Education - Religious Studies the Essay

• Length: 3 pages
• Subject: Mythology - Religion
• Type: Essay
• Paper: #44108630
• Related Topics: Importance Of Education, Eastern Religion, Religion Hinduism, Religious

Excerpt from Essay :

Eastern religions, on the other hand, conceive of much broader definitions of God and deemphasize any direct relationship between individuals and God, in addition to allowing for multiple Gods.

Other religious beliefs reject any supposed consciousness of a supreme being, conceiving God as representing nothing more than fundamental elements of the natural universe and objective principles. In that sense, in addition to increasing awareness and specific knowledge of other religions, the study of religion also introduces an entirely foreign concept, at least from the perspective of students socialized in any of the Western religious traditions. Specifically, the broadened understanding of different religious frameworks raises the possibility that the highest form of spirituality possible in human life is the complete acceptance of our absolute aloneness in the world and the relative meaninglessness of human concerns in a universe that may very well be finite in existence as well as entirely godless.

In that same regard, academic approaches to the study of religion may even view the extensive religious plurality evident in human societies as logical evidence that no religious beliefs are true, as much because of the obvious similarity in the process of their evolution in isolation as because of the mutual incompatibility of their contradictory specific beliefs. This approach to studying religion means that the study of religion per se is actually more a study of the history of human social values and cultural traditions.

In that sense, the literal truth or accuracy of specific theistic beliefs about the origin of religious traditions is not directly related to their importance, both historically and philosophically. Especially to the extent very different religious beliefs maintain philosophical similarities, the specific themes and principles represented within different human religions may play a role in the modern analyses of elements of human values.

Moreover, common religious values and themes may even relate to aspects of human evolution, such as is almost certainly the case with universal religious taboos against incest, which trait human beings share with many non-human animals.

Conclusion:

The study of religion may satisfy a natural curiosity sparked by the challenge of the awareness of other religious traditions that contradict our own. Beyond reconciling different religious principles and human values derived from them, the study of religion also provides a wider perspective of what religion is, in the first place. In fact, it may be the case that no religious view is any more true than any other in the most literal sense.

Ultimately, the study of different religions may therefore reveal much more about Man than about any God.