Misconceptions about your religion by other faiths (Buddhism, Buddha, America)
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What are the major misconceptions that people of other faiths have about your religion?
You can also include misconceptions that the less observant or fervent members of your faith have about it.
I'll start:
Muslims think that the Jews originally had the word of God but then corrupted the text, and are therefore not following the original Torah. There are also a lot of events in the Quran and the Hadith that describe Jewish practices that don't seem to exist, like the Fast of Ashura. There's also a belief that Jews have strong beliefs (most of the ones in America don't), and that all Jews are Zionist or even pro-Israel.
Christians seem to think Judaism is Christianity without the New Testament, that all of the Christian doctrines like original sin and a Messiah that will die and rise again to wipe away everyone's sins exist in Judaism, and that Judaism is meaningless because it's impossible to keep all of the commandments. Christians seem to be unaware of the importance of the Oral Torah and tradition in Judaism, and think they can get a good grasp of what Judaism is like by reading the Old Testament.
I think a lot of Protestants think that Catholics pray to Saints or worship Mary.
Lots of Christians think that Muslims worship Muhammad as God, or that all Muslims are the T-word. They also think that they can fully understand Islam through the Quran and are unaware that the Hadith exist.
^ I can think of one: that atheists believe with 100% absolute certainty that no god or gods or anything supernatural exists, when most intellectual atheists are more correctly described as agnostic atheists who would agree that there is a small chance that the Christian/Muslim/Jewish God exists, however they would say that the chances are as likely as the Invisible Pink Unicorn or Flying Spaghetti Monster existing.
No one has any misconceptions about my irreligion as there are no beliefs to get wrong. It's a great place to be.
If only this were true!
There are a great many about atheism. the misconceptions have been systemized and taught as a class in some cases, like "Understanding the Times" by David Noebel, founder of Summit Ministries.
Some of my favorite ones:
Atheists really believe in God deep down, and are just rebelling.
Atheists are angry at God (see the first point).
Atheists are politically liberal (specifically socialist or Marxist)
Atheists are a threat to Christians, secretly desiring to kill or otherwise harm them.
Atheists are a danger to children and their development.
Atheists are out to destroy any expression of personal faith or belief.
What are the major misconceptions that people of other faiths have about your religion?
You can also include misconceptions that the less observant or fervent members of your faith have about it.
I'll start:
Muslims think that the Jews originally had the word of God but then corrupted the text, and are therefore not following the original Torah. There are also a lot of events in the Quran and the Hadith that describe Jewish practices that don't seem to exist, like the Fast of Ashura. There's also a belief that Jews have strong beliefs (most of the ones in America don't), and that all Jews are Zionist or even pro-Israel.
Christians seem to think Judaism is Christianity without the New Testament, that all of the Christian doctrines like original sin and a Messiah that will die and rise again to wipe away everyone's sins exist in Judaism, and that Judaism is meaningless because it's impossible to keep all of the commandments. Christians seem to be unaware of the importance of the Oral Torah and tradition in Judaism, and think they can get a good grasp of what Judaism is like by reading the Old Testament.
I think a lot of Protestants think that Catholics pray to Saints or worship Mary.
Lots of Christians think that Muslims worship Muhammad as God, or that all Muslims are the T-word. They also think that they can fully understand Islam through the Quran and are unaware that the Hadith exist.
Some of this really true, except I would alter your paragraph to say that some Christians think that Christianity is Judaism with the New Testament. I didn't know until I had conversations with Jews as an adult that some of the "prophecies" of what Christians consider the Messiah are not messianic prophecies in Judaism whatsoever.
I also remember that when the Jewish owner of our little town's five-and-ten store died when we were kids, the rumor was that since he had died on Christmas, the other Jews kicked his dead body around on the floor for a while before they buried him for dying on a Christian holiday. I think I figured out that this one was a lie when I was around 8, though.
Took me a minute to figure out what "the T-word" is. LOL.
I think you are right. Not only about some of the claims made about Judaism by Christians (not to say accusations) but about how they do not regard a lot of the prophecies used to 'prove' Jesus as messianic prophecies at all. Reading those prophecies in context, I agree with them.
However, I don't want to get off topic.
I imagine that Woodrow would say that Islam is greatly misunderstood by the 'West'. Which presumably includes those Turks protesting in Instanbul and Ankara at the present time.
In Spanish, the word for cult, "culto," means something more like: congregation. Its the word that most Spanish speaking protestants use for their version of the Catholic (a word meaning "universal") Christian's mass.
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A misconception about Agnosticism is that it started when the word was coined. That is simply not true, even people like Socrates and others understood that truth.
The two biggest ones (aside from the tired old 'they worship the devil' thing)*:
1) That Wicca is a 'make it up as you go' religion.
2) That 'An it harm none, do what thou will' permits irresponsible behavior.
*Seriously, that's like saying a Christian worships Thor.
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