Christopher Cornelius

Cause and Effect

When born in a certain time period in human existence you will most likely have a
predetermined philosophy on how to view God. You will have a lifestyle that will define the way
you live your life, how you worship God. The majority of people in that region will have the ball
in their court to push their agenda on the masses so you will almost be forced to have a one sided
view on how to define and worship God. So the definition of how to worship God or religion is
set up to have a one sided view no matter where you are in the world. Cause? If you were born in
the United States you will most likely have Jesus as your Savior. Effect? You will have the bible
as the definition of your religion. What part of the world were you born in? If asked the question
you might have an almost eighty percent chance of guessing how they would define religion. So
lets explore ideas on how to define religion.
Use religion as an instruction template of how to live your life is what humans do. That
template might be already decided for when you are born and thats ok. There is no wrong
religion to choose, they are all the true religion, there is no I am right in what I believe and you
are wrong for what you believe. Its in our nature to point the finger at one another so we can
have that feeling of being on the right side of things. Religion is the purest form of feeling that
you are on the right side of how God should be worshipped. Aga Khan said, the real problem
today is a clash of ignorance, this is not the time to think of us and them. It is a time to
understand each others beliefs and feelings clearly, carefully, and compassionately1. He says it

Mary Pat Fisher, Living Religions (Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2014), 29.

perfectly the cause is nobody wants to accept other peoples definitions so the effect is
people give into hate or distrust of one another because of their beliefs and definitions.
If you have a conversation with someone about how to define religion the first step would
be to listen to how they define religion and digest the information before you make a response.
At the end of the conversation if your views are different from one another the right definition is
there is no wrong definition. Just stop talking and listen to someone who is different from you
and we can all have a start point to coming to an end point on saying who is right and who is
wrong.
Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Shinto are religions that have various
definitions on how to worship god but in the end all have the similar roots. Instructions for the
students of Veda. Consider your mother as God; consider your father as God; think of your
guests as God; consider your teacher as God2. Great instructions on how to define your point of
view when worshiping God. Can a Christian or Muslim say that this is a wrong way to worship
God. If they are true to themselves they would say this is a proper way to pay tribute to those
around you.
A people who would build a nation in which strong democratic institutions are firmly
established as a guarantee against state-induced power must first learn to liberate their own
minds from apathy and fear3. The founding fathers of the United States should have heard this
quote before implementing a state of Christianity in a nation that was supposed to have
separation of church and state. Cause our leaders were Christian Effect majority of America

2
3

Michael D. Coogan, Eastern Religions (New York: Oxford, 2005) 66.

Michael D. Coogan, Eastern Religions (New York: Oxford, 2005)210.

is under the Christian rule. They define us even though we are a nation of separation of church
and state. So it pits us against them which is unfortunate in the grand scheme of things.
In closing the point of this paper is to say lets all have a moment listening to someone
who has a different view on how to define religion, rather than tell them our definition or point
view just listen, take it in for what it is. We can create our own Cause which will be to listen to
each other and the Effect will be we will learning something new and not trying to put a
definition to religion.

Bibliography

Coogan Micael, Eastern Religions (New York: Oxford, 2005)

Fisher Mary, Living Religions (Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2014),