Hinduism : The Eternal Tradition Sanatana Dharma
Major Sections
Books By David Frawley
RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY : THE SEARCH FOR UNIVERSALITY

Fortunately, in the modern age we are passing out of the domination of institutionalized religions which have controlled the world over the last two thousand years. Religion as a belief system - the idea that one religion owns the Divine or Truth as if it were a kind of property - is a medieval phenomenon that is now out of date, the product of a dark age of lack of scientific knowledge and global communication. The division of religion appears on par with the division of nations, languages and currencies, which are bound to disappear in time.

Religion as it is generally known in the Western world, and its culture which now dominates the world, projects an exclusive truth for a particular leader, book, or group of people and the need to convert the world to it - which is contrary to the idea that there is a Universal Truth. It formulates truth as an external authority rather than an inner experience and thereby denies any real inward search for God. This exclusivist idea of religion may have one God but it has two humanities - the believers and the non-believers - and regards the non-believers as inferior or sinful - to be converted or conquered - which leads to every sort of misunderstanding and exploitation.

Its concern is not union with God but elimination of the non-believers. It does not aim at making us better people but at changing those who do not outwardly conform to what we think is religious. As we are beginning to come together as a planet and recognizing our common humanity, such divisions can no longer be accepted. They no longer appear religious but inhumane.

 

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About Religion And Spirituality
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