious affiliations is love for people. Perhaps it’s in a more subtle form, such as getting along well with others. But there must be some evidence that the religious group believes in the value of people generally to the point that their actions lead to peace between people, minimize intentional hurts and fighting, lead people to feel accepted and valued, or other such things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Truth is another aspect of light that I believe a religion should manifest. Since we usually can’t determine absolutely spiritual truths, we need to look for a genuineness in what is presented. For example, it doesn’t feel like they are hiding something, while telling you something they think you want to hear. What is being presented by the people you interact with should also agree with any foundational religious writings or teachings from the time of its establishment. If it’s too far removed from the original founding principles and seems to be moving in the direction of darkness, I would question it. Also, the organizational activities and structure etc. should match up with what people in authority are saying. If they say one thing, but you dig and find something else, question it. This is just good sense with any organization, religious or otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I want to include here a small sampling of beliefs from a few very different faiths. They are examples that demonstrate the light that we can find in religion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christianity: The Bible also says that the two most important expectations God has of us is that we love Him and love the people around us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Islam: “The fundamental moral qualities in Islam are justice, forgiveness, righteousness, kindness, honesty, and piety. Other mostly insisted moral virtues include but not limited to charitable activities, fulfillment of promise, modesty (haya) and humility, decency in speech, tolerance, trustworthiness, patience, truthfulness, anger management, and sincerity of intention.” Buddhism: “The Eightfold Path consists of eight practices: right view, right resolve, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right samadhi (‘meditative absorption or union’). In early Buddhism, these practices started with understanding that the body-mind works in a corrupted way (right view), followed by entering the Buddhist path of self-observance, self-restraint, and cultivating kindness and compassion\u2026” Confucianism: “The worldly concern of Confucianism rests upon the belief that human beings are fundamentally good, and teachable, improvable, and perfectible through personal and communal endeavor, especially self-cultivation and self-creation. Confucian thought focuses on the cultivation of virtue in a morally organised world.” These are some examples of forms of light that come from within religious sources. These are not just words that no one follows; these are genuine beliefs that many of the faithful use to guide their lives. If we give up on the light that exists in religious communities, I believe we risk the long-term decline of our world. Let’s don’t let that happen! Seek the light!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" During the millennia of human existence, religion and spiritual practices and beliefs have been present. In my amateur study of various religions over the years, I have come to a realization that most religions have their roots in something worthwhile and beneficial to people. Very few, if any, were started with a major purpose to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[21,22,25,28,41,47,64,67,94,102,103,113,127,150,153],"class_list":["post-264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith-religion-spirituality","tag-atrocities","tag-atrocity","tag-belief","tag-buddhism","tag-christianity","tag-confucianism","tag-faith","tag-finding-light","tag-human-nature","tag-isis","tag-islam","tag-light-of-religion","tag-muslim","tag-religion","tag-religious-war"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
The Bible says, “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”
James 1:27 (New American Standard Bible)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Zakat [‘alms’] is a means of welfare in a Muslim society, characterized by the giving of a fixed portion (2.5% annually) of accumulated wealth by those who can afford it in order to help the poor or needy, such as for freeing captives, those in debt, or for (stranded) travellers, and for those employed to collect zakat.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Islam<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teaches to seek the “middle way between the extremes of indulgence and self-denial\u2026”
https:\/\/jackkornfield.com\/finding-the-middle-way\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Noble_Eightfold_Path<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
“With particular emphasis on the importance of the family and social harmony, rather than on an otherworldly source of spiritual values, the core of Confucianism is humanistic.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Confucianism<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n