Different Religions for Different Cultures?

[Anonymous]

I love the Dalai Lama…he recently said this:

“When we contemplate the diversity of spiritual traditions on this planet we can understand that each addresses the specific needs of different human beings, because there is so much diversity in human mentality and spiritual inclination. Yet, fundamentally, all spiritual traditions perform the same function, which is to help us tame our mental state, overcome our negativities and perfect our inner potential.”

Do you think it possible that the religions we have have evolved to fit the specific culture? Your thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Rix,

I wouldn’t say it was “possible”, but rather that it is inevitable. Religions are manufactured to address humanity’s need for relationship with the divine. Regardless of whether one believes God is active in this manufacturing, the context in which this takes place is always “culture”. There is no humanity to speak of without culture. Of course, your question is clearly aimed at (or informed by) anthropological concerns. But I would say that just as important are the theological concerns, such as those confronting the faithful Christian (Latter-day Saint or otherwise): what is the role of the believer in the world? This seemingly benign question becomes universally profound in H. Richard Niebuhr’s classic text, Christ and Culture. The following is a condensed amazon.com book review:

Amazon.com Review

“Being fully God and fully human, Jesus raised an enduring question for his followers: what exactly was His place in this world? In the classic Christ and Culture, H. Richard Niebuhr crafted a magisterial survey of the many ways of answering that question–and the related question of how Christ’s followers understand their own place in the world. Niebuhr called the subject of this book “the double wrestle of the church with its Lord and with the cultural society with which it lives in symbiosis.” And he described various understandings of Christ “against,” “of,” and “above” culture, as well as Christ “transforming” culture, and Christ in “paradoxical” relation to it. This 50th anniversary edition of Christ and Culture, with a foreword by theologian Martin E. Marty, is not easy reading. But it remains among the most gripping articulations of what is arguably the most basic ethical question of the Christian faith: how is Christ relevant to the world in which we live now?” –Michael Joseph Gross

[Anonymous]

Quote:

Do you think it possible that the religions we have have evolved to fit the specific culture?

Absolutely – and the ones that survive and flourish are the ones that properly balance a sense of security and stability with the ability to adapt – an acceptance of authority and creativity – a foundation of fundamentalism with a structure that can accept “continuing revelation”, if you will.

I believe the average member has almost no idea – no real clue – what a tight-rope leaders have to walk in a large, international, multi-cultural religion – and that is one reason I am able to look at incremental change as sufficient change, even as I hunger regularly for faster change. My heart wants the faster change, but I understand that the branches can be pruned only according to the strength of the root.

(Have I mentioned lately that I really like Jacob 5? I think I would accept the BofM as divinely inspired scripture even if that allegory was all we had. I probably should write a separate post about it at some point, but I think the pruning concept rests on the influence culture has on religion.)

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