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kathystein52

- 3 years ago

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why don't people in general like to question the religion they were given when there are so many questions

so many of my friends, jews and christians alike just followed along with whatever they were told, no questions asked. I was one of them. I grew up Catholic but it wasn't until I was olderer that I really started questioning things and found the Bahai Faith.

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Religion teaches its followers not to questions...."to question is to have little faith". Religion is a foundation for many. To take away a person's religion is to take away their foundation. They would not know how to cope with life. If one questions religion, then they are shunned as non-believers which is a lonely path. It is easier to follow plus since the majority has a "religion" you have many friends.

I think it has to do with lack of exposure to other ways of thinking. In essence, the less exposed you are to other religions, the less likely you are to believe that yours is wrong or incomplete. On the other hand, since you have less exposure, you are more likely to be intolerant of other religions as well. This is not a general rule, but I've seen it first hand on too many occasions. In addition, i think many people identify questioning with doubt and if there's one thing I've learned about most religions, Doubt is not allowed!

That is changing! That ideas are a manner of personal choice is pretty new concept but!!! I think ! , People in general like to follow authority because it is the safe thing to do. We are a bit fear of freedom, because it evolves risk , change and responsability.sometimes loniness. If I say " no authority " People go " ahhhhhh, are you crazy?? " Society suggestion is deep! Some people prefer just to follow!. We are told no to rebel against the status qo!

Because they have so much invested in it. For some, questioning it means questioning what their parents taught them and they way their parents lived. For others, their religion is the centre of their lives and they don't know what they'd become if they started to tinker with thinking about it. For others their position in religion is part of their position in society and social networks. But a thought unexamined is not worth thinking. Keeping something sacrosanct from questioning because it is precious is like keeping the new mountain bike in its plastic wrap because the paintwork is lovely and it cost an arm and a leg. Wheel it out and get it dirty. Go cross country

This may be changing... check out the latest Pew study on Religion and public life... Nearly 30% of American adults now belong to different faith tradition than the one in which they were raised. I think as more and more people open up to the ideas presented by other faiths (and dare I say no faith?), this number will get even higher. Link to the Pew study, if you're interested: http://religions.pewforum.org/reports" target="_blank">http://religions.pewforum.org/reports

I just logged back in and I couldn't believe how many of you responded. I found the Bahai faith when I was 42, 10 years ago, and I realized that It had been there all along. I knew about it when I was a teen and Seals and Crofts were popular. I heard it again as an adult (in my early 30's) from a friend in Microbiology where I worked. But it wasn't until I moved to Iowa of all places that I heard about it again on TV. I called the 800# and just could not believe what I saw and heard. It had been there all along, all my llife, but I wasn't ready to hear it. I had wasted all those years that I could have been teaching my kids as well as myself. I grew up Catholic. I had many friends, many religions in New York but I guess you just have to be ready to take that leap and Open your eyes. Maybe it is fear of letting your family down and maybe it is fear of the unknown or "what if I'm wrong and tick off God". When I saw my friend from Microbiology at a feast I asked her why I hadn't noticed and she told me because I wasn't ready to hear yet. Once I saw what had been there all along I couldn't understand why everyone couldn't see what I could.

I have always found this to be of great interest as well. If I were born in another part of the world, I would have been raised with another religion perhaps. This is where I think the "golden rule" comes in and a common theme in many religions, though not all: to respect others, to love them, and when all else fails, be nice! Okay, maybe that last part was more mine.

I don't think any religion is going to answer "ALL" your questions. There has to come a point where you either decide to take some things on faith, or decide faith is not going to be a part of your makeup and perhaps enter into a lifestyle of trying to prove how unfair and unreasonable and things are to you. Questioning is allowed. God created us to be interactive and interrogative. But we as a species just don't like to admit that there are things we simply cannot divine an answer to -- that there are some things one has to either take on faith, or become bitter and disillusioned over.

When your religion provides you with all the answers, what incentive is there to question it? Some people feel as tied to their religion as their race or ethnicity. It is a part of them that they were born into and therefore they have an undefinable loyalty to.

All people are looking for something, searching for truth to believe in. When we are young and things are taught to us, poured into us, we take them as truth because our familes can't be wrong. But then, as we grow, we are scared to discover truth for ourselves, to disappoint the people closest to us. Then those fears get misplaced on our "religion" and associated with the wrong things. For me, it was opposite. I never had any sort of truth poured into my life and when I found it, the truth filled my life and changed it. Even then, there are times of doubt but the truth is a unbending.

People learn religion along with the alphabet and triangles. It's hard to look at something that seems that fundamental.

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why don't people in general like to question the religion they were given when there are so many questions

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When your religion provides you with all the answers, what incentive is there to question it? Some people feel as tied to their religion as their race or ethnicity. It is a part of them that they were born into and therefore they have an undefinable loyalty to.

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People learn religion along with the alphabet and triangles. It's hard to look at something that seems that fundamental.

why don't people in general like to question the religion they were given when there are so many questions

When your religion provides you with all the answers, what incentive is there to question it? Some people feel as tied to their religion as their race or ethnicity. It is a part of them that they were born into and therefore they have an undefinable loyalty to.

People learn religion along with the alphabet and triangles. It's hard to look at something that seems that fundamental.

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