Question

Pick a religion, preferably not your own. Then write two paragraphs. For the first paragraph, suppose you are studying that religion as a religious studies major. What would you ask about it? For the second paragraph, suppose you are a theologian defending that religion. What would you say about it? The goal of this assignment is to show that you know the difference between a religious studies major and a theologian.

Answer 1

Hinduism:

As Religious study major:

Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in the World. Hindus are largely present in the Indian subcontinent where it has originally originated. The name is derived from the word Indu meaning large body of Water. The people in hindu religion worship a lot of Gods andtThe holy place of Hindu where they worship God is called as Temple. It is beleived that there are as many as 330 million Gods are worshipped by Hindus. Men and women who go to temple tend to wear a lot of accessories when they go to temple, why is it so that people wear so much ornaments to a sacred place, shoudldn't they be simpler? The hindu religion have a lot of holy books such as the Vedas, Ramayana, Mahabarat, Bhagavat Gita etc. Which book should I read and on what day?. Also various hindus wear mala with 108 beads.since the no 108 is considered holy,Why?.

As Theologist:

It is true that Hindu religion is the oldest religion in the world. The Vedas written are dated as back as 800 BCE. The hindu religion worships God of any form, it is to understand the fact that the creator or the ultimate power has no shape and also to give equality among all the living creatures. The hindu god consist of men(Lord Brahma,Lord Krishna,Lord Shiva),women(Goddess Parvati,Goddess Lakshmi,Goddess Saraswati),Animals(Lord Ganesh, Lord Anjaneya) etc. It is true that many people tend to wear ornamnets to Temple and specifically Gold. It is because Gold has the capacity to absorb Positive energy in the surrounding and hence when you wear Gold to temple you feel positive vibes in your body. And also there is no compulsion that people should wear Gold if they need to worship God. Of course there are a lot of Books that have the spiritual thoughts of Hinduism but there is no saying that a particular book has to be read on any specific day. Hinduism gives people the choice to choose their own interest and doesn't impose people to do something under rules. Hinduism is not just a religion but it connects or relates spirituality with science. There are various reasons why the number 108 is considered as spiritual, one of the reasons being the number of energy centres in Human body.