Religion 101

Learning about religion is a bit like going camping: you need to have the know-how before you dive in. I went camping once. It was terrible. Want to know why? I had no clue what I was doing. I wore cotton and stayed wet all weekend, I accidently wore perfume and the mosquitos decided to hold a mating season party on my legs, and to boot, I ate a spider thinking it was a milk dud. The latter part has nothing to do with preparedness, but it was too good not to share.

In conclusion, my extensive simile is trying to say that if we're going to study religion, we need to have a basic knowledge of the different kinds we're going to encounter on our way. And there're two big words you've gotta know:

1. vedic

2. abrahamic

The two basic religious/philosophical families are Vedic (philosophy of the east) and Abrahamic (philosophy of the west). No matter what your beliefs are, they came from one of these two families, guaranteed. Crazy, right? Due to my sucky drawing skills and lack of a good religion tree on google image search, I found this amazing video to help you out. Complete with Rush soundtrack. Thanks, Neil Pert. You too, Rush.

Vedic Faiths (Eastern Philosophy)

The Vedic thought system is the most ancient of religious philosophy. Vedic beliefs originated in the Indus Valley over 5,000 years ago and have since branched off into 2 of the 5 major world religions as well as many other important philosophical sects. The tree goes something like this:

Hinduism > Buddhism > Jainism > Sikhism > Daoism > Confucianism > Shinto

Vedic faiths hold predominately to the theories of atman (a spiritual Self), samsara (reincarnation), karma (consequences of action, the consequences being called karmaphala) and perhaps most importantly, moksha (spiritual liberation from suffering)

In general, time is considered circular (repeated again and again) Philosophies center around all existence, no matter human, animal, or plant. All life is equally important. Purpose of life is to achieve higher levels of consciousness through reincarnation.

Of course, every Vedic faith may not include all of the following beliefs, but this is a basic generalization so you can catch the jive. Vedic faiths tend to be more ethereal - more grounded on cosmic philosophy and the mystical nature of the spirit. So mystical you have to learn a new language to understand anything. Vedic faiths are going to be a doosey for us Amuricans, but I promise you, they are beyond worth it. It's okay, you can make flash cards.

Abrahamic Faiths (Western Philosophy)

If you were raised in most any Western nation, this is going to be cake for you. The Abrahamic faiths are, well, based on Abraham. Or, in more general terms, The Torah (Old Testament). You got it:

Judaism > Christianity > Islam

Abrahamic faiths are fundamentally based on the moral principles of the 10 commandments, philosophies of a destination afterlife (Heaven/Hell) and prophets (leaders who communicate directly with God). Although God is, in many of these religions, anywhere and everywhere, time is general considered linear (never repeated).

It is typically more centered around human existence. Humans are God's children, inherited the earth, and are superior to other creatures. The purpose of life is to be free from sin through forgiveness.

Wow, I don't know about you, but my head hurts. You could compare these two families until kingdom come, but the main point here is to give you all a birds-eye view of these 2 different philosophical systems. But guess what? Your foundation is built! You now know the very basics of every religion there is! Yay! On to Zoroastrianism!

Quiz Question: answer in the comment box.

• Is Zoroastrianism a Vedic or Abrahamic faith?

First right answer gets a pony!

Love you all!

Sources:

Vedic and Abrahamic Thought.

Heyer, Megan. (2008, December 12). The vedic faith: an overview. Retrieved from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1269432/the_vedic_faith_an_overview.html?cat=34

Bobby, Standridge (Videographer). (n.d.). Religion family tree[Web]. Available from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUaE0UlGYxE

Introductions

Hi everybody! Welcome to Deity Digest - a new blog for your spiritual curiosity. For more information about me (Haleigh) there's a short autobiography in the right hand side of the page.

Anyway, you may be wondering what this blog is trying to accomplish or why in the world a nerd like me is starting one. So here's the story:

I'm a student at Brigham Young University. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a mormon college. Yes, mormon. As in Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. No, not polygamist. Just mormon. If you're still lost, it's okay, start following my blog! More on mormons later.

In attending said mormon college, I've run into many bright individuals who are very excited by the idea of diversity (who wouldn't be at a college where 91% of the student body is white?) If you ever want to make friends fast at BYU, go in black-face to class and sport a south african accent. Everyone will want to be your friend. I'm not kidding.

Anyways, all that aside, our college is also 98% mormon, with most students having been members of the church all their life. I'd consider my mormon colleagues to be predominantly open minded and eager to learn about other faiths. Upon discussing my own conversion story to the LDS church (see About Me) with other mormons, I almost always get the response: "WOW, that's so interesting! I wish I knew all that about other religions!"

Well unnamed individuals, you have inspired me. This blog is for you. It's an amusing doctrinal paraphrase of just about any religion you could think of (and probably even more that you can't) That being said, it's also a blog for me! I love religion - it is beautiful to me, and I happen to have been around the theological block a few more times than the average person. Here's to sharing, learning and sharing learning!

That being said, we'll start at the very beginning. A very good place to start.