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Comparative Religions

Comparative Religions: Reflection Essay

Luckily we live in a country where we are free to express ourselves religiously however we choose to. I was born into the Greek Orthodox branch of Christianity and have remained a Christian my entire life. Different religions have always interested me; I have even studied extremely different beliefs than my own such as Paganism and Wicca. As noted in the textbook, there are eight different elements in which religious beliefs can manifest, such as: A belief system, community, central myths, rituals, an ethical system, emotional experiences, material expressions of religion and sacredness. (Malloy, 2010, p. 6) Some people may feel that their religious beliefs are larger influenced by each of these eight elements, while others may only be influenced by a select few.
I grew up in a very Christian household. My mother was a Christian, that’s what she always said even though she was Roman Catholic. I later learned that she meant she had strong beliefs in Christianity, while not adhering to some of the Roman Catholic beliefs. I would strongly agree that the element of community really played a significant factor on my initial belief in Christianity. Since I was surrounded by an entire family whose belief was in Christianity and around people that talked constantly about Jesus Christ being our savior, I was heavily persuaded into the belief system that is Christianity. As I was raised, my family would tell me great, central myths, about Jesus and our religion. I learned about the Ten Commandments, Adam and Eve, the creation of our universe and the guidelines by which I was to lead my life, in respect to God. These myths were fascinating to me, even as a young child! I couldn’t get enough; I would constantly ask my Mother to explain in more details about what she knew, as I was not into reading the bible yet because of my age. As I became an adult I gained more knowledge as to what ethics would mean to me in regards to my religion. In Christianity, ethics in my opinion are pretty straight forward. We were given the Ten Commandments in which to lead our lives in regards to. It gives a great jumping off point as to how and where to focus our energy in our lives. I learned at a young age that not all of these commandments were very easy to stick to 100% of the time. I strayed time and time again as a teenager and young woman. In Christianity you learn that God is a forgiving God, which you can pray and if you sincerely mean it, ask for forgiveness. However there is a difference between praying and asking for forgiveness for an error in judgment compared to, knowingly doing something you shouldn’t, knowing you could pray and ask for forgiveness to cleanse yourself of those sins. This is where I feel the ethics element comes best into play. While Christianity doesn’t require some extreme measures, as eating only fruit, or watching out for microscopic insects before you walk, it does require a certain level of integrity and commitment to God that you have to be willing to envelope yourself in and take on accountability for your actions.
Several years ago, after my second divorce, I realized that I was not living my life up to God’s standards. I prayed and meditated on it for weeks. I read the bible, studied online, took long walks until I suddenly felt something, an emotional experience if you will. I felt the need to change my life, now, before it was too late. I remember it as if it were yesterday. I was sitting on my couch, thinking and praying, and wondering what to do with my life and my three young daughters when it washed over me. I was thinking about death, ironically, and how much I would miss my children when a sudden horror filled my body. It wasn’t even thoughts of hell fire, Satan, or the common stereotypical things one might think of in this situation. It was the fear of thinking of me deceased and everything ceasing to exist. I still had so many questions, about myself, the universe, and really wanted to be able to look upon my children from Heaven. However, the fear of my life basically being like a television turning off for the very last time, and ceasing to exist, either physically, or spiritually scared me deep down to my core. I can’t explain it; it was something I will never forget. To me, I would rather be in Hell with everlasting thirst that can’t be quenched and burned with chains of fire than, ceasing to exist in its entirety. I feel God showed me this, to alert me to how wrong I had indeed been living my life. I attribute my entire religious turnaround to that day. Since then I am able to pray and actually feel God’s love washing over me. I see my prayers answered on a daily basis and feel complete.
To summarize my own religious journey, the elements that are most influential to me, would be community, central myths, ethics and emotional experiences.
There are several newer religious movements out there these days. In my past I had studied up on Wicca. I definitely feel there is a completely different emphasis on certain elements within that religion than Christianity.
Wicca is a newer religion and considers itself a Neo-Pagan, earth-centered religion. While it does follow many of the same rituals and elements of Paganism, it stresses more of the lighter areas of witchcraft and magic. The Wiccans belief system was started by Gerald Gardner. He created this branch of neo-paganism in 1951 once acts were passed that allowed him to do so without being prosecuted. He believed that he, himself, had been reincarnated. The Wicca Religion is quite different from Christianity. They worship Gods and Goddesses; have rituals, offerings and different celebrations in their belief system. Rituals, in my opinion, would be the most heavily weighed element. Rituals in Wicca and Paganism in general are vast and numerous. They believe magick to be similar to prayer in Christianity or meditation in Hinduism. They do spell magick with a k at the end to differentiate themselves from the types of magic used for entertainment purposes. (“All about religion”, 2010). They do claim their witchcraft has nothing to do with Satan, or satanic cults, but in love and peace offerings to their Gods and Goddesses. Many people connect Wicca and Paganism to Satanism which are all different religions in and of them. Wiccans practice witchcraft with knowledge they have learned through their community and central myths. They use it as offerings to the Gods and Goddesses for health, mental, love, and peace, medical as well as countless other reasons. Since the religion is so knew, and greatly misunderstood, most of the elements that have a large impact in this religion are the community, ethics, central myths and ritual elements. The Wiccan Rede states, “If ye harm none, do as ye will.” This is the basic principal the entire Wicca religion is run on. Obviously this religion is only sixty years old and has a lot of evolving to do, to even compare to complex old religions such as Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and etcetera. As for myself, I think I will stick to a religion that boasts salvation, a real savior and an eternity I can look forward to, reincarnation as the Wiccans believe, well, it’s just not for me.

References:
The Wiccan Man. 2010. Retrieved July 21st, 2012 from www.titanictown.plus.com/titanictown/wiccaman.htm
Wicca Religion the basics. 2002. Retrieved July 21st 2012 from http://www.allaboutreligion.org/wicca-religion.htm
Molly, Michael (2010). Experiencing the world’s religions 5th edition

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