[lit-ideas] Re: Comparative religion

JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx writes:

:  
: <<Confucianism freely 
: adopted itself to Buddhism; Taoism and  Buddhism are practiced by the 
: same people for different  results>> 
: Okay.  Someone explain to me  what cultural or historical or political or 
: whatever reasons have caused the  eastern religions to be inclusive and the 
: western religions to be  exclusive.  I won't ask, yet, where the middle-easte
: rners 
: fit  in. 
: Julie Krueger 
: in a swamp of disbelief 

The eastern religions are not, and never have been, monotheistic, and
Buddhism and Confucianism are not really theistic at all---although
their practioners may appeal to various local gods for matters that
are not in the jurisdiction as it were of Buddhism and Confucianism.

I think that it is the rise of monotheistic religions that needs to
be explained.

Note, however, that just because the Eastern religions are not 
monotheistic, that doesn't mean that their followers are tolerant 
of outsiders.  There is a nasty ethnic struggle going on right
now in Shri Lanka between Buddhists and Tamils, who are Hindu.

--
Peter D. Junger--Case Western Reserve University Law School--Cleveland, OH
 EMAIL: junger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx    URL:  http://samsara.law.cwru.edu   
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