I have a theory. This theory states that there is a difference between the Philosophy of Religion and the Practice of Religion. One thing that I have seen throughout my short life is that people often confuse philosophy with religious practice. There is an inherent human trait to turn a good philosophical thought in to a series of traditions and rituals that barely resemble the original idea.
For instance, I was a religious Studies Major in undergrad and one thing that struck me as I studied world religions is that most of them started with a really good idea! Take Hinduism for an example. As a Christian you might not think that Hinduism could possibly have any bit of good in it. Three hundred million gods just seems completely and totally absurd until you study the philosophy of what that actually means. You see, philosophically, Hinduism is actually a monotheistic religion. They believe there is only one God but that humans are so incapable of describing what "God" really is that they actually have to describe him in as many ways as possible in order to explain the characteristics of God. Surprisingly, the philosophy of Hinduism is correct--in that I, too, believe God to be more than just a simple three dimensional human living in space. God is not human and not created. So in the end the problems I have with Hinduism are in the practice of the religion but not in the core basis of the original philosophy itself. People have taken Hinduism and have made rituals that abhor me. Widow burning is just one of the rites and rituals that are absurd. They have created stories and folklore that barely resemble the original philosophical idea.
Let's take another religion, Sikhism. The philosophy of Sikhism is that there is only one God in existence. This God is loving and desires all people to be saved. God told the founder of Sikhism (Guru Nanak) that, "There is no Hindu, there is no Muslim." This teaching led Guru Nanak to proclaim that all humans are equal in the sight of God. Men and women are even equal, and you have to understand that this religion comes from a culture in India that places women at the very lowest level of human reincarnation. Women have no rights. In fact, women were supposed to burn themselves on the funeral pier to accompany their deceased husbands into the afterlife. The Sikh faith is a faith of peace. They protect the needy and believe that all men have the right to worship as they will. When the Muslims took over the region and demanded that all Hindus convert to Islam, the Sikh community went to war to protect the right of the Hindu to worship as they desired. So what do I have against this religion? Actually nothing in the core original philosophy--what I dislike is the practice of the religion such as the idea that in order to become enlightened you have to "look upon" the guru, or that you have to feed food to the sacred text in symbol of its living truth. These are really the only things I dislike about the Sikh faith, it is the practice of the belief and not the belief itself.
I find that most faith is like this. The original thought behind the faith is good, but humans begin to confuse tradition with philosophy and muddy the waters of what truly matters. This has happened in Buddhism as well, a religion dedicated to living well and right with respect of all living things. In some circumstances the religion is just as full of religious ritual as any other with idol worship and tasks that must be performed to be saved.
This happens in Christianity as well. Christian philosophy is primarily this: God is a personal God who cares for His creation. He desires that all people would know Him and desire to be with him. Christianity's philosophy is that God created everything and is not Himself created. God does not have one specific group of people that alone will be saved but in fact is wanting all to be saved, Jew and Gentile alike. So what do I have a problem with? The add-ons that humans create. The rituals you must perform in order to be saved, you must be baptized, you must confess your sins to the spiritual leader, you must worship only in the way that the church ordains, you must only have ordained instruments in church, you must be ordained in order to work for Gods people, you must be a man to be ordained. You cannot have sex or get married if you want to serve God's people. You must worship on a certain day in order to be saved. The lists of human add ons are as endless as the denominations of Christianity are nearly endless. These are not the philosophy of faith but rather are traditional rituals added on to faith.
Humans desire these rituals. They seem to want to be able to separate themselves from everyone else. "I am saved and you are not because I do this..." After talking about all these issues I have a genuine question for you. Why do you think humans need such traditional add ons to philosophy? Is philosophy not enough? Me personally, I put very little stock into tradition and rituals. I take part in traditions but I recognize them as just that, traditions. I worship in an Adventist church on Sabbath almost entirely because of tradition, not at all because I believe that I must worship on that day in that denomination in order to be saved. What determines my salvation is my philosophy on who I believe God is. That philosophy causes me to have a specific relationship with God which determines how I relate and interact to this world and those in it. Philosophy is everything to me, speculation and cultural influences impact the way I worship but in no way impact the way I view salvation. So tell me, what need have we of tradition? Why do we create hills to die on such as music and what should and shouldn't be done in church? Is philosophy and understanding of God's character not enough?
