One trait of most people who live in England that we can be proud of is that we’re a fairly tolerant bunch regards people’s religious beliefs. There are issues (Compassion in World Farming’s vet experts confirm that animals do suffer if not stunned, but it’s perfectly within Muslim and Jewish law to be vegan to avoid Halal or Kosher meat – read plant-based Middle Eastern recipe books).
And although a small minority of (every religion) use their ‘faith’ to commit atrocities (not just Muslims but also Catholics in the IRA and Italian mafia), most religious people follow the Golden Rule that permeates most faiths that is always one version or another of ‘Do unto others as they would do unto you’.
The History of Religion in England
England was until a few hundred years ago a Catholic country, overseen by the Pope in Rome (a good percentage of all men became monks). Then Henry VIII banned the religion to put himself in charge, so he could get a divorce (he was obsessed with producing a male heir).
Monks and nuns were killed and many monasteries destroyed, a terrible time of religious persecution. In 1553, Queen Mary restored Catholicism as the state religion, but this was later reversed by Queen Elizabeth I in 1559, who created what is now the the Church of England.
This however did not lead to peace. Roman Catholics were not happy that they had to be ‘subjects’ of (in their eyes) a ‘made-up church’. And others not happy at having their faith ‘ruled by a monarch’ led to breakaways.
Two were Quakers (peaceful activists including George Fox who did not like elaborate churches and preferred ‘plain living’) and Episcopals (who did not believe in the still-used right of the Monarch to appoint bishops) and is today often a ‘run-to’ Church for disillusioned (and abused) Catholics as it also has Mass, but accepts gays and women bishops warmly into the church.
Like Orthodox Christianity, neither of these religions recognise the Catholic Pope as head of its church. The Vatican has caused controversy in recent years with many high-ranking officials having chosen to ignore or hide sexual abuse of children or even nuns. And even today it accepts $30,000 a month from a branch of McDonald’s in rent money, something that most followers of Jesus Christ would baffle at.
Of course, England is renowned to be one of the most inter-racial countries on earth, and therefore we are home to almost every religion! A high Indian population means we have many Hindus and Jains (a beautiful ancient religion that is different from Hinduism in that it does not worshop Gods, though like Buddhism, believes in karma and reincarnation).
Sometimes I come across a tree which seems like Buddha or Jesus: loving, compassionate, still, enlightened, giving shade to a cow, berries to a bird, beauty to its surroundings, leaves for the soil, asking nothing in return.
The tree is my church, the tree is my temple, the tree is my mantra, the tree is my poem and my prayer. Satish Kumar (former Jain monk)
Much newer religions are Sikhism (around 500 years old) and Ba’hai (born in what is now Iran, in 1844). One of the oldest religions is Judaism (Jews don’t follow Jesus as the messiah and unlike Chrisitanity does not believe in the ‘holy trinity’).
Then we have Taoism (the first religon of China), agnostics (people who aren’t sure), atheists (people who say there is no God) and humanists (‘positive atheists who focus on doing good in the world).
Then we can go into deeper waters still! The Dead Sea Scrolls have lead writers to claim parts of the Bible were left out or mistranslated to ensure churches had power over the people. You have people who get distressed at reading of animal sacrifices in religious texts (some scholars say that Jesus was a vegetarian pacificist) and of course we can also be inspired by animal-loving saints like St Francis of Assisi).
Then you have American right-wing ‘Bible bashers’ voting for politicians who prefer drilling for oil over protecting our Creator’s planet. And ex New-age celebrities who go on YouTube to tell people that if you practice yoga or reiki, chant mantras or try to ‘manifest your destiny’, you’ll go to Hell unless you’re ‘saved’ like they are. No wonder everybody’s confused or sometimes terrified!
What’s the Truth on What to Believe?
Who knows? But it seems pretty obvious the answer is Love and Peace.
LIFeexplained.com is a website by Hans Wilhelm, who has spent decades studying what the truth is. He’s pretty convinced that the reason for Churches is to assert power over the masses, and that ultimately God is Love and that’s all you really need to know.
It’s also pretty clear that karma (in some form of other) is at play. This can be from simple ‘action and reaction’ (African children starve due to policies and not sharing world resources, not because they did something wrong in a previous life).
Countries at war are due to negative energy en-masse, which is why everyone from peace volunteers to Catholic nuns silently praying on the other side of the world all make a difference.
It does appear that we all have soul lessons, and by recognising and learning from them, we can help our own journey and that of the world. Anna Sayce makes a good explanation of this:
Bad karma is essentially our accumulated stories over many lifetimes. These govern what situations we incarnate into, then we attract experiences based on our karma.
