Sorry, but I was just thinking.
Something to ponder: No one can really say how many different religions there have been through the ages, we can only estimate there have been around 4,200.
One thing I do know is every religion has had are some bad folks and some good folks doing some mighty good things and some very terrible things.
French writer Voltaire said; “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.”
Charles Dickens wrote to the Rev. Frederick Layton in 1847, in answer to a query regarding his religious beliefs; “As I really do not know what orthodoxy may be, or what it may be supposed to — a point not exactly settled, I believe, as yet, in the learned or unlearned world — I am not in a condition to say whether I deserve my lax reputation in that wise...”
Dickens wasn’t and still isn’t, alone in his opinion. No single definition has yet been satisfactorily stated on the subject of the varied sets of traditions, practices, ideas and faiths that could constitute a simple definition of religion. There rarely been unanimity about the nature of the subject among scholars, partly because the subject itself has been so involved in controversy throughout its history.
My source of information comes mostly from a book called “World Religions” by Robert Pollock, along with “Power of Myth” by Joseph Campbell. Many books have been written about religions and discussions and arguments have taken place everywhere and some folks use violence to express.
Politics and religions have brought many to the point of violence. It seems to me that if a religion or political view is not one centered and focused on doing good for all of the peoples of the world, it may not be a good one to follow, or is it the individual who sets his own agenda and belief with in any religion or the political world?
Personally, my main objective these days is: I try not to hurt anyone through words or actions. This works for me.
James Wilson McKinstry
Newton