Are you a follower of one of the major belief systems in the world? If so, you will find yourself in a group of almost seven billion people worldwide (give or take 2 or 3) and you might be interested in the adventure I’m planning. You see, I’m going on a little journey- a journey through ten of the highest profile belief systems in practice today- plus a few extras I added for good measure. Having little to no knowledge of anything but Christianity, I thought that I should at least respect other’s beliefs enough to understand the basics- at least from a cursory inspection.
My journey starts with compiling all the beliefs I plan to explore. This exercise is part of my New Year’s resolutions for 2010. Choosing this list was loosely done- I went to Wikipedia and found an informal list of the world’s religions and picked from the top 10 of those that had the highest number of followers. There were a couple I added that I thought looked interesting. Here, in alphabetic order, are the stops on my voyage:
• Ahl-e Haqq
• Atheism (Interest)
• Bahá’í Faith
• Buddhism
• Christianity
• Hinduism
• Islam
• Jainism
• Judaism
• Rastafari Movement (Interest)
• Sikhism
• Tenrikyo
As I look across these names, I see about four or five of them I recognize. The rest, well, I guess I’ll be getting to know better.
The process of the trip is simple. Using the internet and leaning on volunteers and people I know- I will capture an overiew of the religion in the plainest terms possible, include some of their worship practices and root out some history behind the beliefs. Each stop on the voyage will result in a posting here on the blog as part of a series (which I will tag ‘Religions’ for your easy reference). When I have completed all of them, I’ll create a summary post and revisit the overall adventure and try to extract major learning points for all of us. I’ll be counting on your comments. 
You may be asking why I’m doing this- after all- all this information is freely found on the internet- so why here? Well there are two reasons:
1. The first reason is that I am a strong proponent for multiculturalism. In the short time I have been on this planet (hehehe) I have befriended fantastic people across many cultures, race and creeds. If I am to support multiculturalism, then I should be respectful enough to take the time and understand what it is those cultures may believe. Who knows- I may even do an interview or get some guest posts. Any volunteers?
2. The second reason is that regardless of what belief system people subscribe to- I’m interested in something they all have in common. Mentors. Beliefs aren’t genetically instilled within us- they are taught to us. Maybe on this journey I’ll learn something about how mentors present their beliefs and in the process- happen across some mentoring skills we might all benefit from.
Lastly, and most importantly, please note that this is solely an exercise in understanding the different beliefs in our world. There is no plan to leverage my time or attention into convincing anyone of anything or comparing/contrasting my findings. I simply want to use this experience to educate myself and my readers- whoever you may be.
Welcome to the excellent adventure! I’ll be sure to write and send postcards!
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Tags: Religions
Very interesting concept and I look forward to hearing about your discoveries!
Mike
Thanks Mike! Appreciate you stopping by!