Most people act as if there are only a dozen or so religions in the world: Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, and some weird "cultish" religions like Jehovah's Witness, Mormonism, Scientology, etc. Pascal's Wager, a typical fundamentalist argument for believing in Jesus, depends on a person not factoring in the many, many different religions from which to choose.
Truth is, there are tens of thousands of religions in the world. Christianity alone is comprised of over 30,000 sects. Most of these religions claim to have a unique understanding of the world and be the only way to live your life and (in some cases) achieve a reward in an afterlife. Please note that Atheism is NOT a religion.
Check out this interesting link which shows which religions are authorized to have that religion's symbol on a grave at the Arlington National Cemetery. It only contains 40 or so entries but it's surprisingly broad and gives a much bigger picture of American religion than most people consider.
It also demonstrates quite clearly why church and state must remain completely separate if we are to have full religious freedom in the U.S. After all, if government endorses a particular religion, who's to say it will be yours?
1 comment:
Speaking of the Lord, apparently he's not quite as all-knowing as we have been led to believe:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=gen%2018:20-21
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