Comparative Religion

Comparative Religion, Final Essay

Rev. Ken Ayotte

This is the course that I was most interested in taking. To learn the history of various religions and to see the varying mythologies, connections and similarities between them has been enlightening and fascinating.

I truly enjoyed this course. It is amazing how people can ask so many questions that require answers that are just not possible to answer with the reference to the world that we have. It is in our nature as human beings to answer all questions asked of us. That is why science, religion and superstition exist. Why does the setting sun turn the sky red sometimes? What is a falling star? Any question that can be asked can be answered in many ways. Does the sky sometimes turn red while the sun is setting because of tiny particles in the atmosphere, like science teaches us? Or is it a gift from God, like religion teaches us? Or maybe a red sky is a good or a bad omen foretelling a great battle, like superstition teaches us. Then again, maybe it is something entirely out of our realm of understanding, something so far removed from us that we don't even have the capability to fathom a concept, let alone ask the appropriate questions. Our frame of reference or our limited understandings can not allow us to do so. And maybe it's just as well.

If we could answer every question with accurate certainty, would we even be human any more? What would be the point of living? We are not really here to have answers, we are here to have questions, and lots of them. A small child does not go around telling people everything he or she knows. The child will ask, "Why, why?", over and over again. And will probably continue to ask for the rest of its life. That is what makes people so different from all other forms of life we know of... the ability to ask and attempt to answer, no matter what.

It is also why we have so many different religions. Different regions, different beliefs. But as we examine these differing beliefs more closely, we find that maybe we aren't so different after all. There most certainly are differences, but there are also many similarities. The teachings of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, all teach us that there are common wrongs in life. The philosophies of ancient peoples as well as modern also teach us the same things. I find it fascinating and marvel at the complexity and wonder in what we call belief.

No matter how different people are, we are still people, and because of this, so are our beliefs. No culture believes that murder, or theft, or most of our laws are all right to break. Most of these laws were handed down from distant religious laws. All sacred scripts and enduring philosophies have given to us what we have today, no matter what part of the world they came from.

I strongly encourage everyone interested in comparative religion to watch "The Power of Myth". It is a series of six one hour conversations between mythologist Joseph Campbell and journalist Bill Moyers. This is an incredibly rich source of knowledge in the fields of mythology, philosophy and comparative religion and a real treasure trove of information. Just as this course was.

Dr. Ken Ayotte

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