Vikramaditya
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*Americans are becoming more like Hindus and less like traditional Christians in the way they think about God, themselves, and eternity, a Newsweek essay has said, citing new surveys and poll data.
*many Americans no longer believe in the idea that theirs (Christianity) is the only true religion and all others are false, says the magazines Religion Editor Lisa Miller.
*65 per cent of Americans believe that “many religions can lead to eternal life” including 37 per cent of white evangelicals, the group most likely to believe that salvation is theirs alone.
*If going to yoga works, great and if going to Catholic mass works, great. And if going to Catholic mass plus the yoga plus the Buddhist retreat works, that’s great, too.”
*Miller writes the number of people who seek spiritual truth outside church is also growing. Thirty per cent of Americans call themselves “spiritual, not religious”, according to a 2009 Newsweek poll.
*The second indication that Americans are going down the Hindu way relates to death and reincarnation, says Miller. Christians traditionally believe that bodies and souls are sacred, that together they comprise the “self”, and that at the end of time they will be reunited in the Resurrection. You need both, in other words, and you need them forever. Hindus believe no such thing. At death, the body burns on a pyre, while the spirit where identity resides escapes. In reincarnation, central to Hinduism, selves come back to earth again and again in different bodies.
*There are anywhere between 1.5 to 2 million Hindus in the US, according to ballpoint estimates based on latest census updates of Indians in American. While Hindus typically do not exhibit aggressive evangelical fervour, there has been a steady growth of Hindu places of worship across the US with temples that now number more than 100
Welcome - Times Of India ePaper
*many Americans no longer believe in the idea that theirs (Christianity) is the only true religion and all others are false, says the magazines Religion Editor Lisa Miller.
*65 per cent of Americans believe that “many religions can lead to eternal life” including 37 per cent of white evangelicals, the group most likely to believe that salvation is theirs alone.
*If going to yoga works, great and if going to Catholic mass works, great. And if going to Catholic mass plus the yoga plus the Buddhist retreat works, that’s great, too.”
*Miller writes the number of people who seek spiritual truth outside church is also growing. Thirty per cent of Americans call themselves “spiritual, not religious”, according to a 2009 Newsweek poll.
*The second indication that Americans are going down the Hindu way relates to death and reincarnation, says Miller. Christians traditionally believe that bodies and souls are sacred, that together they comprise the “self”, and that at the end of time they will be reunited in the Resurrection. You need both, in other words, and you need them forever. Hindus believe no such thing. At death, the body burns on a pyre, while the spirit where identity resides escapes. In reincarnation, central to Hinduism, selves come back to earth again and again in different bodies.
*There are anywhere between 1.5 to 2 million Hindus in the US, according to ballpoint estimates based on latest census updates of Indians in American. While Hindus typically do not exhibit aggressive evangelical fervour, there has been a steady growth of Hindu places of worship across the US with temples that now number more than 100
Welcome - Times Of India ePaper
