Toward the beginning of this week, I discovered that Religion was something beyond the belief of a higher spiritual power and that an immense part of the culture influences religion in a vastly complex viewpoint. It entails concepts of geography, region, and even to human experiences which all affect one’s thoughts and behavior. After reading Malory Nye’s chapter one on “Religion: Some Basics,” I started to get a more profound understanding that religion and culture are two separate and distinct concepts that impact and shape one another.
As a young Buddhist follower born and raised in America, I often noticed that my practices and understanding of Buddhism were different from those in my family who lived in Asia for most of their lives. This is an ideal demonstration of Nye’s first chapter on how a person’s religion is heavily determined by cultural context and location, likewise, the culture of one’s lives is strongly influenced by religion(s) of their society.
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