What People Want Their God to See in Them?

People from different religions have their own concepts of divinity and the ‘afterlife’. The stricter their faith, the stronger their belief in a special and exclusive arrangement with this divinity. 

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Many strongly religious people believe that upon dying there is some kind of ‘judgement’ ritual with their version of God presiding. Many also expect a cataclysmic event, where the chosen few are selected and others damned to nasty places like hell, Gehenna, the Outer Darkness, etc.

The believers, however, must do certain things to pacify divinity into selecting them and not the others. This business of excluding others is very important because many believe that heaven has a limited space for e.g., 144 000 as in some Christian denominations.

Christians:

Christians of different denominations often talk about an invisible sign marking that you are one of the chosen 144 000. For many, the sign of the cross is the identifying factor.

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Many are convinced that it is a “Are you wearing a cross? Come in and walk to the left!” scenario on Judgement day!

Some Catholics practice bodily flagellation, so that their bodies are full of gaping wounds and blood. And God will surely not refuse them entry into heaven out of pity!

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Hinduism:

Hindu ascetics like to show that they are not a part of everyday society though many of them might feed off society. They can use sandalwood paste and ochre marks,

matted hair, orange clothes etc.

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Often they go colour and effect full blast.

If there’s a lot to choose from, you never know which one will work.

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Hinduism does not have any Hollywood style ‘judgement day’. Krishna’s advice to Arjuna (chapter 8 of the Bhagavad Gita) is very behaviorist and cognitive science savvy!

Remembering whatever object one leaves the body 
At the end of life, one attains that object, O Arjuna, 
because of the constant thought of that object.

The path of light and the path of darkness 
Are thought to be the world's two eternal paths. 
The former leads to nirvana and the latter leads to rebirth.

Buddhism:

Buddhists probably would want good character and non-violence to be their hallmark. Bodhidharma, the 5^th century Indian monk said to have transmitted Zen Buddhism to China, warns about tricksters.

"Many people have the Great Vehicle Root Nature, but there are also many people who lie. Having cultivated without success, such people claim to have the way. Though they have not certified the fruit, they claim to be certified sages."

Buddhists believe that Buddhas have the 32 major marks, and the 80 minor marks of a superior being. Buddhists, especially Western converts, sometimes have visible ‘Buddhist’ signs on their body.

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Judaism:

Many Jewish authorities stress that living a good life based on the Torah guarantees good afterlife.

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The Yarmulke or Kippah caps are visible signs for some. A circumcised willie is a must for Jewish males. 

Amidst the general bustle of the ‘End of the World’, do Jewish and Muslim men expect that God or angels have the time or desire to take a peek between their legs to check if they are circumcised? 

And how would they distinguish between Jewish, Muslim and other circumcised willies?

Islam:

Preaching Islam or letting non-believers understand Islam or Dawah is the act most loved by Allah. This implies that behaviour and not clothes is the decisive factor.

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But clothes seem to play a role too.

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Shinto:

Shinto men would like to be seen wearing clean, starched, well-ironed clothes and lots of them too.

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Ku Klux Klan

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KKK members would probably hope that God or heavenly agents have the kind of vision modern airport screening machines have, to see through all the layers of clothes, past the flames and find the hidden good qualities in them.

Gay

Gay men would probably like to be seen as sexy, slim and always desirable. Body image is very important.

One could rightly argue that Gay is not a religion, but a sexual orientation and thus shouldn't be in this list. However, since the emphasis in the gay issue is on sexuality, and as there is a common ground with the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) who are typically very vociferous in condemning sexuality, so maybe the expectations that God is extremely interested in matters sexual (in a judgement senses!) are somewhat in the same area. 

However, it does make me wonder, often, why among all the other sins (lots and lots of them mentioned in the Abrahamic religions) does God choose to focus so much on one particular sin.

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Native American

Perhaps this is one religious tradition we people of the 21st century should really look to for a genuinely elevated stance on the issue of sexuality and how to define it and especially how 'tolerant' people should be. Most importantly, the reason why people should be tolerant needs to be understood from a wider perspective than just moralising and following laws.

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Most Native American religions considered interest, androgynous people, feminine males, masculine females to be two-spirit people. Instead of being obsessed about the physical expression of people's sexuality, they focussed on their spiritual gifts.

As a person's character is a reflection of that person's spirit and as everything comes from the domain of the spiritual, these two-spirited people are doubly blessed and thus valued by others. The French term for two-spirit is berdache, which originated from the Persian bardaj (an intimate male friend) just doesn't get the point here.

Here is a very interesting article on this Native American theme on the excellent First People website.

Why Should We Force Our Religious Views on Others?

A Christian bus driver in the UK refuses to drive a bus with an atheist slogan.

The advertisement "There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” runs on 200 buses in London and 600 vehicles in England, Scotland and Wales in an advertising campaign. The atheist Professor Richard Dawkins and the British Humanist Association officially back this anti-God campaign.

