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[freeformschooler]

I am actually learning a lot here, and liking the ways of thought being presented more and more.

Also, is there just West vs East major groups? What else could happen as once people always says infinite possibility of believes existed, why we get all these giant groups with narrow believes?

I don't have an "educated answer" but I can say I believe this is because of human nature. Divide and conquer: people have been shown time and time again to, rather than follow their own belief system, desire/find it more easy to just attach to something similar to what they already believe, for whatever reason, and perhaps follow along with whatever else is imposed on them by the group as a whole.

[Leafsnail]

I suppose I don't believe in eastern religions for the same reasons I don't believe in western religions - I haven't seen any evidence that any of them are true.  Since to believe something I have to think that it's likely to be true... well, I can't really get off square one there.

There could be some interesting ideas in it though, I guess.  I'll try looking at some of them.

As for why apparently monolithic religions exist... I think it's a form of evolution.  The beliefs that are around today are the successful beliefs that were passed on.  Beliefs which contain clauses that keep them similar and have ways of avoiding influence from other beliefs ("Thou shalt not have any other god but me" being a prime example) are maintained more easily, and don't gradually turn into lots of unrecognizable splinter religions.  Historically, they've also been easier to enforce either legally ("you must follow this religion") or socially (society expects you to follow this religion).

[freeformschooler]

A++ on the misquoting there, just because that's a lot better than what I actually said.

[Jackrabbit]

There could be some interesting ideas in it though, I guess.  I'll try looking at some of them.

You should. I don't want to preach (Ha-HA, terrible puns!), but you don't have to believe in any religion to benefit from it. Having a strong understanding of world religions can only be benefitial.

[Korbac]

There could be some interesting ideas in it though, I guess.  I'll try looking at some of them.

You should. I don't want to preach (Ha-HA, terrible puns!), but you don't have to believe in any religion to benefit from it. Having a strong understanding of world religions can only be benefitial.

Hence why we have compulsory R.E. classes until college in Britain. It's not like the government wants you to pick a religion, just that respecting that of others can only be beneficial. (For example, if I had not learned bacon was forbidden to muslims, I might have made the horrible faux pas of offering them some.)

EDIT: Probably not Barbarossa, you sound more educated. It's always good to know. I do remember my year 9 project being to have to design a multidenominational christian church. Doing that would cost quite a bit!

[Jackrabbit]

There could be some interesting ideas in it though, I guess.  I'll try looking at some of them.

You should. I don't want to preach (Ha-HA, terrible puns!), but you don't have to believe in any religion to benefit from it. Having a strong understanding of world religions can only be benefitial.

Hence why we have compulsory R.E. classes until college in Britain. It's not like the government wants you to pick a religion, just that respecting that of others can only be beneficial. (For example, if I had not learned bacon was forbidden to muslims, I might have made the horrible faux pas of offering them some.)

Huh, we have compulsory R.E. until one year before University but that's because we're a Catholic private school.

Yeah, it's... well, it's not really as broad as what you probably do but at least it gave me an interest in reading into other religions. I've Qur'an beside me right now (my father's an expert in Halal meat and got given two as gifts).

[freeformschooler]

One time at the Unitarian church I go to, I had a Muslim preacher/speaker/pastor (I don't remember what they're called but I think it wasn't one of those) educate us all about Islam. The best part was he wasn't trying to convert anyone or anything -- just educate. After hearing the whole thing, I felt guilty. I felt guilty for myself buying into all the newsmedia hype for the last 10 or so years, and guilty for every single person who genuinely believes that a simple religion is all it takes to make someone truly evil.

[Vector]

An Imam, you mean?

Yeah, I studied Arabic for two years.  I don't remember much of the language, because I didn't get very far--but what I do remember was the kindness of the people who taught me.

[Jackrabbit]

If I had the choice of just straight-up learning two languages completely without any effort, I'd learn Arabic and Hebrew, because they're absolutely beautiful.

For utility, conventional logic dictates that I learn Mandarin Chinese, French and German*, and that's where I'm starting. But if I ever have the time, I'm learning Arabic and Hebrew.

*I could get by without these two but hey, Europe has always fascinated me.

[freeformschooler]

Yeah, Vector, it was an Imam. I think he was touring around America some, and I could tell he'd already had some bad experiences.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I did some research on some of the eastern religions after falling out of Christianity, but found no more evidence there than in any other system of faith. Still interesting ito learn about in comparison to the Abrahamic faiths.

[Leafsnail]

Hence why we have compulsory R.E. classes until college in Britain. It's not like the government wants you to pick a religion, just that respecting that of others can only be beneficial. (For example, if I had not learned bacon was forbidden to muslims, I might have made the horrible faux pas of offering them some.)

I'd say the curriculum was actually pretty good at promoting tolerance without putting it in your face too much.  The stuff about the 5 pillars of Islam especially was very interesting and useful in showing the core beliefs of Muslims (I'm also considering putting some sort of self imposed zakat on my earnings in future).

