Celebrating Religious Diversity
By Lachie Dalitz
8 Aspects Of Religion
Sacred Stories- Stories written to explain how things work or to deliver a message
Religious beliefs- The thought that there is an ultimate reality after life. It is also what the religion holds sacred or important
Religious Experience- There are two kinds of religious experience. Direct, Where you have a direct vision or similar experience, and mediated, which is when a group experiences it, eg. going to church.
Religious Ritual- A repetitive action or tradition that is sacred to the religion
Social Structure- The Heirachy of the religion. Also the events and sacred places within the religion.
Sacred Symbols- Images or items that represent something sacred to the religion
Religious Ethics- The values that a religion has along with what they find to be right or wrong
Comparing Catholicism with Buddhism
Sacred Stories- The catholic church has the many stories in the old testament, whereas the buddhists have many stories of peace, harmony and sacrafice.
Religious Beliefs- The catholic religion believes in God the father, God the son, and God the Holy Spirit. The buddhists, however, believe in reincarnation and the path to enlightenment. They believe that the better you are in life, the better your reincarnation will be.
Religious Experience- In the catholic church you can go to a church to have a religious experience with other people, whereas the buddhists don't even have to leave their home because they often have shrines in their home and they also meditate.
Religious Ritual- The catholic church has many, many rituals such as the way that everyone comes up to receive communion, also the many events throughout the year such as Christmas, Easter. The Buddhists live life as a ritual, everything they do is a ritual to get to enlightenment.
Social Structure- The catholic church has many events throughout the year including Easter, Christmas and Good Friday. The Buddhists have Vesak (Buddah's Birthday), Songkran (A festival that goes on for several days) and many others, but it depends on which denomination of the Buddhist religion you are as to what events you celebrate.
Sacred Symbols- The catholic church has many symbols such as a dove for peace and also a flame symbolises Jesus. The buddhist religion also has many symbols, such as an eight spoked wheel to symbolise the cycle of life and reincarnation and also the eightfold path. There is also the Buddah Eyes which look out in four directions on buddhist shrines to represent the all seeing of Buddah.
Religious Ethics- The catholic church lives their lives by the teachings in the bible, it tells them what is right or wrong to do. The buddhist religion lives their lives, however, by the teachings of the eightfold path to reach enlightenment.