Then we find ourselves in situations we don’t want: sacred pointers to where you soul needs you to grow and change. Bad karma is not ‘a bunch of stuff in past lives that was bad and needed to be punished’.
So in summary, if you keep attracting situations that self-sabotage your life, that could be a soul lesson to have some self-worth and follow your own path, rather than what others (including organised religions) tell you to.
Advice would be to set some boundaries and practice ‘grounding spiritual practices’ to control your own life, rather than let others make decisions for you.
Aussie writer Andrew Matthews explains this in more simple terms. If life ‘taps you on the head’ with a life lesson and you don’t listen, you’ll get a harder knock. If you still don’t listen, life will ‘smack you over the head with a boulder and knock you down’, until you get the message to change direction.
So in summary, the truth is that if you follow a path of kindness and peace, you should be good to go. Follow a religion if it suits (but don’t be controlled by anyone who tells you what to think). Do anything that makes you feel good (from prayer to yoga to sailing to gardening).
But stay away from anything dodgy of every ilk (that includes priests who threaten Hellfire to ouiji boards or dodgy psychic mediums on the pier!) Give up buying New Age rubbish and dig deeper into real spirituality (east or west) if that’s what interests you.
There is no ‘one religion’. Faith is cultural. If you’re born in southern Ireland, you’ll likely be Catholic. If you’re raised in the US Deep South, you could be Baptist and if you’re raised in India, you’re likely to be Hindu or Jain. Don’t let politics or sheer bloody-mindedness lead you to try to ‘convert everyone else’. Work on yourself.
Remember the poor misguided man who was coerced by a religious organisation to go to a remote Indian island to ‘convert islanders’ to Christianity. They had never seen another human before, so killed him with a bow and arrow. It’s important to respect that our view may not always be the only view (or the truth) of how the world works.
Eastern Spirituality is not ‘New Age crap’
In recent years, ‘manifesting’ and New Age have become big business. And now we have (particularly in the US) testimonials of ‘former New agers’ who have ‘returned to Christ’ (often due to scaring themselves silly when dealing with dodgy practices).
Priests and vicars in England say they ‘role their eyes’ when they see psychic fairs advertised, knowing they will get calls from people who start messing around with energies they shouldn’t. And they are right. There is a huge difference between genuine Eastern wisdom and ‘made up New Age crap’.
Paul Kingsnorth (a recent convert to Orthodox Christianity) experienced this firsthand. After practicing Zen Buddhism for many years, his love of nature took him to the Pagan lifestyle where he fell into Wicca (a kind of modern made-up mish-mash of various religions).
This attracts ‘good and interesting people’ who can’t find a religion to suit their beliefs of peace and loving the natural world. But even he found himself ‘dragged out of it by God’.
Spiritual seeker Martha Hartney is not happy at former New Age ‘celebrities’ now scaring the living daylights out of anyone who wishes to practice yoga, use a Reiki practitioner to heal a lame horse or chant a mantra to balance their chakras.
Neither a New Age fan, she says that ‘Jesus was a Shaman of the highest order’ and ‘we do well to learn his ways and walk in his path’. Rather than use fear and condemnation, to try to force others to submit to putting faith in just one belief system.
All paths lead to God. When we restore the sacred balance between ourselves and the natural world, we come closer to God. The realms of spirit are not all sweetness and light. The presence of evil is a blessing that forces us to seek God and all that is good in the world. Martha Hartney
A More Spacious Christianity
A Faith of Many Rooms is a beautifully written, authentic and intelligent invitation to Christians to cast their views wider than their own faith, in line with what the Gospels actually teach. God is love, and even if you don’t know much about other religions, there is always cause to live alongside others in peace.
If your faith feels too small, make it roomier. Not doing so is the very reason why people are leaving the Church in droves, due to the hypocrisy: Jesus was a peaceful man who lived simply, yet often the very people at the head of our churches are millionaires or billionaires, hunt our wildlife and try to make demons out of those who do not follow their faith. In the US, it’s even worse where people are told they will go to Hell, if they practice yoga or chant mantras!
You likely know of Gandhi who liberated India. But did you know that this devout Hindu was once considering being a Christian? He changed his mind when he experienced racism, and decided to ‘keep the good bits’ about the Christian faith (like Jesus) but forget the rest!
Likewise, one Christian preacher was once handing out pamphlets in India to tell them of the dangers of being a Hindu. Nobody took one. When he asked (allegedly Gandhi) why, he apparently replied ‘Once you start behaving like a Christian, maybe someone will listen!’
