One God, Many Cultures 13 April 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in anthropology, philosophy, religion.Tags: cultural relativism, god, one god
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As another case in point to the fact that many people only think in binary, it appears to be very diffifult to accept the concept that there could be one God, with many cultural manifestations / interpretations. The proximal cause, of course, is the different doctrines in which our religions have been founded, but is there more at work here? Is it because cultural competition is inherent in us, and the brain seeks rationale for the feeling of competition when it comes to religion? Or is it because our thinking of God is limited to our simplified thinking of the world and the political and cultural boundaries we grew up with?
Interesting perspective. It’s weird how many proclaim the omnipresent, Almighty and All-Powerful Creator and yet, in the same breath, talks of how exclusive the Creator is. Hmm… A point to ponder on, I guess.
Aldric
Standing My Ground
Thanks for the comment. Yes, that is a great example of how we are constraining our idea of a religion by our cultural relativism (i.e., I believe in the one creator, but he favors my culture.)