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dear thomas, thank you for posting this forum titled converts to Hinduism!!! I, a mid 20's year olf white woman am a convert to Hinduism from the Russian Orthodox Christian church that i was baptized into at a very young age. i have never been happier!
Wow, I imagine that's something of a switch. Can I ask what it was that drew you to Hinduism or away from the ROC?
Quote:
Originally Posted by dobeable
is there any western religion???? i mean wasn t jesus from the east
It is interesting that the founders of all major religions, or the cultural origin in cases of religions without founders, are from Asia. (Zoroaster, Abraham, Mahavira, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, Guru Nanak, and Bau'hallah) Still in cultural terms I think the Mediterranean area is counted as "Western" rather than "Eastern." As an example Maltese is basically a Semitic language, and I think they are as close or closer to Libya as Sicily, but they are even classed specifically as a "European" people.
dear thomas, thank you for posting this forum titled converts to Hinduism!!! I, a mid 20's year olf white woman am a convert to Hinduism from the Russian Orthodox Christian church that i was baptized into at a very young age. i have never been happier!
I studied Hinduism in college but forgot most of what I learned. I have a charming colleague who is a devout Hindu. He has been teaching me about Indian culture and Hindu traditions.
I don't know whether you have ever visited India to see the temples. Here is an interesting video you might enjoy:
The Lost Temples of India (http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=8931191297840928556&ei=aAW0SfqnFY6 cqALv_sTLDw&q=india&hl=en - broken link)
Wow, I imagine that's something of a switch. Can I ask what it was that drew you to Hinduism or away from the ROC?
It is interesting that the founders of all major religions, or the cultural origin in cases of religions without founders, are from Asia. (Zoroaster, Abraham, Mahavira, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, Guru Nanak, and Bau'hallah) Still in cultural terms I think the Mediterranean area is counted as "Western" rather than "Eastern." As an example Maltese is basically a Semitic language, and I think they are as close or closer to Libya as Sicily, but they are even classed specifically as a "European" people.
I would agree. The twin pillars of Western Civilization are Athens and Jerusalem, not London and Berlin.
I could see how such a thread, in different hands, could seem to be making an appeal to authority. (Although Julia Roberts I don't think is a grand authority on Life, the Universe, and Everything.)
I was thinking more that it is sometimes interesting when Westerners convert to non-Western religions that aren't even,per-se, proselytizing faiths. Also that we don't discuss Hinduism much so it could be interesting to see what some find appealing or unappealing about it. Although maybe I should have just titled it "Hinduism" to avoid attracting proselytizers of any stripe.
Interesting that you should say that Thomas, Christianity originally was not a Western religion either. In North and South America there is no original Western religion
I took that Belief-O-Matic once, when I was considering abandoning my religion, and I came out with Sikhism on top. (Even then secular humanism was low. Even when I was considering disbelief in God rationalist-atheism was never my bag) That surprised me because at that point I thought of Sikhs as like a mix of Islam and Hinduism that turned into a warrior religion because of persecution. After that I looked into it a bit more and found I did like a good deal of it. The Guru Granth Sahib is huge, but I've considered reading it on occasion.
Although I wouldn't switch, when I take Belief-O-Matic now I come out mostly Catholic again and further learning made me realize areas I would not agree with Sikhs, but I am sympathetic to the Sikhs and the mistreatment they've received because people think they're Muslims. (Not that people should mistreat Muslims either you understand) The main Western convert to Sikhism I remember is Vic Briggs of the Animals, but I think there were some authors and maybe a jazz musician too.
It's something on a site called "Beliefnet." I've had trouble with pop-ups and viruses from Beliefnet, but if that warning doesn't scare you I'll give the link to "The Belief-O-Matic" and then mention some problems I have with it.
It's listed as being for "entertainment purposes" so don't take any result too serious. Still I thought it did a poor job differentiating Eastern Orthodoxy from Catholicism. I am not sure there is any way to get EOC more or less than you do Catholicism. However the two faiths do differ more than I once thought and, even before I knew much about Eastern Christianity, I knew they differed on things like leadership structure.
It's something on a site called "Beliefnet." I've had trouble with pop-ups and viruses from Beliefnet, but if that warning doesn't scare you I'll give the link to "The Belief-O-Matic" and then mention some problems I have with it.
It's listed as being for "entertainment purposes" so don't take any result too serious. Still I thought it did a poor job differentiating Eastern Orthodoxy from Catholicism. I am not sure there is any way to get EOC more or less than you do Catholicism. However the two faiths do differ more than I once thought and, even before I knew much about Eastern Christianity, I knew they differed on things like leadership structure.
I did it! My top five:
Unitarian Universlist
Secular Humanism
Neo Pagan
Liberal Quaker
New Age
Hinduism and Roman Catholicism were really far down on my list. I actually always thought Hinduism was pretty neat - but I guess it's not a good match for me!
I think I'll take it again in a few days and see how it comes out then!
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Say it isn't so!!!
