I found chapter 15 really interesting because it showed how
different religions spread around the world and because it illustrated the
instability of those religions. First I enjoyed learning about how the
different subtypes of religions were formed and how they spread around globe.
It seems to me like one of the biggest problems facing humanity today is the
lack of understanding and tolerance for members of a different faith, and
religious wars have been a part of human history forever. What amazes me the
most about this, is that two religions can have similar views or beliefs about how
to treat others, while at the same time they are murdering others simply for
disagreeing with their religious practices. For example, the Christian religion
teaches understanding and kindness to your enemy, yet Christians have been on
the front line of many religious wars. I am a Christian who believes in God and
I try, not always successfully, to be honest and kind to everyone regardless of
their religious background, because I feel this is what’s right. Being cruel
and unjust to others isn’t going to make them want to become Christians; it is
most likely going to push them away from it. This doesn’t mean one has to agree
with others on matters of religion, but it does mean that we should respect the
beliefs of others. I found it really interesting that some religious groups forced
conversion onto native populations with a surprisingly high success rate,
mostly due to fear, while those who attempted to slowly persuade natives to
convert ended up failing miserably; like in China. While many would consider the
forced conversion a success, it is unclear how many of these forced conversions
actually led to a legitimate faith.
Secondly I found this chapter to illustrate the instability
of religion, since often one religion was altered either in order to accommodate
the native people’s beliefs and practices or in response to public challenges
of the existing religion. I don’t understand how it was so easy for people to
change or alter their religion so many times. Religion is supposed to be
somewhat concrete, at least with some idea of the basic structure of religion,
but this chapter illustrated how easily it could be changed on a large scale. I
know that, while alive at least, one will never know the truth about God,
Heaven, Hell or sin, but if you are willing to persecute others for not
adhering to all aspects of your religion you should probably have a solid understanding
of what it is.
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