How did you decide which religion is correct?

I have studied a lot of religions. I have read the Bible(Judaism and Christianity), the Quran(Islam), the Guru Granth Sahib(Sikh) the Vedas(Hindu), Buddhist Sutras(Buddhism) and many new-age religions and sects.

The criteria I have for evaulating a religion is as follows:

1) Does it contain facts that I can test either empirically or through pure reason?
2) Is it positive? Does it promote values like universal love, peace, compassion, charity, wisdom?
3) Is it spiritual i.e, does it promote independent and critical thinking, does it recognise the the spirit and its potential?
4) It is scientific? Does science contradict it or compliment it?

I instantly start by rejecting all the Abrahamic religions which are really just satanism in disguise. They fail on all counts

1) They do not contain facts, just beliefs
2) They are not positive, they preach fear and damnation and have a history of violence
3) They are not spiritual, they preach blind faith and submission to priesthood
4) They are not scientific, they are irrational

I did not have to think twice in rejecting Abrahamic religion. I then started looking at the Dharmic religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Tantra and the religions closely related to them Taoism and Gnostic sects like Christian Mysticism, Kabbala, Sufism and Neoplatonism. Instantly one can see the difference in general quality

1) They contain facts, they are not just beliefs
2) They are mostly positive, they teach love, perfection and freedom
3) They are spiritual, they teach independent thinking and self-inquiry
4) They are scientific in their approach, they encourage self-inquiry and reason

However, all these religions are corrupted, so I have to anaylse them closer and look at each sect again using the same criteria

Taoism

1) It contains facts, in that it is based on life directly, but they tend to be in the form of of cryptic statements and poems.
2) It is beyond all human distinctions such as, perfection and freedom, for taoism it is the way that transcends all and harmony is what we must strive for. This perhaps makes Taoism a bit impersonal, but not as impersonal as say Zen Buddhism.
3) It is spiritual, but too society based. There should be more focus on the individual.
4) Taoism promotes meditation and living in the now. This is very liberating. It is scientific in that it promotes observation of the world and to understand the underlying cosmic laws of the way.

Sikhism

1) It is mainly beliefs - it a theistic religion. This is a turn off for me.
2) It is very positive: it promotes equality, women rights and distributes food for free. It is a very social-based religion, unfortunately that aspect has taken over modern Sikhism It also has inherited "fear god" teachings from Islam.
3) It is spiritual in that it promotes meditation on god's name but it does in a ritualistic manner and again borrows prayer rituals from Islam.
4) It is not a very scientific religion and its followers do not tend to be intellectually orientated.

Sikhism is like the Dharmic theistic equivalent of Islam and Christianity but far more spiritual and positive.

Neoplantoism and Gnositicism

1) It is mainly beliefs, but many beleifs which are actually supported by philosophy and some which are true.(Such as the existence of the astral body)
2) It is positive in that is self-empowering, but has very negative attitudes towards the world which is says is created by a demon.
3) It is very spiritual in that it promotes gnosis
4) It is not a very scientific religion, because of its speculative nature

Sufism is Islamic Gnosticism only that it differs from Western Gnosticism in that it does not consider the world to be evil. Sufism is actually a very beautiful and sublime religion. It is very positive and spiritual. The only element it lacks is logical thinking.

Buddhism

1) It is mainly facts, based on pure logical reasoning and observation. It is very empirical.
2) It promotes positive values, but it's mostly neutral. Too much neutrality impersonalizes it and makes it nihilistic.
3) Most schools of Buddhism reject the existence of the soul, so therefore it does not recognise ones independent essence. This is why I pefer Mahayana Buddhism because it does not hold the dogmatic doctrine of anatman.
4) Buddhism is more philosophy than science. It is a very skeptical philosophy and sometimes it can come across as sophistry.

Hinduism, as there are a gazillion sects, I will just deal with the main ones

Dvatia Hinduism(devotional Hinduism)

1) It is all beliefs, there is no component of of reasoning. It is all sentiment based.
2) It is very positive in the sense that it promotes pure love, but it also promotes blind faith and superstititon.
3) It seems to be more aimed at ones emotional being, than spiritual being. It is far too ritualistic and involves too much worship using dance and praying to idols. To me this is repulsive.
4) No science at all. It's all just worship.

To me Dvatia Hinduism(includes Vaishnavism, Shaktism, Shivaism, Hare Krishna) seems to be a childish and naive religion and more pitched at the illterate and poor.

Advaita Hinduism(Scientfic Hinduism) aka Vedic religion

1) It is all facts, not a single belief. Everything has been arrived at through vigorous observation and reason
2) It is very positive but human. It promotes noble values like wisdom, compassion, charity, honesty, valour, while at the same time respecting all human needs.
3) It is totally aimed at ones spiritual being. It promotes self-analysis, experimenting and developing ones intelligence to think clearly and acutely. If there is an element of worship it is reverence for nature and knowledge.
4) It is the most scientific religion in existence. It has created its own systems of scientific logic, metaphysics, physics, psychology, mathematics, economy, politics. It is a knowledge-culture .

The only drawback of Vedic religion is that it is so intellectual and advanced that most people would be scared of it. One must have a very scientific disposition to understand it.

If I were to ranks the religions in order of their value(high to low) I would say:

Vedic religion
Buddhism and Jainism
Sufism
Taoism
Sikhism
Gnosticism
Christianity
Judaism
Islam

Note: Please do not be offended by my post. I do not carry a reverential attitude to religion. I think religion can be categorised, analysed, evaulated and ranked like anything in the world. This is all according to my opinion.

