Islam

Islam was founded at the beginning of the 7th century by Prophet Mohammed and is the youngest of the three monotheistic religions. His followers call themselves Muslims. Islam sees itself as the completion of the Jewish and Christian religion. Mohammed (about 570-632 AD), announced the revelations of the one and only God (Allah) gradually after his 40th birthday, which were sent to him according to Muslim traditions by the Archangel Gabriel. Since Mohammed was not accepted in the then pagan dominated (= belief in many gods) Mecca, he travelled to Yathrib (now Medina) in 622. The emigration is the beginning of the Islamic era. Islam requires from its followers absolute obedience. The Koran is regarded as the direct word of God and is therefore only authentic in Arabic. All translations into other languages are described as just appropriate. In addition to the Quran Muslims regard the Sunnah as a source of law and rule which tells the tradition of Muhammad's life and work. An important part of the Sunnah, the Hadiths are a collection of Muhammad’s sayings and comments.

Buddhism

Buddhism does not require a personal God. The emergence of Buddhism goes back to Prince Siddhartha Gautama, who lived in the sixth century before the birth of Christ. From a Western perspective Buddha was like the first psychotherapist. He wanted to help people in life crises and overcome suffering. However, he moves more radical. He teaches that ultimately nothing in the world stays like it is, everything is changeable. Which in his opinion meant, that the suffering of the people is created by holding on to the own ego - which one should try to free themselves from. There is no personal God, Buddhism manages without a personal God – like known from Christianity or Islam. That’s why a lot of people say that Buddhism is not a religion but a philosophy.

Judaism

So, to make a decision and understand why some thing are like they are, we need to look at the “big” religions of this world a bit closer. So, let’s go back in time and look at the one which is the oldest of the three main European religions – Judaism.
The biggest obstacle on they way to understanding Judaism is misunderstanding. Hardly and historical events or appearances are exposed to so much misunderstanding like Judaism. This has several causes which each and for themselves are a powerful, almost insurmountable barrier to the understanding of Judaism. The first one is the behaviour of Jews. It is a historical fact that the Jews do not feel the inner urge to expose them and their belief to the outer world. They do not go round and try to convince non-Jews of their religious belief. Jews are Jews by birth not through convertion. Because of this,they have always excepted other religions. But the other side of this, they do not try to mix with non-Jews. Of course in happens all the time - but they prefer to mix in marriage with people of the same religion, simply because it makes life a lot easier. Also this guarantees the existance of Judaism in the future.  The moral of Judaism is simply that it is not necessary or desirable that all people are Jews. Yes, there are ways of converting to Judaism, but it is not as easy as it is with other religions.

Converting

I always find it very interesting to talk to people who converted to a religion they were not born into. What makes people change their old life in such a dramatic way?

What I find- but this is, of course just my personal experience- it’s mainly women who convert for their partner. And by this I do not mean, they have been told by their husband’s or boyfriends to do this. But the woman think it’s such an important part of their man’s life and believe they will be closer, if they convert. I always hear, this is the right religion for me. I feel more like a human being since I converted. But when I ask more in depth, most of them cannot give me any details why their chosen religion is so much better than their old one. What is it exactly?

THE MEANING OF RELIGION

I started this blog because religion is a big part of my life. No, I do not mean I am part of a religious community or go to church every sunday or to a mosque on Fridays. What I mean is, that religion surrounds me every day. i can see it on my way to work, when people are dressed in their traditional clothing and I hear people talking about it. I would class myself as being agnostic. So far I do not have a reason to believe there is a god, but I am prepared to change my mind.

What I do believe in is freedom. Freedom of speech and the freedom to live my life like I want to. Obviously there are restrictions. I would like to be a millionaire. But lets face it- this is not very likely to happen. Also, what I believe is, the “problem” of religion cannot be solved. But I find nothing more interesting to discuss why people believe they have to dress up or behave in certain way to impress a mystical creature. I hope a will have a long and meaningful discussion with my readers, as to why things are the way they are and how the think religious problems can be solved.