Chapter 2: Religion

I find studying religions extremely interesting. I love to learn about my own religion along with the belief systems of other people. For these reasons, I really enjoyed reading this chapter about religion. There were many times throughout this chapter that I was reminded of things that I have learned in my Religions of the World class I took a few semesters ago at Wofford. Some of the information, I'll have to admit was a bit rusty, but reading this chapter jogged my memory to some of the things I learned in that class. I believe religion is one of the many reasons I love India. There is such a vastness of religion and religious beliefs among the country which I find to be fascinating.

One of my favorites parts of this chapter was at the very beginning when the author wrote that "religion in India moves with the times." I don't think I have ever thought about this. This may seem silly, but it's true. I am a Christian, and as I have grown up, I feel like there is always a lot of talk about how Christianity has to "change with the times." (I mean this in the sense of how we worship, not who or what we worship.) I know personally at my church we have gone back and forth with an early "contemporary" worship service where the music is comprised of praise songs rather than hymns and the dress is casual rather than formal. "We must change with the times in order to stay current and to connect with people in today's society," many believe. I've thought about this and dealt with this my entire life, but I've never really thought about it occuring among other religions. I always think about India and the old traditions--the temples, the shrines, the sacrifices, etc. Anyways, I thought that was eye opening for me. I believe the author was also meaning how the religion has changed, which is interesting because when I think of religion, I think of something constant. "This is what I believe, and this is why I believe it..." Religion and deities changing with time and circumstance is so strange to me and something that is difficult to get my head around. Reading this made me appreciate both some similarities and differences that I can see among the West and India.

I also appreciated the statistics that were provided. According to the 1991 census, 82% of the population is Hindu, 11.6% is Muslim, 2.2% is Christian, 1.9% is Sikh, .41% is Jain, and .38% is other. How crazy is it that less than 1% of the population is Buddhist?! Buddhism was born in India, and yet today it is so small. Christianity, on the other hand is one of India's fastest growing religions. In America, Christianity is on the decline. It's amazing to me how this shift is occuring, and it makes me wonder why and how these changes occur. I realize that it happens slowly over many years, but that statistic really amazes me. I wonder what the statistics will look like in 10 years, 20 years, or even 50 years from now?

I also enjoyed reading the brief descriptions of the religions that are represented in India so that I could get a better feel for the ones I'm not familiar with. It was also helpful to be reminded of some of the beliefs and values regarded by other religions that I am more familiar with.