Religious Life on Planet Earth

Religious Life On Planet Earth

During my time on Earth, I have observed many strange and wonderful things. Unlike our planet where one religion exists, Earth appears to have many different types of religious beliefs and practices. Prior to coming to this conclusion, I developed the following criteria to determine if people on earth were religious:

Criteria Used to Determine if Earthlings are Religious

* Belief in a supernatural being or beings

* Prayer and other forms of communication with the supernatural being

* A clear distinction between what is sacred and what is profane

* Rituals, spiritual practices and acts of worship

* Symbols, scriptures or myths that are held as sacred and passed down from generation to generation

* Strong beliefs that guide daily actions and behaviors

Examples of Behaviors or Beliefs That Met the Above Criteria

Most of the religions that I observed met several, if not all of the previous criteria. The first religion that I observed is referred to by earthlings as Janism. While practitioners of this religion do not recognize a supernatural being, they can be observed engaging in spiritual practices, worshipping at temples, passing down scriptures from one generation to the next, and possessing strong beliefs which significantly influence their daily actions and behaviors. The most noteworthy of these that I observed is the Jain’s strong belief system. For example, Jain’s take their belief of non violence to such an extreme level that they will not eat after dark because they fear they may ingest unseen insects that may have landed on their food (Fisher, 125). Some Jains even wear a cloth over their mouth to avoid inhaling any living organisms when breathing (Fisher). My observations and research leads me to believe that Jains are very dedicated in their religious practices and beliefs.

The second religion that I observed is referred to by earthlings as Hinduism. Practitioners of this religion believe in a multitude...