Comments on Peter Newton's comments (More Hope)

Submitted by Rajender Razdan (United States), Aug 15, 2002 at 12:43

While agreeing with almost everything Peter Newton writes, I take a slightly different view on one point that he makes, i.e.

"Religion by definition is a single truth that it's adherents follow, and it does not allow room for any other truths. When the power of government resides in a religion there is no room for dissent or debate. The answers are given before any questions are asked. This holds immense power for good in an individual, but immense tyranny when applied in a broad sense to a government. The separation of church and state is the only way that tolerance and peace can be achieved in a homogenous society. The separation of powers is our only weapon against natural human vice. "

This idea of religion being a single truth that its adherents have to follow holds true only for all the Semetic religions (i.e. Christianity, Islam and Judaism) all with their belief in their one and only " true" God [of course that leads to trouble, because then you have my "true" God pitted against your "true" God]. In Hinduism, for example, there is no single truth its adherents have to follow. We are given complete freedom in both our form of worship and the diety we may choose to worship. In fact, a key concept in Hinduism is that all paths do eventually lead to salvation, which in the Hindu context is nothing more than an understanding of one's "self".

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