Multi-Faith

[Robban]

Hello

Can you be multi-faith?

Why would someone be multi faith?

I ask because I have heard of people being of multiple religions and do not really understand.

Thanks

Must be very confusing,
1 TV, 100 channels,

 

[Chris B]

.. for me the issue of getting along with other religions ... Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, Catholics, Lutherans, Mormons, Baptists, Hindus has larger been resolved by involvement in inter-faith activities. The more we work together in community the better!

This is necessary and good, as long as it does not mean having to accept and respect others' beliefs whislt accepting and respecting other people as human beings. The latter can slide over into the former either by demand or, in Britain at least, from a reflex to be "nice" and to "avoid rocking the boat."
"Just don't mention religion" might seem an odd rule for an interfaith group, but it's one most likely to keep the peace.

These things will intrude though: there might be universal agreement on "good education for children". There will not be so much agreement as to the actual content or format of "good education".

I'm stuck on what are to me irreconcilable differences in theology.
If Karma is basically right, Grace can't be and vice-versa, and that's just one of several basic clashes.

Yes, there do seem to be a fair number of people who don't see the clash, don't see the problem.
Travelling in Australia for the first time one of the real shivers down the neck experiences was, when camping, to look up at the night sky and see the stars "all wrong" . No Orion, no Ursus Major. I mentioned this to a few people travelling with me and they had not registered anything, as they didn't know their own northern hemisphere stars well enough to notice any difference (is this possible? Apparently so) This also with syncretic beliefs, I suspect. If not known well, the disjunctions and contradictions may simply not register.

Chris.

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

Multi-faith must be virtually incomprehensible for members of exclusivist religions, yet for most of mankind throughout most of history, it was the rule rather than the exception. They did not perceive everything in terms of black and white, but instead found that adopting and incorporating new beliefs into their pre-existing world view was the most natural thing to do. That's why you may see a statue of Jesus standing on a Hindu altar, or witness a native Siberian shaman incorporate orthodox crosses in her drum trance ritual.

 

[football5680]

They can try but they will inevitably run into something that contradicts and at that point they would have to either choose one over the other or create their own syncretic religion but this would be a single faith, not multiple faiths.

 

[GrowingSmaller]

New agers and theosophists, hum.

 

[Albion]

I don't think that's true for me. I'm not bolting any observances or incidentals or even beliefs together. I'm looking at God Himself and seeing Him very alive and vibrant with in others of different spiritual trajectories.

I wish now that I hadn't worded my post exactly as I did, because this is a subject that has a lot of variables. However, what you have described sounds to me like something other than "multi-faith" if that word is supposed to mean adhering to two different religions at once.

What you've described seems more like an appreciation for all religions or for the idea of faith or for belief in God generally.

I understand that, but it's not what I thought the OP was talking about or what the term "Multi-faith" was supposed to mean.

 

[Chris B]

To me it's a bad thing if a Christian does that. Our God is sufficient for us. His word does not need to be augmented with conventional wisdom or anything from any of these other religions

"Our God is sufficient for us. His word does not need to be augmented with conventional wisdom or anything from any of these other religions"
Exactly as a Muslim could say, but they would not by that unity of words be in accord with what you mean by those very same, not by a long way.
(I've met at least one theologian whose approach is to create *the appearance of* unity by insisting on all terms being as left as open and undefined as possible. )
The more mystical strands within the major religions can find something much more like a unity of perspective, but this does come with a disregard and a cavalier handling of almost all the non-mystical elements of the various religions.
(Being materialistic accretions, obviously.)

If one is allowed to edit and reinterpret so freely, almost any desired result can be obtained.

Chris

 

[Chris B]

New agers and theosophists, hum.

We are stardust.
Also, nuclear waste blasted out of failing fusion reactors.

Chris.

 

[Albion]

Is that a good or a bad thing?

I guess it would depend on what is "bolted on."

 

[Zoness]

I understand that, but it's not what I thought the OP was talking about or what the term "Multi-faith" was supposed to mean.

