Essay Sample on Religion: Increasing or Decreasing as a Political and Social Force?

Introduction

There have been increasing arguments on whether religion is increasing or declining as a political and social force. On one hand, many theorists believe in secularization, the idea of modernity causing a decline in religion from worldly affairs, however, religious theorists like Peter L. Berger and Thomas Banchoff, believe that modernity actually loosens social attachments and creates fluidity and more possibilities for religious identification and belonging (Banchoff, 2007). This new phenomenon is referred to as religious pluralism.

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Religious pluralism is the co-existence of different religions and the co-existence of religious and secular discourses. This co-existence occurs both in the minds of individuals and in social space (Berger, 2014). Religious pluralism insists that God created these different religions so that people from different cultures all over the world have access to Him. Therefore, each religion is tailored to fit the needs of all the different communities and groups of believers that it serves.

Because of this ideology, no single religion can be truer than another. For example, Jesus may be the path to God for Christianity but that cannot be said for Buddhism or Hinduism. The moral of the story of religious pluralism is that each faith represents only one small part of a larger truth about God.

Opponents of religious pluralism would say that each religion is wrong in the sense that they believe that their path is the only way to God because they lack exposure to other beliefs. Opponents would also argue that pluralism is irrational because you can rarely apply it in other contexts. This is why I have chosen Hinduism as an example of how different religions can coexist and take their believers on different paths while still reaching one truth. I will explore how Hinduism reinforces pluralist ideals by encouraging believers to have faith in the fact there is more than one path to God.

Hinduism can be best described as a way of life instead of a religion. A Hindu can be a diverse range of people. Some of the Hindu believers follow very strict religious rules that govern their whole existence while others do not follow any gods whatsoever but can still abide by Hindu philosophy. Hinduism can be broken down into several core beliefs to be more easily understood. Hindus believe in one universal soul known as Brahman who is a formless, genderless entity that is the universe.

Hindus also believe in an immortal individual soul that can be reincarnated after physical death and is dependent on that soul's karma. Karma is the action that the soul participates in and it can be good or bad but it affects what happens to the soul in its next life (Long, 2019). The goal of Hindu life is moksha, or the return back to Brahman. Their soul gets freed from the cycle of life and death.

The governing doctrine of Hinduism is the Vedas which is a culmination of four sacred books of knowledge. Hindus also believe in cyclical time which reveals that time is a series of cycles with no true beginning or end. Although complex, these various beliefs help to understand the Hindu perspective on life.

Hinduism includes a variety of different beliefs. There are many gods and deities that a Hindu can devote their life to but the idea is that they are all manifestations of a single truth (Rinehart, 2004). The Hindu God equivalent goes by the name of Brahman. Brahman is eternal life, consciousness, and the spiritual source that is in all things of the universe.

The key to Hinduism though is that there are many ways to attain moksha, eternal life with Brahman. In the Hindu governing doctrines, the Vedas, it is written that three paths lead to God. Karma yog is the path that leads to God by following one's karma, or one's purpose on earth. Gyaan yog is the path that leads to God by gaining knowledge and being enlightened. Bhakti yog is the path that leads to God through devotion. Pluralism is introduced on this path because devotion can be towards any belief. This includes the God of Christianity or the truths of Buddhism. Hinduism teaches its believers to respect all religions and that there is no preferred path.

To understand why Hinduism is a pluralist religion, it is critical to understand the four essential goals of Hindu life. It is these four goals that bind Hindu people from different walks of life, meaning that different traditions can exist within the Hindu religion as long as they teach that life should be guided by these four fundamental goals (Organ, 1998). Hinduism teaches that the objective of life is four-fold: to achieve Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha.

Dharma can be translated to mean virtue or truth. The concept of dharma is central to both Buddhism and Hinduism. It is considered the power that upholds the world and keeps the universe balanced on a cosmic level. Hence, both animate and inanimate things are considered to have dharma in that a rock's dharma is to be a rock. For a Hindu, dharma means choosing to live a ritually and ethically correct life, depending on their stage of life, caste and the person (Organ, 1998). For example, the dharma of a Brahmin is to sacrifices correctly.

Artha is translated to mean success or abundance. This concept is closely associated with the householder stage in the life of a Hindu man. It is a period that extends between when a man marries up to the point when his first grandchild is born. During this time, a man is supposed to focus on providing for his family.

Hence, Artha is a time of accumulation of material abundance. Hence, the religion encourages monetary gain and ethical pursuit of wealth because the individual is merely seeking artha. This is an important stage in the pursuit of escaping the cycle of rebirth or samsara.

