I critically examine all those practices labeled "religion". I find that Christianity is equally ridiculous to accept wholeheartedly as Wicca - I find Islam as silly as I do Zoroastrianism (the religion Freddy Mercury was inducted into as a boy btw). However, as I've criticized and railed against, over time I've also looked at different aspects as well - the underlying unities in historical origins, shared/stolen practices and rituals, underlying psychological processes and so forth. A while back I realized that I was directing all my attention to just Christianity. Was it out of fear or ignornace? Fear, no. Ignorance, somewhat. So I changed and am still changing that. My previous focus on Christianity was simply because it is the most salient religion affecting my life. If I lived in, say, Iraq, it would be Islam or other variants thereof.
Expanding my view to be more inclusive has also resulted in my eschewing of inquiry in to specific particularities of each religion and, as I stated earlier, attempting to examine them from a more etiological stance. I think, also, because of my background in the brain sciences, I tend to examine them in the frame of psychological/biological processes for the most part. I don't think that this method of inquiry is any less valid or more valid than others, just another angle.
Expanding my view to be more inclusive has also resulted in my eschewing of inquiry in to specific particularities of each religion and, as I stated earlier, attempting to examine them from a more etiological stance. I think, also, because of my background in the brain sciences, I tend to examine them in the frame of psychological/biological processes for the most part. I don't think that this method of inquiry is any less valid or more valid than others, just another angle.
