Differences

[JustGeorge]

No matter what kind of belief(or disbelief) you hold, you've probably been misunderstood at some point. You may have declared yourself Muslim/atheist/Buddhist/Asatru and had someone tell you what you believe... but it isn't actually true for you. Sometimes this may even come from people sharing your religious/non religious label!

What are some mistaken beliefs someone has tried to hoist on you?

Is there anything you may differ from in how most (fill in your label here) believe that you feel is worth making known?

 

[Vinayaka]

Most Hindus (many, for sure) think the BG is THE book. I've never read it. Not my sect. But it does demonstrate how advertising and trends affect things over the long term.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

What are some mistaken beliefs someone has tried to hoist on you?

Wouldn't

What are some interesting new perspectives beliefs someone has tried to share with you?​

be a more productive question?

 

[Vinayaka]

Wouldn't

What are some interesting new perspectives beliefs someone has tried to share with you?​

be a more productive question?

It's pretty easier to start a new thread. Just sayin'.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

I am an agnostic. Which means I do not think it possible for humans to know or state anything sensible about deity, especially any sort of universal deity. I am repeatedly told that I must be either a atheistic or theistic agnostic.

I am neither. I reserve judgement on the issue of deity. Could there be one or more deities? Certainly! Could there be no deities at all? Certainly! I neither believe nor disbelieve any of proposed solutions.

 

[JustGeorge]

Wouldn't

What are some interesting new perspectives beliefs someone has tried to share with you?​

be a more productive question?

That's a fair question, but not exactly what I'm getting at.

For an easy example, I spend many years identifying as Pagan. I'd sometimes hear "you worship the devil". "No, my friend, the devil isn't part of my worldview at all!" I didn't really find it an interesting new perspective(especially after I kept running into it), I found it a little frustrating.

Most Hindus (many, for sure) think the BG is THE book. I've never read it. Not my sect. But it does demonstrate how advertising and trends affect things over the long term.

I've had some (perhaps confusing) conversations with Christians and Muslims that Hindus don't relate to the Vedas(usually the one that gets mentioned) in the same way they related to the Bible or Qur'an.

 

[SalixIncendium]

I find people know far too little about Advaita Vedanta, let alone Hinduism, to try to tell me about my beliefs.

The problem I run into is when someone learns I'm not an atheist, that I'm religious, or that I'm a Hindu, they project their western views of what religion is (more often than not, Christian beliefs) onto me. Either that or condemn me outright because I don't worship their god.

 

[ChristineM]

What are some mistaken beliefs someone has tried to hoist on you?

I atheist so I'm immoral and eat babies for breakfast.

Is there anything you may differ from in how most (fill in your label here) believe that you feel is worth making known?

Atheists are people too.

 

[Rival]

- That I believe the Bible is the be all and end all.
- That I hate xyz group.
- That I am anti-medicine.
- That Protestant Christianity is normative and whenever I say something that doesn't fit with what the interlocutor percieves 'true' Christianity to be (Protestantism) that it's niche or madeup. Even many non-Christians have issues with Christian beliefs that aren't in the Bible. It's a bizarre bias.

This kind of stuff is tossed on Christians a lot.

 

[Vinayaka]

I am an agnostic. Which means I do not think it possible for humans to know or state anything sensible about deity, especially any sort of universal deity. I am repeatedly told that I must be either a atheistic or theistic agnostic.

I am neither. I reserve judgement on the issue of deity. Could there be one or more deities? Certainly! Could there be no deities at all? Certainly! I neither believe nor disbelieve any of proposed solutions.

I always find it strange when other people think they know more about you than you do. I think we've all been told what we think some days. It borders on egocentric 'mind reading'.

 

[Vinayaka]

That's a fair question, but not exactly what I'm getting at.

For an easy example, I spend many years identifying as Pagan. I'd sometimes hear "you worship the devil". "No, my friend, the devil isn't part of my worldview at all!" I didn't really find it an interesting new perspective(especially after I kept running into it), I found it a little frustrating.



I've had some (perhaps confusing) conversations with Christians and Muslims that Hindus don't relate to the Vedas(usually the one that gets mentioned) in the same way they related to the Bible or Qur'an.

And yet some liberal Christians would be in the same boat ... never really read the Bible, but still see it as authoritative. In Hinduism, with regard to the Vedas, that's 99% of us.

 

[JustGeorge]

they project their western views of what religion is (more often than not, Christian beliefs) onto me.

What does that look like?

I atheist so I'm immoral and eat babies for breakfast.

Has anyone actually suggested that you(or any other atheist) literally eats babies?

I've heard that one thrown around a lot as a joke; where in the world did it come from?

 

[sun rise]

I rarely mention that along with my belief in Avatar Meher Baba, I'm a member of Sufism Reoriented which Meher Baba gave a charter to. It descends from the Islamic Sufi Chishti lineage prevalent in India but is not an Islamic group. When a new sanctuary was contemplated, there were some who thought we were Islamic because of the word "sufi".

