This puts the fate of each individual Hindu is his or her own hands.
The significance of this is that Hindus are proactive when it comes to seeking spiritual release. They do not wait for salvation, and understand that it will not come to them. They must seek it out, or be stuck in samsara forever. hile the journey is understood to take several lifetimes, the acquisition of good karma must take place consistently throughout the soul's journey through samsara before moksha can be attained.

Moksha is the liberation from samsara. Because Hindus believe samsara to be essentially painful, moksha is one of the key goals that a Hindu strives to achieve over his/her lifetimes. It involves the freedom from the laws of karma and union with the Supreme Being. Moksha often implies the eradication of the soul's false sense of identity. The soul is not seen as a complete being….

eligious Traditions of Native American eligion
Native American religious traditions are, like other religions of the world, anchored on specific components that help link humanity with the sacred. These components include the teachings or doctrines of the religion, the rituals and traditions performed, and the manner in which these teachings and rituals are delivered. Each component reflects the kind of community and culture that prevailed or prevails within a religion, and ultimately, what are the values held important by that specific group of worshipers / religious practitioners.

Take as an example the Native Americans, which also have numerous religions depending on the group or sub-culture one belongs to. It is interesting to note that in the Native American religious tradition; most of the teachings/doctrines of the religion are passed orally from generation to generation. Oral delivery or narration of religious teachings functions as a social event wherein the younger generation would see….

eligious Traditions
eligion is a basic set of beliefs that concerns the nature, origin and function of the universe as well as commitment and ritual celebrations. eligion also governs the moral behavior of humans. Since the world began, man has had faith and worshiped a supreme being by carrying out certain rituals to appease it. eligion can be classified into three different categories: monotheism, polytheism and pantheism. (All About eligion, 2012).

Elements of eligious traditions

Monotheism can be described as the belief in one God/supreme deity. Some well-known examples of these are Christianity, Islam, Judaism which all draw their origins from a man known as Abraham in 2000 B.C. Judaism believes there is one God who is not made up of parts. Judaism clearly lays emphasis on the use of the "Torah" as a basis for serving God. The torahs origin can be traced back to the Talmud and Midraship which have a….

Their existence predates that of the founding of the United States, even though most Baptists are concentrated in the United States. Baptists have existed since 1644. The name "Baptist" refers to what often strikes non-Baptists as an unusual feature of the sect, namely that Baptists "maintain that baptism should be administered to none but believers and that full immersion "is the only mode of administering baptism" truly authorized in the Christian Testament. The doctrine and practices of the Baptists thus broke with the Catholic forms of Christianity as well as with the Protestant Lutheran Church, but Baptists see this practice as a return to the true practices of Christ, and embodying the sect's definition of religion as a willed, conscious chosen method of rebirth for the believer. ("Baptists," the Columbia Encyclopedia, 2000, the History Channel ebsite)
orks Cited

Baptists." The Columbia Encyclopedia. 2000. The History Channel ebsite. http://www.thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/search/search.php?searchtext=1905&enc=6328?[24 Mar 2005].

eligious Traditions:
Even though religion means different things to different people, religious persons have a transcendent aspect to life i.e. The existence of supernatural power above human beings. The religious perspective of an individual is dependent on how the person is persuaded by people who raised him/her. The descriptions or definitions of religion tend to be inadequate since they contain two major problems i.e. they are either too narrow or too vague. These definitions are too narrow since they exclude most of the belief systems that make up religions whereas they are too vague and uncertain through suggesting that everything is a religion. However, the best explanation of the nature of religion is rooted in identifying the basic attributes that are common to the various religions. This is largely because there are several elements of religious traditions that are used to understand studies on religion.

Important Issues in the Study of….

eligious Traditions
eligion has played an essential role in the history of mankind. Throughout history many religious traditions have emerged -- some of them have disappeared -- and there are myriad of differences among religious traditions today. While people profess many religions, each religion then has a great deal of diversity within itself, and within each sect or religious movement (be they within Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, or any other religion), individuals approach these traditions according to their personal understandings, experiences, and sometimes interests. And yet there are certain commonalities that most religions share, albeit often in different forms. In this paper, I am going to look at some basic traditions most religions have historically contained. In particular, I will look at the concept of the divine and an individual relationship with it, the concept of sacred and its relation to time and space, and some key issues critical for….

eligious Traditions
Global religions have blended practices with traditional or indigenous practices. Mainstream religious practices have elements of spiritual, religious, and cultural beliefs and practices adopted from native religious practices. For example, as Buddhism spread it adopted the customs and practices of local deities (Warren, 2012). This implies that to understand the different forms of religions requires the consideration of religious elements, which are manifested as seven dimensions of religious traditions. These include mythic, experiential, ethical, ritual, social, and doctrinal (Brodd, 2009). These are often identified as worship, ritual pilgrimage, leadership, stories, texts, teachings, myths, and doctrines.

eligious traditions have adopted different aspects of traditional myths, stories, and doctrines to create their identities. Often religions doctrinal belief is composed of the creeds, teachings, stories, and doctrines originating from their traditional experience. Brodd (2009) finds that most religious doctrines have a firm foundation in traditional myths, by making rational sense of the….

Doing work without seeking personal benefits out of it is considered to be considered higher than the formal worship (Hindu Traditions, 2005).
According to Hindu religious traditions, the spiritual hopeful takes studentship under a personal spiritual teacher called a Guru. The disciple stays with the Guru and follows his instructions in order to attain the ultimate goal of spiritual life. Even though the Guru never asks any money for the guidance he has given, the student may give gifts (as a token of appreciation.

