RE: islamic similarities in christianity
July 30, 2014 at 4:37 pm
(This post was last modified: July 30, 2014 at 5:16 pm by PreethamJD.)
As much as I love being an obnoxious know-it-all, it's best I get around to explaining why Hinduism isn't a "religion." This is going to be really hard but here goes....
You can be agnostic and still be a Hindu, you can even be an athiest and still be a Hindu and as weird as this is going to sound, you can even be a Christian and still be a Hindu. They aren't mutually exclusive like being an athiest and being a Christian are. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism_in_Hinduism )
Hinduism isn't organised as most common religions are organised with a head of the faith (for example a Pope). So it is unlike the common perception of what a religion may be.
There is no formal conversion process. You could just decide to one day call yourself a Hindu without even knowing any of many Hindu philosophies and no one would be able to argue with you.
There are no rules. One of the most commonly held beliefs by Westerners is that Hindus can't eat beef because the cow is considered sacred. And while this may be a common practice among the majority of Hindus, beef is a major part of the diet of South Indian Hindus.
There isn't a book (like the Bible or the Quran). There are instead many texts/scriptures that are considered Hindu "religious texts." Some of it isn't even based on fatih/philosophy but instead just poetry, science and even mathematics.
There is no founder of the "religion."
There is no way to define what it is to be a Hindu as you would a Christian (being someone who follows and believes in the teachings of Jesus Christ) or a Muslim (being someone who follows and believes in the teachings of Muhammad).
The best way to understand some of what it constitutes would be to read the Intro and then scroll down and read from the third para under the sub title "Definition" in the wiki for Hindu. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu )
The Supreme Court of India once described it as a "way of life." I think a better way to describe it is that it's a bunch of different ways of life classified as Hinduism and then further misclassified as a religion. And even then that would only describe Modern Post 19th Century Hinduism and nothing more.
You can be agnostic and still be a Hindu, you can even be an athiest and still be a Hindu and as weird as this is going to sound, you can even be a Christian and still be a Hindu. They aren't mutually exclusive like being an athiest and being a Christian are. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism_in_Hinduism )
Hinduism isn't organised as most common religions are organised with a head of the faith (for example a Pope). So it is unlike the common perception of what a religion may be.
There is no formal conversion process. You could just decide to one day call yourself a Hindu without even knowing any of many Hindu philosophies and no one would be able to argue with you.
There are no rules. One of the most commonly held beliefs by Westerners is that Hindus can't eat beef because the cow is considered sacred. And while this may be a common practice among the majority of Hindus, beef is a major part of the diet of South Indian Hindus.
There isn't a book (like the Bible or the Quran). There are instead many texts/scriptures that are considered Hindu "religious texts." Some of it isn't even based on fatih/philosophy but instead just poetry, science and even mathematics.
There is no founder of the "religion."
There is no way to define what it is to be a Hindu as you would a Christian (being someone who follows and believes in the teachings of Jesus Christ) or a Muslim (being someone who follows and believes in the teachings of Muhammad).
The best way to understand some of what it constitutes would be to read the Intro and then scroll down and read from the third para under the sub title "Definition" in the wiki for Hindu. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu )
The Supreme Court of India once described it as a "way of life." I think a better way to describe it is that it's a bunch of different ways of life classified as Hinduism and then further misclassified as a religion. And even then that would only describe Modern Post 19th Century Hinduism and nothing more.