As far as individual opinions go, I'm amazed that people can even communicate minimally with each other. Our minds work so differently that if I say "the sky is blue" someone is liable to say "you're ignoring the clouds" whilst another will say "not really 'blue' but "blue green", another will say "why be concerned about the sky when you're ignoring something critical" and someone else will give a scientific explanation to why the sky appears blue to us.

If that's what comes of considering the color of the sky, imagine what happens with scriptures which are often contradictory

 

[Link]

(1) I believe slavery was never allowed by God from Adam (a) till now: Most Muslims believe slavery was once allowed, some believe it's stilled allowed.

(2) Killing apostates is not allowed and was never allowed by God. Most Muslims unfortunately (going by the scholars view) believe such a rule exists.

(3) Some people (don't know how much) think because God put us nature of the religion of God, we should not seek philosophical or mystical proofs towards main beliefs. I don't hold this view, I hold we are originated upon to verify and search the truth although intuitively we do know God exists and sense a spiritual world.

(4) The nature of faith means no proofs and signs while I believe the Quran talks of faith praised only in terms of acknowledgement of proofs and signs - including signs in ourselves and horizons which are spiritual. However, all type of signs and insights are what form the foundations of faith. I hear this from atheists a lot, they define faith in a way that I don't relate to.

(5) People think the Quran stays the same so they think they understood Quran with some recitations and even think they don't need the Sunnah, ****Staff Edit**** while what I know of it, it morphs in time, for better or worse, depending on what you put into it.

(6) Most Muslims pass over or interpret in a obtuse way - what Quran says about God knowing all the future, there is verses that verify my view that not all future is known for example: "so that God will come to know the strivers from you and will come to know the patient....". I believe if future is all known then neither free-will is possible for God nor creation.

(7) Most people assume I follow scholars, because it's what most Muslims do. I semi-use them, but where there verdicts contradict Quran and goes against hadiths as well, I don't follow them.

 

[JustGeorge]

And yet some liberal Christians would be in the same boat ... never really read the Bible, but still see it as authoritative. In Hinduism, with regard to the Vedas, that's 99% of us.

From what I gather, the Vedas isn't really something to be taken down and to dig for advice from... seems more like a compilation of hymns, lore, and ritual guidance.

I've got a translation... It doesn't quite 'run together'. More like lots of little bits.

 

[ChristineM]

Has anyone actually suggested that you(or any other atheist) literally eats babies?

I've heard that one thrown around a lot as a joke; where in the world did it come from?

Yes but not on RF that o remember. Though there is a very old thread
Why do atheist eat babies?
I think it should have been in the jokes section

There are a few verses in the bible that set the ball rolling... Leviticus 26: 27-29 and Deuteronomy 28:53-57 for example.

 

[SalixIncendium]

What does that look like?

Happens here all the time. Assumptions about belief in afterlife, interactions with deity, what a deity does, etc.

 

[mangalavara]

Most Hindus (many, for sure) think the BG is THE book. I've never read it. Not my sect. But it does demonstrate how advertising and trends affect things over the long term.

It is obvious to me that the BG is a Vaiṣṇava scripture. It is also an important scripture in the Ramakrishna Movement, from what I can tell. The wide influence of the latter movement might explain why a lot of Hindus think of the BG as the central scripture of Hinduism itself.

The problem I run into is when someone learns I'm not an atheist, that I'm religious, or that I'm a Hindu, they project their western views of what religion is (more often than not, Christian beliefs) onto me.

This is also my experience. I’ve heard assumptions from individuals of a Christian background that Hinduism is a faith, that Hindus share a particular set of beliefs, and that we have to do things the right way in order not to provoke the wrath of our deities.

 

[Vinayaka]

It is obvious to me that the BG is a Vaiṣṇava scripture. It is also an important scripture in the Ramakrishna Movement, from what I can tell. The wide influence of the latter movement might explain why a lot of Hindus think of the BG as the central scripture of Hinduism itself.

Indeed I think that is the case as well. Most of the better known groups use it as a key resource. Ironically, Ramakrishna was a Shakta. A universalist shakta, but still. It is also a main scripture for Advaitha Vedantins, probably the most widespread sect/group in the west. It no longer bothers me, though.

 

[Vinayaka]

I find people know far too little about Advaita Vedanta, let alone Hinduism, to try to tell me about my beliefs.

The problem I run into is when someone learns I'm not an atheist, that I'm religious, or that I'm a Hindu, they project their western views of what religion is (more often than not, Christian beliefs) onto me. Either that or condemn me outright because I don't worship their god.

That's because (I think) their entire religious experience was with Christians. So it's natural to them, based on their experience. Fortunately, the world is shrinking.