[edit on 7-5-2009 by Indigo_Child]

How did you decide which religion is correct?

I applied Occam's Razor, which states that all things being equal, the simplest solution is probably the correct one. In this case, the simplest and most logical answer is that NONE of the world's religions are correct.

reply to post by Ambient Sound


That's just really refusing to use your intelligence to discriminate between religions. I find people who say all religion are the same to be intellectually lazy. If you studied religion academically you would become aware that they are not all the same at all, and they have very different tenets, philosophies, histories, values, teachings etc. Even a superficial reading of, say the Quran vs the Buddhist Sutras will show you that they are not the same.

I chose "You are the Master of Your Own Destiny" religion.

What you think, speak, and feel creates your world.

Why did I choose that? Experience.

To each your own though.

I beleive that all religions have some peices of the bigger picture but they are all incomplete. That being said is why I chose the ecletic Wicca/pagan beliefs because there's the freedom to take those parts that ring true for us from other belief systems and disregard those that don't. But yet even in that I still do not know all religions and their beliefs, though I have studied a large portion of them and adapted them in my system. I don't think that is ever possible for any one person to do, because I beleive that it is not meant for us to know the entirety of it all until we are ready, as a whole, to move on to enlightenment.

I believe the question was how did I decide which one was correct. That is the question I answered. My belief is that all organized religions have one basic thing in common. They are all quite likely to be wrong.

What value is there in making comparisons between many different incorrect belief systems?

reply to post by Ambient Sound


Your first statement was that they are all the same; they're not.
Your second statement is that they are wrong? How can you know they are wrong without studying them and how can you know what they are wrong on?

What is the point of Religious Studies which is a respectable and popular field studied at most major universities?

Please try to desist from making ignorant statements about things you have not studied and undermine those who have.

[edit on 7-5-2009 by Indigo_Child]

I didn't chose my religion I was born into it.

But I have researched many others.

Well, that makes me need to reply.

No one has the time to study all religions. You have your main ones yes, that you could take the time to study.

But what about the lesser ones? The so called "cults" for one example. How about what the Pygmies worship? Or the Indian culture?

Are you seriously going to digest all of that and come to a decision about what religion is correct?

Have fun with that, let us know how it turns out for you.

Originally posted by wclv13
Well, that makes me need to reply.

No one has the time to study all religions. You have your main ones yes, that you could take the time to study.

But what about the lesser ones? The so called "cults" for one example. How about what the Pygmies worship? Or the Indian culture?

Are you seriously going to digest all of that and come to a decision about what religion is correct?

Have fun with that, let us know how it turns out for you.

No I am just flat out confused

However I did glean from each religion I skimmed through some things of beauty.

[edit on 113131p://bThursday2009 by Stormdancer777]

reply to post by wclv13


I have looked at Native American Indian religon too. I am actually quite drawn to it for some reason. I love nature religions and Native American is as close to nature as you will get.

Anyway I do not expect people to research every religion on the planet, but if people go around making statements like "All religions are the same" and "All religions are wrong" then of course I expect them to have researched every religion, or every major religion at least, else their statement is patently an ignorant one.

Religion is actually a wonderful and fascinating subject of study. You really do learn a lot by reading on various religions. It can be enlightening, insightful, stimulating or just interesting. Learning about diverse cultures and their spiritual cultures can be very rewarding and mind-expanding.

[edit on 7-5-2009 by Indigo_Child]

Absolutely agree that studying anything, religion, history, physics, basketweaving, et al. Is a good thing!

Yet, if someone comes to the conclusion that their studying leads them to believe that it is all BS, hey, that is what they got out of it and that is cool.

It is all pieces of the puzzle. Question is, do you try to make the puzzle whole from the outside in, or inside out?

Or better yet, toss out the puzzle pieces and just go your own way?

reply to post by RubberBaron


Why not just convert to all of them?

www.youtube.com...

(contains irony)

Originally posted by karl 12
reply to post by RubberBaron

 

Why not just convert to all of them?

www.youtube.com...

(contains irony)

thank you karl, too funny

I have to go sacrifice a goat, BBL.


[edit on 113131p://bThursday2009 by Stormdancer777]

Originally posted by Indigo_Child
reply to post by Ambient Sound

 

Your first statement was that they are all the same; they're not.
Your second statement is that they are wrong? How can you know they are wrong without studying them and how can you know what they are wrong on?

What is the point of Religious Studies which is a respectable and popular field studied at most major universities?

Please try to desist from making ignorant statements about things you have not studied and undermine those who have.

[edit on 7-5-2009 by Indigo_Child]

Well, first, I do not claim knowledge. I state what I believe. I never said that all religions are wrong. I said I believe they are wrong. I leave false certainty to those who allow themselves to be decieved by it.

You asked a question in this thread. I gave you an honest answer. If I had known that you only wanted responses that agree with what you think, I would not have bothered.

Enjoy whatever delusion you are trying to promote here.

reply to post by wclv13


Go your own way, always. You can never be sure what the intent of another person truly is.

All religions, if used right, can be "correct". That's what people should understand. They are like tools, its not the tool that is important, its what you do with it and your personal experience.

reply to post by ghaleon12


Well said!

reply to post by Ambient Sound



Well, what you believe is wrong. All religions are not the same. This is a fact.

Deny ignorance, eh?

[edit on 7-5-2009 by Indigo_Child]

Originally posted by ghaleon12
All religions, if used right, can be "correct". That's what people should understand. They are like tools, its not the tool that is important, its what you do with it and your personal experience.

I am not sure about that, some head hunters were known to eat their dead, as a spiritual ritual.