<p>By birth I'm Muslim.</p>
<p>But I suppose I'm very apathetic to it all since it's really been forced upon me since I was a child. None of my family members would be willing to forgive me if I denounced Islam. So I'm muslim in name (like a number of my relatives who grew up here) but I don't actively practice it.</p>
<p>Hey Proud08er-
So, you don't agree with my quote, hmm? :) Well, yay for diversity of thought! lol
Anyway, I didn't say that all religions ARE the same...obviously, there are differences between religious factions...otherwise all religious people would be a catholic community (Clarification: I mean catholic the verb, not catholic the proper noun.) But do the MAJOR ideas bear similarity? You bet.
From the way I understood my Hindu-practicing buddy Vikram's explanation, Hinduism and Christianity DO share some important characteristics:
(1)they both believe that life is sacred; (2)they both acknowledge the impact of the divine; (3)they both advocate the saying of prayers to a greater power (communication/communing with forces greater than oneself);
(4)they both believe that there exists a central greater power that can be found in multiple forms; (5)they both believe that being a faithful person during one's lifetime leads to a better future and/or rewards.</p>
<p>Olive_Tree...
My friend Kevan is incredibly liberal-minded and is also Catholic. (He's pretty much amazing.) Love the free-thinking Catholics! :D</p>
<p>I was a liberal Catholic. Now, I am just liberal. I hated Catholic school! I got detention for mentioning Darwin! Even though the Pope supported the idea of evolution.</p>
<p>Hmm...Popes are interesting. I think that it was excellent that Pope JPII tried to do more to foster good relationships between the Catholic Church and other religious factions (Judaism, etc.) I am not a fan of Pope Benedict, though.</p>
<p>The detention thing sucks, by the way. How does one study science and not discuss the impact of Darwin? Or study history?</p>
<p>Last year, a boy in my bio class refused to do a timeline because it "promoted evolution." The teacher gave him a second chance to do the timeline and label it the way that the textbook said in eras/epochs, etc, and he still wouldn't do it. The whole school thought he was a nutcase.</p>
<p>I have no religion.</p>
<p>im a christian</p>
<p>Religion is crap.</p>
<p>I'm Catholic...I was raised Catholic and I am Catholic for life :)</p>
<p>I'm glad you love us liberal-thinking Catholics, katek. I agree, I'm not a big fan of Pope Benedict, but I did really admire how Pope John Paul II tried to reconcile Catholic beliefs with more modern ones such as, evolution.</p>
<p>Has Pope Benedict done ANYTHING??</p>
<p>He wrote a book about Jesus..... I'm thinking that's about it that affects the rest of the world.</p>
<p>He's made the Catholic Church more conservative. I think that's his biggest "accomplishment", if you want to call it that. (Sigh.) One step forward, two steps back.</p>
<p>Reputo Latin in templum est bonus.</p>
<p>Nah. I think it'll just leave a bunch of people confused.</p>
<p>No affiliation with any religion... I believe in a super-being of some sort but (being lazy) I only pray when I need something. I go to a Roman-Catholic church for holidays though due to my parent's beliefs...</p>
<p>-The Unaffiliated Coot66</p>
<p>A proud Muslim.</p>
<p>^We're so similar, you believe in that god out of 235982309802396 gods/goddeses, and I believe in one less :)</p>
<p>Christian Scientist. Medicine's the devil.</p>
<p>I'm not really familiar with Christian Scientists. What are your religious tenets?</p>