There has been a bit of confusion about this with me too. I don't think that "Multi-faith" means the same thing as syncretic. I think Multi-Faith means adhering to two religions at once, which I don't think is quite the same thing is more common syncreticism.

 

[BrianKay]

Flatpack furniture comes with instructions in different languages, often,
but there is only one set of instructions.

Don't mix the instructions for assembling a table with the ones for assembling something else.

 

[gord44]

It's totally possible if you have an open mind. If anyone explored neo-paganism at all you see how eclectic pagans do it, I see no reason it can't work with more traditional/mainstream religions. Take what you like and leave the rest behind. If it works for you, that's all that matters, despite objections from people who see it as silly or hodge podge. Results are the key.

 

[Albion]

It's totally possible if you have an open mind. If anyone explored neo-paganism at all you see how eclectic pagans do it, I see no reason it can't work with more traditional/mainstream religions. Take what you like and leave the rest behind. If it works for you, that's all that matters, despite objections from people who see it as silly or hodge podge. Results are the key.

I get the point, but it matters which religions are being considered. For example, if one of them is Christianity, there's no way to be true to it and not consider Christ to be the only name given by which men may be saved. If you want to be Christian only to the extent of breaking bread in fellowship, commemorating events in Jesus' life, baptizing converts in water, and such things...OK. You can do that, BUT does that really make the person doing it "multi-faith?" I'd be inclined to say 'no.'

 

[dlamberth]

I get the point, but it matters which religions are being considered. For example, if one of them is Christianity, there's no way to be true to it and not consider Christ to be the only name given by which men may be saved. If you want to be Christian only to the extent of breaking bread in fellowship, commemorating events in Jesus' life, baptizing converts in water, and such things...OK. You can do that, BUT does that really make the person doing it "multi-faith?" I'd be inclined to say 'no.'

I work with the experience of the Cosmic Christ and know it as the light with in all of life, and all faiths. From that trajectory, a person can work with a multiple of religions and know Christ through them all.

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

I doubt that combining two distinct religions is possible without producing a synthesis, i.e. creating something new and distinct from the orthodoxies of both "parent religions".

 

[Aelred of Rievaulx]

I doubt that combining two distinct religions is possible without producing a synthesis, i.e. creating something new and distinct from the orthodoxies of both "parent religions".

Some have found that religious traditions are capable of sharing spiritual practices. St John of the Cross, for example, incorporated much of Sufism; Thomas Merton, Zen; Barlaam and Josaphat are Christian saints yet their legends come directly from Buddhist scripture; Ratzinger (Benedict XVI) has even pointed out positively how some forms of worship of Jesus became incorporated into some Hindu practices. One can look and even hope for many other spiritual possibilities.

 

[Albion]

I work with the experience of the Cosmic Christ and know it as the light with in all of life, and all faiths. From that trajectory, a person can work with a multiple of religions and know Christ through them all.

Not really. You can appreciate Christ, I won't deny, but not relate to him as he said was necessary.

 

[ananda]

Everyone is "multi-faith" ... it's only a matter of degree, if only for the fact that every individual possesses a unique, personal interpretation of and perspective on their own universe.

Even if you take two people who call themselves "Christian", "Methodist", "Baptist", etc., you'll find that they have differences in their brand of Christianity/Methodism/Baptis/etc.

 

[Albion]

Everyone is "multi-faith" ... it's only a matter of degree, if only for the fact that every individual possesses a unique, personal interpretation of and perspective on their own universe.

Even if you take two people who call themselves "Christian", "Methodist", "Baptist", etc., you'll find that they have differences in their brand of Christianity/Methodism/Baptis/etc.

Sure, but "faith" in that case refers to Christianity. "Faith" here means a particular "Religion." Baptists, Methodists, etc. are all Christians, so that's not what is meant by "multi-faith."

 

[ananda]

Sure, but "faith" in that case refers to Christianity. "Faith" here means a particular "Religion." Baptists, Methodists, etc. are all Christians, so that's not what is meant by "multi-faith."

I use the word "faith" in the sense of how a person understands and believes their universe works.