History

I've decided that due to the nature of the Analects of Confucius (which I am writing my paper on) I needed a stronger historical understanding of the context that informed what Confucius' teachings. Most interestingly, I've found that the context that many ancient religious movements started in was because of the increased efficiency of production when civilizations moved into what's called the iron age. The increased abundance allowed huge parts of the populace to specialize their labor in ways that where not possible before. This produced huge problems as societies tried to restructure their social systems in order to accommodate the new economic reality and new social classes. During this transition period many still influential religions and systems of thought arose, such as Buddhism, classical Greek thought, the first Abrahamic prophets, as well as the great Chinese thinkers appearing during this transition.

It makes me wonder if we are going through a similar transition now. We have very recently, in historical terms, undergone a revolution in abundance. Humans, in some places, have far more than just their needs taken met by the modern economy. Do we have a modern spiritual crisis that is analogous to this ancient one?

Australian Buddhism

This is a documentary about a particularly successful group of monks from the Thai Forest tradition in Perth, Australia. It gives an interesting account of Buddhism adapting to the west. The documentary was, however, produced by Buddhists very sympathetic to this particular monastery and I would say that it crosses the line between sympathetic portrayal and open laudation quite regularly.

Freedom of Speech and Islam

For an American one of the most disconcerting things about Islam in Middle Eastern public life is that it seems like conservative Muslims have no tolerance for any sort of criticism. If a Qur'an is burnt, or an image of the prophet or god is shown on TV, there is the very real threat of violence. In the west, religion is constantly criticized, as is the lack of religion, and all religions different popular forms. There is a constant back and forth, but no one expects to be physically harmed as a result.

This may be because we are in a very lucky position of religious plurality, where there is so much diversity of belief that one group could never get away with violently attacking another without making all the other groups insecure and hostile to that one group. That plurality may be very deeply ingrained due to the United States being home to many different Christian sects even before other faiths where widely introduced. In many parts of the Middle East Islam is the only religion, and religious conservatives may thus feel more secure in acting violently.

Response to "Power of Words"

That's shocking and bizarre! Considering that so many people are turned off from religion precisely because of this pushiness. Even when missionaries are not being pushy people tend to avoid them.

I wonder if this is something wrong with the christian 'brand?' I'll admit I get a bit anxious when those missionaries are camping out in the marketplace and handing out materials. Usually I'd go up and look at a few free books just to see what they say if their being given away, but there's something about middle aged men in suits purveying books with tastelessly designed covers, that I'm pretty sure are going to tell me I'm going to hell, that scares me away and makes me less welcoming.


Original post here