All Hindu traditions also pursue kama. Kama means desire. While this concept doe not solely refer to sexual desire alone, sexual desire and pleasure is a part of the concept of kama. As a whole, kama is composed of aesthetic and sensual pleasures (Organ, 1998). Consequently, it is the goal of every Hindu person to have a deep appreciation of dance, sex, poetry, music, and arts.

However, the enjoyment and pursuit of these pleasures must always be carried out in a virtuous manner. Hence, hedonism and adultery are condemned in Hindu life. To truly and virtuously embrace kama, a Hindu must both receive and give kama in a roughly equal manner. For example, a person can create a work of art or perform a dance to others as a way of giving kama.

Lastly, all Hindu people are connected by the concept of Moksha. This is arguably the pinnacle of a Hindu life. Moksha means release and is often the ultimate objective of most Buddhists and Hindus. By achieving moksha, a person has essentially achieved enlightenment.

As a result, when the current kama is spent, that person will not be reborn after death, instead, joining with the divine. For those Hindus who belong to the Hare Krishna tradition, achieving enlightenment joining the divine means serving Krishna in a spiritual and perfect form after death.

These four concepts are critical and binding to every Hindu of every tradition. Of course, some of the goals are easier than others. For example, as Moon (2019), explains, kama is easier because it comes naturally to most people. Besides, despite the difficulty of achieving moksha, achieving this final goal of life does not discourage Hindus from all walks of life from pursuing it because the reward of eternal peace is believed to be worth the effort.

Hinduism covers a large number of practices and behaviors. As a result, there are different schools of thought and traditions, all of them with unique customs and faiths. There are several main varieties of Hinduism including vaishnavism, shaivism, shaktism, and smartha. Vaishnavism is by far the denomination with the most followers across the globe (Moon, 2019).

The adherents of the vaishnavism sect primarily worship the preserver god Vishnu. This god manifested himself in the world as a youthful blue-skinned deity, and is commonly associated with compassion. Believers in this sect hold that Vishnu is the beginning and the end of everything in the world, even believing that the Hindu creator god, Brahma, was born from Vishnu. Hence, to them, Vishnu created the creator.

The second largest Hindus sect is Shaivism. It is the second largest denomination of Hinduism. The followers worship Shiva, the god of destruction. However, rather than a malicious destroyer, Shiva is a transformer. As a result, he acts as a god of balance and a part of the Hindu trinity of Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma (Moon, 2019). However, worshipers of Shiva believe that Shiva created everything.

Believers try to find the mid-point between renunciation, being part of the material world and separating oneself from the material world. This search is guided by meditation and Shiva is often portrayed meditating and with a third eye. This eye, unlike any other Hindu gods is assumed to be looking inward in search of pure consciousness.

The worshipers of Shaktism focus on the worship of the great goddess as well as her many forms. Typically, this goddess is referred to as Devi. Believers of this sect adhere to the sacredness of the text "Greatness of Devi." Believers hold that the great goddess was created to kill a demon that had a head made of buffalo, who used to terrorize the universe. This demon could not be killed by a man, demonstrating that femininity is not equivalent with weakness (Moon, 2019). Believers regard her as the protector of the universe, just like a mother protects her child. Often, she is depicted alongside Shiva and Shiva is said to be formless without her.

The last of the major Hindu sects is known as Smartha. The followers of this sect follow the philosophy of the unity as advanced by Shankara who tried to unite all Hinduism under the banner of Advaita. However, as Ninan (2008) points out, this is less a personal approach and more of a philosophical approach.

Believers of the sect accept that all the major deities of Hindu as forms of one Brahman in contrast to the other three major sects. Because they accept all major Hindu gods, the believers are known as nonsectarian or liberal. Their view and belief is based on the recognition that God is the highest principle in the universe, and, therefore, pervades all of existence. Hence, the Hindu sects are so diverse and accommodating at the same time that various sects share deities and some of them even go ahead to worship all the major Hindu gods.

To build the possibility of coexistence between religions believers must be willing to accept the fact that different religions and different religious practices do not take away from one's faith. People seem to not be afraid of these differences but instead think that these differences will harm them in some way.

Most religions serve the same purpose, to give meaning to life, and this common ground needs to be better understood. People need to realize that in the greater scheme of things, all religions have some values that can be universally accepted. Religious pluralism will be able to thrive if people take the extra step to educate themselves about other religions. No matter how small, just making an effort to understand a different perspective can open a whole new way to see and experience the world.

Works Cited

Banchoff, T. F. (2007). Democracy and the new religious pluralism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Berger, P. L. (2014). The many altars of modernity: Toward a paradigm for religion in a pluralist age. Boston: De Gruyter.

Long, J. D. (2019). Perspectives on reincarnation: Hindu, Christian, and Scientific. Basel, Switzerland: MDPI.