Comparative Religion

For many people, religion is little more than occasional gestures and rituals. On one extreme are those who reject everything that isn’t their religion and on the other extreme are those who have no beliefs whatsoever. Most are searching for the middle ground. Growing up in parochial schools, I was taught that all other religions were wrong and that I shouldn’t have anything to do with them, or the people who practice other religions.

Through this course, and through my experience as an adult, I have come to learn that almost all religious faiths have a common aim to contribute to society, and to the common good. Almost all preach that we should be tolerant of and respect each other and learn from others. All beings should be able to live in harmony. Religions and personal philosophies that share this belief should be able to co-exist anywhere. Max Ehrmann, in his “Desiderata”, says “Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.” It doesn’t matter if you call your spiritual leader God, Yahweh, Allah, Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, or mankind—the important thing is to serve your community and your self in peace, fellowship, and the common good.

I learned a great deal from this course. I learned that all the religious traditions, regardless of location or time, attempt to interact and communicate with their spiritual leaders, whether that be through meditation, contemplation, or prayer. What struck me was that the oldest prayer in the world (“I have not robbed, I have not caused pain, I have not committed fornication, I have not stirred up strife, I have never cursed God”, etc.) came from the Egyptian Book of the Dead. These are comparable to the ten precepts of Buddhism, and to the Ten Commandments. Almost all religions have sacred texts—the Diamond Sutra (Buddhist), the Torah (Judaism), the Koran (Islam), the New Testament (Christianity). All the primary texts are primers for how we should all live and act toward each other. I also learned how similar many adored figures are: Mary, Kwan Yin, the Divas—it seems that they are all the same figure of an eternal mother. Everyone has beloved holidays and traditions, and many of them are derived from earlier traditions. We are basically all one human family that has grown apart, but we have common roots that can bring us back together again if we are perceptive and willing.

This course has taught me to have an appreciation for other religions and cultural practices, and I think this is the strongest endorsement of the course from my perspective. It has also emphasized the importance in religion of not doing harm, but doing good.

As the H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama writes: “We must try to do something good, something useful with our lives. If you contribute to other people’s happiness, you will find the true goal, the true meaning of life.” 

Rev. Kenneth J. Swanson

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The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. I have been a proud member of the ULC for many years and the Seminary since its inception.

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As a long time member of ULC, Rev. Long created the seminary site to help train our ministers. We also have a huge selection of Universal Life Church  minister supplies. Since being ordained with the Universal Life Church for so many years and it's Seminary since the beginning, I've watch the huge change and growth that has continued to happen.

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