Denbigh Park, Newport News, VA
"He who knows one [religion], knows none" (German scholar Max Müller). This "Father of Religious Studies" believed that religion, like many aspects of life, could only be understood through comparison and with knowledge of its origin.
Facilitator Bob Smith's "Comparative Religion" encore in Sunday Morning Forum motivated inquisitive minds in examining a type of "science of religion." How is religion possible; what is religion and how has it evolved; how have we, individually and collectively, come to have any religion at all?
"Don't religions come about to try to outline purpose in life?" notes one class member rhetorically.
In exploring these questions and the similarities and differences in belief systems, our veteran facilitator led the class in discussion of essential, structural components shared by most faiths. These thought-provoking discussions often lead to contrasting "religion" and "spirituality" (e.g., the phrase, "spiritual but not religious").
"What religion did is put Spirit in a box instead of living in unison with the Universe. Then, we applied a set of rules to it. To be loved; to be heard; to be needed and wanted; to be safe…these are things for which every human longs. Placing the Divine in a box strips the idea of mysticism," shares a class newcomer passionately.
Supporting that connection with the mystical, another classmate colorfully described being in the midst of a culture "in the bush," which exhibited a "Oneness with Nature." "Whenever everyone around you feels and sees Spirit, you feel it. Living closer to Nature…" heightens an awareness of a palpable connectivity and the interdependent web of life.
