What Is Religion Essay -- essays research papers

What Is religion     What is religion? According to an Oxford dictionary, religion is thebelief in the existence of a supernatural view power, the creator andcontroller of the universe, who has given to man a spirtual nature whichcontinues to exist after the death of the body. Religion appears to be a simpleidea on the surface, but in reality it is a very complex system of ideas thatmany base their lives upon.     There are many religions in the world. Christianity seems to be the hotshotreligion believed widely in the modern world. However, this is non the case ina group of five people in a World Religion class. These five people sharecommon knowledge on several aspects of religion, yet they gull some majorconflicts. The focus of this paper is to explore the ideas and beliefs of thegroup, tail assemblyvas the importance of religions dialogue, and to discuss thechallenge of religious pluralism in the contemporary world.   &n bsp The first group member states her firm Christian views. Melissarecognizes all the religions of the world, but she holds Christanity to be theonly true religion. To her, Christianity is the only way angiotensin converting enzyme person can securesalvation. All other religions are false and those who do not respectChristanity are misguided and will not attain salvation. It is only throughJesus Christs death on the cross that one can repent, be forgiven, and attainsalvation.     Melissa feels that others who are non-Christians believe that theirreligion is true. Afterall everyone is brought up to believe in the faith orreligion they are taught. If this was not the case, no one would have anybeliefs. Although their religions are not true religions Melissa respects theirviews of being true.     Quite similar to Melissas opinion, Jason feels that there is only onetrue religion in the world, which is Christianity. However, he recognizes th atthere are many other religions in the world in which their followers believe aretrue. He does not believe that one should criticize others for their beliefs,and that they should respect each persons beliefs even if they are differentfrom his.     For Jason, Christianity is the true religion. It is the only religionthat he believes Has the right answers for... ...eciallyif their views do not necessarily accede with someone elses views. We thinktrying to understand different religions takes compassion and understanding.Often, people fear the "unknown."      So, another way to meet the challenge of religious pluralism is througheducation. citizenry can learn about different religions and respect the diversitythat exists. Further, to help understand a different religion, our group thinksthat going to check out different religion services will give people personalexperience of that different faith. People do not have to feel they have to accommodate the other religion, but going to visit another service will broaden theirhorizons. We believe that if society can respect the religious diversity in theworld, the challenge of relgious pluralism can be met. W.C. Smith says it best,"Unless men can learn to understand and to be loyal to each other acrossreligious frontiers, unless we can build a world in which people profoundly ofdifferent faiths can live together and work together, then the prospects for ourplanets future are not bright" ("The Christian in a Religiously Plural World"11).