All true religions share a common platform, foundation or substratum
of truth. This truth is the same for all true religions.
True religions can be identified by the following:
1) A concept of God.
2) A concept of love.
3) A concept of humanity and kindness.
4) A concept of charity and help towards others.
5) A concept of congregation and a place set aside for worship.
6) A concept of Worship and praise of God.
7) A concept of a spiritual dimension.
8) A concept of following truth and good
9) A concept of finding spiritual happiness which takes away suffering.
10) A concept of reward or punishment.
11) A concept of unity and tolerance.
12) A concept of Life after death.
13) A concept of sin and forgiveness
14) A concept of mercy.
15) A concept of prayer.
16) A concept of equality and freedom
17) A concept of sacrifice and high ideals.
18) A concept of morality
19) A concept of relative and absolute existence
20) A concept of meditation and harmony.
21) A concept of miracles and defeat of evil.
22) A concept of transcendental learning and imparting.
23) A concept of glory, victory and sainthood.
24) A concept of a finite world and infinite beyond.
25) A concept of impermanent/changing world and permanent/unchanging
beyond.
26) A concept of Faith, Trust and Belief.
27) A concept of common values which always remain despite all the
changes.
28) A concept of evolution and preordained change rather than haphazard
change.
29) A concept of control/laws rather than chance/anarchy.
30) A concept of rising above pain.
31) A concept of a true leader/master who shows a path to
the spiritual level
32) A concept of sincerity in speech, deeds and the heart.
33) A concept of contentment or peace.
34) A concept of enlightenment and education
35) A concept of scripture inspired by God (...)
There also exists false religion. False religions also have some common features. False religion includes:
1) Devil worship
2) Self worship
3) Ego worship
4) Money/Wealth/Property worship
5) False leader/master worship.
6) Stone, Idol or object worship
7) Cult worship
8) Celebrity worship
9) Dead or grave worship
10) Hero worship
11) Witchcraft/superstition worship
12) Animal worship
13) Science worship
14) Nature worship
15) Media worship
16) Technology worship
(...)
These share the opposite of those characteristics mentioned for true
religion: greed, lust, selfishness, hatred, intolerance, blindness from
Ego, materialism, lacking all spiritualism, cruelty, unfeeling towards
others, not sharing, suicide, homicide, criminal activity, drugs,
alcoholism, addiction, genocide, anarchy, all manner of sinfulness, emptiness,
sense gratification cravings, lack of peace, inflicting pain on others,
starting wars, brutality, bullying, division, discord prejudice,
elitism, falsely masquerading as a follower of true religion, mechanistic
cold heartedness, dictatorship, totalitarianism, slavery, injustice
looking to the past rather than the future, pessimism, dogma,
indoctrination, corruption, sabotage, betrayal, lying, cheating,
hypocrisy, double standards, etc., etc.
An individual may not have to belong to a particular religion to be
part of true religion or false religion. They can phase throughout
the course of their life in and out of true or false religion. Thus
an atheist or an agnostic or even a firm believer can be in either
state from one moment to the next. A person who has reached the highest
spiritual level by uniting with God goes
beyond even true religion. That person never again drops from the level
of God. The path to this highest level is true religion and not false religion.
To follow false religion takes one and others away from God which
inherently results in pain and suffering.
In life there are always these two paths or choices at any given moment.
If one is in pain then the first question one should ask, 'Am I following
the right path?'
Cheers, Anand.
Last updated: 2001/10/31