Religion: A Cultural Influence

In today's world it is easy to go with the flow, to believe things because that's what society tells you to believe. In the United States, especially in the Bible Belt of the South, Christianity is the most common religion. But that's not the only one out there even though many people aren't aware of what's in their own backyard. Here, if a person grows up a Christian, they remain a Christian their whole life; maybe they will become a solid Christian who goes to church every week and prays often, or maybe they will be more of a nominal Christian who does not really participate in church, yet still considers themselves a part of the religion. It is a rarity to find an individual who seriously questions their faith and why they believe what they believe. One reason for the lack of questioning could be the general social acceptance of the faith. If someone walks into church and says they are questioning the teachings of the church and need to work out for themselves why they are a Christian (this is applicable for all religions, not just Christianity), their fellow laymen and the ministers will probably not jump for joy. You just don't do that.

However, I personally believe that a questioning and reasoning out of why you believe what you believe is necessary in order to be fully in your faith. Know why you believe will make you a stronger follower and enhance the religious experience.

Think about it from this point of view. If you are born in a country where the primary religion is Hindu, but your family is Christian, it would be much harder to keep the will to remain a Christian. It would be the easiest thing in the world to convert to Hinduism and do what the majority of the population is doing. In this situation it is necessary to make sure you really know why you believe what you do, because if you don't there's not much reason to believe it. You are not doing the easy thing, but the hard thing: not letting your surrounding culture affect what you believe to be right.

Every person we have interviewed thus far have said that they believe the culture and the environment that a person grew up in is one of the, if not the deciding factor for a person's religious beliefs. In the opinion of the interviewees, if someone is born here in the southern "Bible belt", and their parents are typical Christians, then they will be Christian regardless of any other factor. They will be born into a Christian home, environment, and culture, and they have basically no other choice but to be Christian. I have probed this farther with several people and asked whether they believed that just applied to the United States, or whether that was world-wide. The general consensus has been that it is world wide.

So, for example, if someone is born in India, then they will most likely be Hindu. If someone is born in the middle east, they will most likely be Muslim. But what happens if someone is born where there is no outside religious influence? The two common answers have been, "I don't know" and "then is depends on what the family of that person believes". Does that mean that religion is not a personal decision? If that is the case, then the entire last post is null because it wouldn't matter if someone shared their religion with others because that is not the influencing factor. On the other hand, every person we have interviewed has expressed the need for religion to be a personal decision, not influenced by any other factors than individual choice.

It seems to me that this catches us in a type of double bind, where on one side we hear that religion is influenced by outside factors, and on the other side we hear that it needs to be influenced by personal discovery. The interviewees so far have also admitted little knowledge of the other religions besides the basics, so how do they know that they have chosen the right path for them? Even if they did all the research they could, a person can't help but compare their findings to what they already know and to their own religious beliefs, so the learning will be biased.


How do we get past this paradox?

Let's think for just a minute about the major religions of the world. Besides the ones most people have heard of (Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam), there are innumerable other religions. The East Asian Religions like Confucianism is just one example. Even within a religion there are divisions and sects. These religions are present everywhere, not just the country of origin. For example, in Spartanburg alone there are Christian churches of at least 5 denominations that I can name off the top of my head, a Hindu temple, synagogues, a mosque, and a Buddhist population.

In her book A New Religious America, Diana Eck describes the new religious setting of America, one in which religions that have never had much contact are now interacting on a daily basis. In this new religious era, many people are unaware of the beliefs of Sikhs or Muslims and many have never visited a mosque or Hindu or Buddhist temple. Yet despite are extreme lack of knowledge, we are willing to say that "Muslims" (as a collective term) are extremists who will resort to anything have their message heard, when in actuality that couldn't be farther from the truth. Our society has developed a set of stereotypes that have spread from the secular world into the religious world- it is these stereotypes that we intend to identify and set straight.

Eck goes on to point out that the diversity in America gives us the opportunity to study the dynamics of various faiths. Whereas in years past study of Buddhism would have only been possible through books and firsthand knowledge through traveling to the areas of the world where it originated, the playing field is in our backyard. It is easier now than ever before to walk down the street and experience something completely different than anything we are used to. This is an opportunity that people should take advantage of.

Religion (no matter how hard the government may try to fight it) is a big part of our culture and helps shapes us and the world around us whether we're aware of it or not. The study of world religions allows us to understand what's going on around us- the situation with the Dalai Lama in Tibet, wars between Pakistan and Israel, and wars between the Shia and Sunni Muslims, and countless other disputes. I think it's as necessary a topic as science or math- it's just a matter of time before people realize that.