[darkflagrance]

From my experiences (I gave up classifying my beliefs. I usually say universal Gnostic) the west has, as a culture, no understanding of Zen, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism (aside from jokes about jelly beans), Shinto, Jainism, Sikhism... the list goes on.

In my opinion, there's a large difference between eastern thought (which I call philosophy and/or spirituality) and western religion (religion). The primary difference being the three major western religions (Judaism, Islam, Christianity) are external in nature. There is a series of rules that govern what you do, and if you follow every single one (or, for most, the ones that are important/the ones most other people follow) you get a single grand reward when you die, and go to some good place. If you don't, you go to a bad place when you die. Semantics and details aside, that's the core of each.

Not only that, there seems to be a lack of desire among these three to even understand each other, or subgroups of the same label. (What's the difference between Sunni and Shiite? Orthodox and reform? Baptist, Pentecostal, Anglican, Catholic?)

There isn't terribly much room for self-examination here. You either follow rules, or not. However, you mention combinations of eastern and western beliefs. This has happened before (Sufism, Thomas Aquinas, classical Gnosticism and Unitarian Universalism come to mind), but never in a large group of organized people.

I hope I answered at least part of your question, let me know what parts weren't clear.

Quite informative actually. But I always wonder why some religion spread as it is now. Why isn't there proto-Buddhism in the west, or is it once a group of religions settled, them are stabilized to the general populations till new needs arise. We have all this time in the history to blend in different religions why isn't it a common theme? Also, is there just West vs East major groups? What else could happen as once people always says infinite possibility of believes existed, why we get all these giant groups with narrow believes? Causing by the nature of human mind? or if history is set off in different directions, a religious belief like native American believes in partially animals/natural blend in with spiritual, also can rise up as major religion? just happen they develop in the wrong place, in the wrong time? Or we are destine to have monotheism?

The divide isn't between religions geographically. It's between two fundamentally different religious traditions.

Western religions are really those in the Abrahamic tradition. Eastern ones are the synthesis of the Daoist and Hindu traditions. Because the major religions of the world can be classified into either of the two, based on geographically separate cultures, we have the distinction.

Giant groups with the same beliefs are merely a single culture expanding over a long period of time and assimilating or destroying others.

And I doubt that anyone seriously discussing Western vs Eastern religion would bring into the discussion animism, paganism, wicca, the pantheons of Greece or the Vikings, Mithraism, the beliefs of the Aztecs, etc. They're all religious non-entities in terms of discussions like this.

[de5me7]

my knowledge of eastern philosophies is liimted, having said that, ive read Toa te Ching, and am currently reading the analects of confucius and Chuang Tzu, so i may be better informed at some point. Everything i know about Zen comes from a western book called zen and the art of motorcycle maintainence, which i didnt finish because i didnt rate it that much. The book was essentially using motorcycle maintainence approaches as an analogy for what in the west would be called relativism. relativism is the opposite of absolutism. Most western regions and people (including my self, im a Christian) are absolutist, that is to say we believe in absolute truth. So either is a God or there isnt, either there is a tree in my garden or there isnt. My ability to know which is true might be limited but either one or the other exists. Relativists would say if you experience God he exists, if not he doesn't, if you see the tree it exists vice versa. Truth is simply what you experience. This view is found in the west, more progressive liberal christians, and some very liberal Muslims might take this view (im not this liberal). I dont know whether this is a Zenist view, i didnt finish the book (it was rather drawn out in making its point) but the book implied it was zenist.

Im drawn to taoist philosophy because i see the effects of Qi and am curious about it. Im reading Confucius just as a side line, but its interesting and i tend to agree with his ethics etc. Ive got a copy of the I Ching too, but i dont understand it, your post was useful counting.

as to the east west divide in religion: The three main western religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam all come from the same root, namely Abraham and Yahweh. All three recognise the first few books of the Torah (Jewish text). Why these three have come to dominate the west not 100% sure. Probably a mixture of cultural aggression ( what i mean by this isnt that people of said religions are aggressive but that out reach to non believes is a core part of the message, the logic being when they die they dont go to heaven if they dont believe, so your doing them a favour), older patheon religions didnt to my knowledge have this to such an extent. Similarly im not sure if eastern religions have this focus. Secondly what they offer. Most people are afraid of death, a solution to this problem is attractive. This is a simplification and there are other issues, additionaly im trying to be neutral given my faith.
 
Western faiths are present in the East, both muslims and christians have been present in China's history at any rate, and of course Indonesia is a very Muslim country. Its true that eastern religions are rare in the west, ive met a fair few people with indian faiths that arnt migrants or of indian hertaige. I know from search Tai Chi website on the internet there are religious toaists in the UK, but i cant say how many.

[moocowmoo]

I've been interested in Theravada Buddhism since learning about it in History. In the West we're usually presented with only Zen or Tibetan Buddhism. I like the emphasis in Theravada in trying to preserve and follow the words of Buddha himself rather than secondary sources. Of course it's debatable whether the surviving teachings are actually his words but I find they often ring true in my ears when I'm reading them. My favorite book is the Dhammapada.