Bus driver Ron Heather, from Southampton, Hampshire, UK walked out of his shift on Saturday in protest. His employer, the bus company, First Bus said in a statement: 

"As an organisation we don't endorse any of the products or sentiments advertised on our buses. The content of this advert has been approved by the Advertising Standards Agency and therefore it is capable of being posted on static sites or anywhere else."

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Hanne Stinson, chief executive of the British Humanist Association, expressed: 

"I have difficulty understanding why people with particular religious beliefs find the expression of a different sort of beliefs to be offensive. "I can't understand why some people seem to have a different attitude when it comes to atheists."

Do States Define the Religions of its Citizens?

Is this ad inherently different from the message of organised religions? A building, a church, a temple, or a mosque is also a loud proclamation of the faith of believers. Buildings and religious congregations satisfy the needs of members, but without attacking other people faiths. Stating your viewpoint and professing your faith need not undermine or attack anyone else’s faith.

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Most countries of the world are tolerant of different religions or religious views of inhabitants. States have however, often taken extreme positions of intolerance. For example, on February 27, 380 AD, the Byzantine emperor declared, "Catholic Christianity" the only legitimate imperial religion, ending state support for the traditional Roman religion and tolerance for others. 



Track Record of the Catholic Inquisition

The Catholic inquisition is seen as a very bloody and gruesome affair. 

30 external historians working together with Vatican authorities, however found that more women accused of witchcraft died in the Protestant countries than under the inquisition.

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Outside Europe, the inquisition was a different story. The Goa inquisition, between 1560 and 1812, was designed to punish relapsed New Christians (Jews and Muslims). From the scant records not destroyed in 1812, it seems to have brought to trial 16 200 out of which 64 were burned and 57 executed.

The Inquisition Symposium, established in 2000 by the Pope, found that the Inquisition burned 59 women in Spain, 36 in Italy, and four in Portugal. At the same time in Europe, civil justice brought to trial 100,000 women and burned 50,000 of them. About 26,000 were condemned as witches in Germany.

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Theocratic States in the World Today

Though in Norway, Finland and Sweden the Lutheran Church and the state are joined, currently only Islamic states are theocratic. Saudi Arabia requires all Saudi nationals to be Muslims. The state recognizes individuals’ rights of non-Muslims to worship in private. Israel is also a Jewish theocracy, with a population 76.1% Jewish, 16.2% Muslim, 2.1% Christian, and 1.6% Druze, with the remaining 3.9% of other religions. But, Israel allows freedom of religion by law even to Israeli citizens.

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The first modern Islamic state, Pakistan was founded on 14^th August 1947. According to Section 295C of the Pakistan Penal Code you get the death penalty if you 

"by words . . . or visible representation . . . or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defile the name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad." 

You can be sent to ten years in jail for outraging the religious feelings of any group. As of mid-2002, only the testimony of a single Muslim is sufficient to prosecute a non-Muslim on blasphemy charges.

Religion of Ruler Defined by Law

There are only few countries where the religion of the ruler is defined by law. 

• Saudi Arabia requires all Saudi nationals to be Muslims. As a ruler of Saudi Arabia has to be a Saudi national, the ruler has to be a Muslim. 
• The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran with its Shi’a Islam of the Jaafari (Usuli) school of thought also has no choice about religion.

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• The Emperor of Japan is currently the only ruler with the title of Emperor. In 1946, with pressure from US General MacArthur, he renounced his claim to being divine in human form (akitsumikami), but he did not renounce being a Aahitogami (a Kami or spirit being born in human form) or a descendant of Amaterasu (Sun Goddess in Shinto religion). 

The 44^th US president Barack Obama can convert to Islam, Hare Krishna, Bahái, or any other faith. But, one other very liberal Western democracy has a religious straightjacket for its ruler. The constitutional law prevents the monarch of UK from being a Catholic. As the head of the Anglican Church and as the “Defender of Faith”, the monarch cannot but be an Anglican Protestant officially. This could be a toughie for Prince Charles (with his holistic views and penchant for alternative 'treatments') when his time comes.

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Further References:

• Peter Wetzler, Hirohito and War, University of Hawai'i press, 1998, p.3
  
• Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
  
• Encyclopædia Iranica. Center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University.
  
• Levack, Brian P. The witch hunt in early modern Europe, Third Edition. London and New York: Longman, 2006.
• Monter, William: Witch trials in Continental Europe, (in:) Witchcraft and magic in Europe, ed. Bengst Ankarloo & Stuart Clark, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia 2002, pp 12. 
• Salomon, H. P. and Sassoon, I. S. D., in Saraiva, Antonio Jose. The Marrano Factory. The Portuguese Inquisition and Its New Christians, 1536-1765 (Brill, 2001), pp. 345-7.