Is it right to "try" other religions?

I have never found it uncomfortable in a Hindu Temple....or a Buddhist Temple...or a Synagogue or a Church....(well uncomfortable during fire and brimstone sermons...not for myself, but for the regulars)....
 
I've seen pictures of Jesus along with other gurus in Hindu temples....even an "I (heart) Jesus" lanyard... on an administrator for the temple... there are many who believe Jesus...in his twenties and alive after the resurrection, learned, traveled and preached in India....and died and was buried there...
 
And yet I have never seen one, and I've been to some 50 Hindu temples in North America, and a few more in India and Mauritius. Goes to show how experiences vary, but more importantly, affect our conclusions.

I have seen it in universalist buildings, sometimes called temples, but not called Hindu temples.

Indeed lots of people believe that, and also lots of people dismiss it as dreaming. So who knows for sure?
 
Senthil said:
And yet I have never seen one, and I've been to some 50 Hindu temples in North America, and a few more in India and Mauritius.
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Quick off topic question. As a Canadian, do you experience a difference between US and Canadians in their attitude to faith? Where the mixing and matching are concerned and if you feel they would be a result of nones/New Age/commercialism?
 
Senthil said:
And yet I have never seen one, and I've been to some 50 Hindu temples in North America, and a few more in India and Mauritius. Goes to show how experiences vary, but more importantly, affect our conclusions.

I have seen it in universalist buildings, sometimes called temples, but not called Hindu temples.

Indeed lots of people believe that, and also lots of people dismiss it as dreaming. So who knows for sure?
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Oh I've never seen any documentation ( a picture of a tombstone) but it is all conjecture.... the two places I've seen pictures on the wall with other gurus was near DC and in Phoenix
 
In the northeast region of India we came across a Temple with a statue of Shiva wearing a gold cross. That was in sharp contrast to a Temple in the south where one of our crew members was denied entry because of his Jesus tattoo.
 
A Cup Of Tea said:
Quick off topic question. As a Canadian, do you experience a difference between US and Canadians in their attitude to faith? Where the mixing and matching are concerned and if you feel they would be a result of nones/New Age/commercialism?
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Yes I do. Not that I get around much. In some ways, Canada is closer to Europe. We have more nones than America, and a much lower percentage of right-wing evangelicals.

Not sure what you mean by the second question, it isn't worded very clearly to me.
 
Aussie Thoughts said:
In the northeast region of India we came across a Temple with a statue of Shiva wearing a gold cross. That was in sharp contrast to a Temple in the south where one of our crew members was denied entry because of his Jesus tattoo.
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There are many faiths, and temples that don't allow non-members in. They aren't tourist sites. The whole thing varies widely, I presume, and everybody is operating on a small sampling, even Indian themselves. With an estimated 5 million Hindu temples, even 100 would be a small sampling. I've only been to 10 or so major temples in one state, and a few smaller roadside ones.
 
wil said:
Oh I've never seen any documentation ( a picture of a tombstone) but it is all conjecture.... the two places I've seen pictures on the wall with other gurus was near DC and in Phoenix
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Personally I think it's quite the myth. The debunker's versions make more sense. But anything's possible, and it wouldn't affect me (or anyone really) one way or another.
 
Senthil said:
Yes I do. Not that I get around much. In some ways, Canada is closer to Europe. We have more nones than America, and a much lower percentage of right-wing evangelicals.

Not sure what you mean by the second question, it isn't worded very clearly to me.
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Thanks. No the question is jumbled up with many other threads and topics. Made sense late last night but it's not really relevant.
 
I do not like this kind of mixing but the evangelists are very active in North-East. We have three Christian majority states there (Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya).
 
Only the extremely liberal Hindu would consider it, so when it does happen, it's most likely due to what Aupmanyav said. But you'd have to investigate every single case on it's own reasons. The other factor to consider here is the tendency of people to use the false logic of making the rare sound like it is common. My aunt used one small quote from the Bible (and distorted it) to justify her alcoholism.
 
In 40 years of practice, this is the first time I have heard of a Saint Ishu.
 
Is it "right" to try other religions? It depends what you mean by... try.

If you mean... should I read holy books, and listen to stories from different faiths, should I have a look into the temples, and ashrams, and synagogues and mosques in my neighbourhood, etc -- yes, definitely do this.

If you mean... should I be one of those people who seem to be a different thing every year? One year I'm into krsna, next year I'm a Bahai, the year after I'm into Scientology: no. Don't be one of these people. Most of those people end up either as... eventual agnostics, or fodder for religious cults.

I suggest, though, that it's easier to try out faiths that have similar tenets to the primary faith you've been given, otherwise, you spend ages trying to shave off the old square edges of the new round peg you hope to become. It causes a considerable amount of cognitive dissonance to replace, root and branch, an entire belief system, especially if, culturally, it's alien to you.

I think a comparative study of religion can deepen a person's faith and can help to find common ground amongst people and systems which on the surface seem so different.
 
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A Cup Of Tea said:
Quick off topic question. As a Canadian, do you experience a difference between US and Canadians in their attitude to faith? Where the mixing and matching are concerned and if you feel they would be a result of nones/New Age/commercialism?
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I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for in a response,but, I am an American Episcopalian who married a Canadian Gal and now live in Canada. I became a member of the Anglican Church of Canada in August 2014. I find that in both Countries the Anglicans are about the same. In Canada however there is the United Church. The United Church is very accepting of a wide range of cultural diversity, more so than any church I have seen in the States ( Brick and Mortar).
 
I grew up around the United Church. I never went but it was the main Church in the rural community I lived in, so most neighbours went. Yes it was quite tolerant. Still, individuals varied, and they had several splinters over the gay issues some 20 years back. I only know this because of relatives.
 
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