Pilgrimage is not something that is mandatory in Hinduism, as it is in other religions. A large number of holy places exist in India. Varanasi, Kedarnath and ameshwaram are some of the places which are considered to be holy in nature (Hindu Traditions, 2005).

Significance and Meaning

Hinduism has a universal world view and willingness to accept and celebrate diverse philosophies, deities, symbols, and practices. It is a religion….

A funeral is often seen as an opportunity to celebrate somebody's life and mark their transition into the after life. Hindus believe that death marks the transition of the soul from one personification to the next. They believe that this is the point at which the spirit begins its journey to Heaven (Hindu Traditions, 2005).
Hindus believe in the idea of reincarnation, so the funeral is seen as much a celebration of the deceased's life as it is a remembrance of it. Hindus cremate their dead with the burning of the dead body being seen as the release of the spirit. They believe that the flames during the cremation are representative of the presence of the god Brahma, who is the creator. As with all religions rituals play an important role in their beliefs. Hindus believe that the ideal way to die is while lying on the floor, so that….

Pilgrimage is another practice which, while not mandatory in Hinduism, is increasingly common. A large number of holy places (Tirtha Sthanas) exist in India, including Varanasi (anares), Kedarnath and Rameshwaram, and Hindus often take pilgrimages there.
The Hindu religious tradition is characterized by many different sacred elements, each of which has tremendous significance and meaning (Fowler, 1997(. These elements include fire, water, and the Hindu trimurti. In addition, the banyan tree is a symbol of the breadth of spirituality, which provides shade to all who gather near it.

Hindus traditionally wear a mark on their forehead and other body parts. Hindu women wear a decorative dot on their forehead, which is called indi, while other Hindus wear holy ash called Vibhuti.

Aum is another sacred symbol which represents the rahman. This can be seen in all mantras and prayers. Yet another noble and auspicious symbol is the Swastika, which stands for purity….

Religion Traditions
Fundamentals of Religious Traditions Human race encompass various dissimilar religions as well as religious way of life all the way through its survival. In spite of the dissimilarities in this (religious) customs as well as ways of life, a number of elements in religious conviction continue being the similar. The research will therefore wrap up how religious traditions depict in addition to promoting the rapport with the divine, the sacred time, the sacred space or the natural world, as well as the relationship with each other. This paper will also review key critical issues in the study of religion and references to specific religious traditions will be made. The journey into understanding religion begins with understanding divinity and what some religions consider to be divine. Divine or as some call it diversity is the authority, mortal, or monarchy acknowledged by devout people to be at the central part of….

appealing factors of the religious traditions of India is their broad-mindedness. However, after encountering primary sources like the Bhadavad Gita, the Upanishads, and the Dhammapada, I grew to favor the Buddhist philosophical doctrines over their Hindu counterparts. While I admire Hinduism for its rich pantheon and its ability to incorporate a wide range of seemingly conflicting beliefs, I found Buddhism to be a more practical application of religious sentiment. Although I find Hinduism more palatable than many major world religions, I nevertheless find its texts to be still somewhat removed from this world. However, the moral teachings contained in the Hindu texts do provide a practical foundation to the allegories and allusions to the supernatural contained therein. Compiling all of the texts used in class and reflecting upon them, I also note the threads of commonality that run though the major religious traditions of India. Namely, Hinduism and Buddhism….

Religious Field Search
AHMADIS: THE OTHER FACE OF ISLAM

For the purposes of this paper I visited the local Ahmaddiya Muslim Community or as they prefer to called Ahmadis. Ahmadis are a sub-sect of the Islamic Community. What attracted to me to study this community was that unlike the general image we have of the Islamic community, this community is non-violent and is considered heretical by the larger Islamic community for having a prophet in succession to Muhammad, the founder of the Islamic faith. In many Muslim majority countries the Ahmadis are banned and in many others they have been ex-communicated from the Islamic mainstream. Apparently -- as I discovered- one of the other contentious issues between them and the rest Islamic community is the controversy over Jesus Christ's death, which I found interesting given that I considered Jesus an exclusively Christian figure. To my amazement it turns out that all Muslims….

Conclusions

There is no one standard for what is considered right and wrong in the world of American religion. The American religion that exists today may be described as "Agnostian-Secularian" meaning it is made up of multiple faiths, beliefs and convictions, some more Christian based and some more abstract in nature.

By and large the American 'religion' or modern society is varying accepting of people of many different faiths and idealisms. Though the government of this country is somewhat heavily influenced by Christian fundamentalist ideals such as those that Bush emphasizes, the public by and large particularly in the eyes of the media, is much more open and flexible in nature. There are some beliefs that may be considered more 'universal' in nature than others. There is for example an obvious preference among people living in the modern American world to belief in the basic concepts of right and wrong.

There is evidence….

.. The actual universe, with all its good and evil, exists on the basis of God's will and receives its meaning from His purpose. However, these two conclusions do not stand in simple contradiction, to one another. The one says that evil is bad, harmful, destructive, fearful and to be fought against as a matter of ultimate life and death. But the other does not deny this. It does not say that evil is not fearful and threatening, inimical to all good and to be absolutely resisted. It says that God has ordained a world which contains evil- real evil- as a means to the creation of the infinite good of a Kingdom of Heaven within which His creatures will have come as perfected persons to love and serve Him through a process in which their own free insight and response have been an essential element."

(Hick, 1978)

Arthur Schopenhauer, Bertrand ussell….