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Spiritual,
religious, and philosophic beliefs (or the lack of them) have always
been the fundamental determining
factors in controlling human
conduct. They are
the basic
internal programming that determines human behavior.
They provide the
underlying guidelines for
all human conduct. They are the basic ground
rules for interpersonal relationships. Spiritual,
religious, and philosophic beliefs are the sources of morals and ethics.
They provide the basic guidelines in
conduct of daily affairs.
They determine who we believe
we are and how we relate to the
world.
Our religious beliefs cannot simply be translated into an act of worship and then
separated from other activities. Whether truth or fantasy, our
personal beliefs, both religious and otherwise, are the framework
within which we each live our daily lives. Our beliefs create an attitude
within us --- an approach to life that is often referred to as a belief
box.°
Our mental attitudes permeate all of
our physical activities and color all or our experiences.
Our beliefs become the context°
within which we each
live our daily lives. It
is, therefore, appropriate for each of us to analyze our conduct and the
underlying beliefs which dictate our conduct.
Viewers
are invited to read three page which
shed further light on this topic:
(Ref. 1:
The
Context in which Christianity had
its origins°
(Ref.
2: Religion
Versus Spirituality)°
(Ref.
3: The
Three Basic Religious Theories/Assumptions)°
Where
is Source? Who Came
First? Religions
tell us to be kind, loving, and
helpful to our fellow humans. But
the underlying question
is: Is
religion really the source of this
behavior or has the natural, human
instinct to be kind, loving, and
helpful simply been taken over by
religions and given a structure and
a set of rules?
The evidence tell us that religion
is a function of natural human
behavior and that each religion has
simply given a structure to that which
already existed. Most
people will respond to this
information with, "So what? I
simply follow my
religion's behavior
rules." The problem
with this response is that if one
examines even just the major
religions, one finds numerous,
and often conflicting and confusing
rules. Which brings up
the question: "Whose rules are the
correct rules?" We'd
be wise to pay attention to our basic, natural,
human instincts. Ask yourself this question: "Do I
listen to the voice within? or do I,
without question, follow someone
else's religious
theology? The problem
with simply following any theology
is that several other
theologies hold different
beliefs and demand different
behaviors. One is
left asking: "Which
belief is correct and which behavior
pattern is the one to
follow?" Since we now
live in cultures that are
multi-religious, saying that all
people must follow the
dictates of a single religion
becomes seriously
dysfunctional. The
question then is:
How
Do We
Honor Everyone's
Religious and Personal Freedom?
The
goal is protect
everyone’s religious rights. The
goal is not to exclude "God" from government or from any other of
our social structures. That
is literally impossible because humans cannot separate their divine nature from the
social structures they create.
The goal
is
to make sure everyone has the right to relate to
"The Source of All" in any fashion he/she chooses,
including the right to deny that such a source even exists. And the
best way to do that appeared to be, and still appears to be:
To acknowledge the universal spiritual nature of
humankind, and, at the same time,
keep the activities of church and state as distinct and separate as
possible.
To
see how masterfully our Founding
Fathers handled this issue,
viewers are directed to the page
titled: Church
and State -- How
Do They Relate?°
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