Lisa Miller’s Newsweek article talks about a significant change in America’s religious demographic – in terms of how people view the concept of God, self, eternity, etc. [Newsweek] (tip Sidhu via email)
The most traditional, conservative Christians ………….. learn in Sunday school that their religion is true, and others are false. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.”
Americans are no longer buying it. According to a 2008 Pew Forum survey, 65 percent of us believe that “many religions can lead to eternal life”—including 37 percent of white evangelicals, the group most likely to believe that salvation is theirs alone. Also, the number of people who seek spiritual truth outside church is growing. Thirty percent of Americans call themselves “spiritual, not religious,” according to a 2009 NEWSWEEK Poll, up from 24 percent in 2005.
There is another group of people, many of whom subscribe to a similar set of beliefs, them Hindoos.
The Rig Veda, the most ancient Hindu scripture, says this: “Truth is One, but the sages speak of it by many names.” A Hindu believes there are many paths to God. Jesus is one way, the Qur’an is another, yoga practice is a third. None is better than any other; all are equal.
Honestly, I have no idea if the Rig Veda says that or not. However, the latter part “None is better than any other; all are equal” seems to be consistent with the beliefs of a large section of middle class Hindus. This kind of fusion of religious and spiritual beliefs has been labeled “the divine-deli-cafeteria religion” by Stephen Prothero, religion professor at Boston University.
Besides path to eternal life, there are other facets of life Americans are starting to mirror Hindus in.
24 percent of Americans say they believe in reincarnation, according to a 2008 Harris poll. So agnostic are we about the ultimate fates of our bodies that we’re burning them—like Hindus—after death. More than a third of Americans now choose cremation, according to the Cremation Association of North America, up from 6 percent in 1975.
Personally, my idea of nirvana is some great food and a few drinks with friends and family. What is yours?
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