Christianity

[RR1997]

Overall positive, although as most of you know I'm not Christian.

[RR1997]

Is that really what eastern religions emphasize? Or is that just what western hippies think eastern religion is about? Somehow I doubt the average practicing Hindu is a paragon of tolerance.

Yes actually, in terms of how incredibly diverse a religion Hinduism is in terms of having a wide range of beliefs and practices, the average Hindu is pretty tolerant. It's not a hippie-dippy liberal Western thing to think that's how Hindus are; it's pretty close to reality. For example, you can be an atheist Hindu. You can't in Christianity. In Abrahamic religions, you have to believe in a very narrow set of text, ideas about God, ideas about other people, ideas about worship, etc. Hinduism is not a highly-unified religion like Abrahamic faiths are; it's an amalgamation of extremely different beliefs and cultural traditions. I had to explain to my coworkers how Hinduism is an umbrella term that encompasses thousands of years of cultural traditions, different local beliefs, and widely varying interpretations unlike anything found in Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc. They had trouble grasping how enormous Hinduism really is.

Clark: by the Noble Eightfold Path, I was referring to the eight steps that the Buddha claimed that one needed to follow to achieve enlightenment, not a documentary.  Buddhism is a remarkably strict doctrine coupled with the recognition that very few people in this lifetime are ready to attempt to achieve Nirvana.  That's not a disapproving statement, mind: I don't dislike Buddhism.  It's just stunning to see someone not grasping that it is a far more demanding belief system in terms of its code of conduct than Christianity, a faith whose doctrinal commitments pretty much begin and end at having water sprinkled on one's head and eating a wafer at Church.

Buddhism was a bad example. I concede. I'm more familiar with Hinduism. So I should've stayed on that.

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When it comes to diet, many of those rule we see are simply health and cleanliness measures that don't really hold up today because of advances in food preparation and storage. The Bible also lists very  detailed, specific rules for food preparation. Those ancient laws are obsolete now, but vegetarianism has a host of medical benefits, and that's why it has continued to be prevalent both inside of Hinduism (BTW, only ~30% of Hindus are vegetarian) as well as outside of it around the world. Hell, Bill Clinton had to become vegetarian for health reasons.

From what I've understood in my discussions with Hindus (such as my mom) as well as from time spent at temple, the Dharmic isn't much different from Christian views on social order and how you should act. It's almost universally present in religion that you shouldn't steal, kill, adulterate, lie, ill will anyone, etc. but rather you should be charitable, honest, faithful, compassionate, etc. And for your role in society, it's the same as that of Christianity: you use your privileges in life to better yourself, others, and the world, and you have certain goals you should complete and lessons to learn.

Those things are generally human things that are present in both religion and cultures across the world and throughout time, so you can't really stick that on any one religion.

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Anyways, I'm not an expert on all the religions in the world. My first post was about my experiences with Christianity and why I've left the church and become unassociated with any particular religion, despite occasionally attending Hindu temple, Baha'i services, and church out of familial and social obligations. My point on Abrahamic religions being strict isn't just related to Christianity, but also Islam  (which literally governs your entire day to day life). I've had terrible impressions of Christianity and Christians at church, work, school, etc. and far better impressions of those who ascribe to Eastern religions whether it's here in the U.S. or in India or elsewhere, and I've felt that Hinduism and the Baha'i faith align more with my values and worldview than Christianity does.

THANK YOU

I'm tired of people assuming that all Hindus are vegetarians, when in reality only 30% of them are. I'm Hindu and I will eat any type of meat except for beef.

Also I agree that vegetarianism does have medical benefits, which is why I rarely eat meat, although I still do from time to time.