Are religion and culture are interrelated?

Answer 1

You have asked this question earlier also. My answer is the same. The religious belief is an up shoot of the local culture. But conversion by missionaries and Muslims by forcible marriages, or application of fear and force as in Bangladesh to-day; how the culture suffers by getting converted to a religion which is a foreign product. Faith in God is one thing and religion is another. So long as Arabians have their own culture commensurate with their homeland religion, there is no problem. Similarly the Jewish culture in Israel and the Christians in Europe have a historical background to their collective faith. But what about the Muslims among the Germans, Americans, Indians etc. who are caught in Al Qaida terrorist group and the Christians in Kosovo, Timor, in North-East India who have sowed the seed of insurgency in their respective places in recent history. Such problems arise when we try to change the culture after getting them converted to another faith.

Answer 2

Yes they are. The Catholic religion had to absorb many o fthe local "beliefs" into their fold, by chritianising their rituals and stuff to suit the mold of Christianity. Hinduism, Taoism and Buddhism too then to absorb local cultural beliefs into their practices.

Modern Christianity and Islam are not so open with cultural blending although, I have seen in malaysia and singapore where, the Muslims DO NOT absorb cultural elements but embrace them in a friendly and respectful manner. EG. They do not follow the traditions of Deepavali or Chinese Lunar New Year, but will visit the homes of the ethnic groups that celebrate them and rejoice with them without betraying their faith and at the same time, respecting their neighbors.

I guess it very much needed coz malaysia and singapore are rich with cultural differences and blends, but they seem to live in a pretty well ahrmonised environment except for certain pockets of outskirt towns in malaysia where the zealots and fanaticals are... even THERE they are good among each other as people, until religion comes into play.

Answer 3

Unfortunately, many people are more concerned about culture than religion. This problem is obvious concerning "Muslims," among whom we find many examples of the pure, noble religion taking second place in people's lives to culture. For example, if Pakistan were truly Muslim, we would not see the widespread drug use (heroin), forced arranged marriage, etc. Many Arabs have been trying for 14 centuries to maintain Arabism rather than Islam. It is due to these examples that I think European and European-American Muslims (who may be better able to distinguish between Islam and culture) will do a lot to help Islam in the future.

Answer 4

Religion and culture had always gone and in hand. What is culturally accepted is often dictated by what is accepted in the religion, eg. homosexuality, witchcraft.
No religion is independent, even Buddhism. In Japan, during the warring states, the buddhist temples proved so much of a military threat that Nobunaga Oda had them burnt.
Some of the religious leaders, took advantages of their disciples trust in them, abused that trust to profit themselves, by altering current laws to sit their needs

Answer 5

The interrelation of religion and culture is very much prevailing as methodological and theoretical approaches to the study of religion, and on religious dimensions of such domains as literature, art, history, psychology, and philosophy. We have to investigate both the religious dimensions of secular culture (for example, film and art) and traditional religions as cultural phenomena.

Religion is explored in a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary context, and critical and imaginative thinking about religion as an expression of the human condition is emphasized, along with the methodological strategies involved in undertaking such study. Recognizing that "religion" can be defined in many different ways, the program understands the category "religion" itself as an intellectually problematic and provocative concept, rather than simply as a descriptive historical, institutional, or phenomenological label.

It has not only the interdependence of religion and culture but also the insights from comparative study of the phenomena, experiences, and theories of religion. Since "western" religion does not exhaust the parameters of the concept "religion," we are required to develop expertise in the history, literature, and practice of at least one "non-western" religion.

Special emphases of the program include the relation between theology, philosophy, and contemporary critical theory; religion, psychology, and ethics; feminist theory and theology; religion and aesthetics in historical and contemporary manifestations; religion, ritual, and material culture; as well as discrete historical phenomena and movements in a variety of religious periods and traditions (Judaic, Graeco-Roman, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Native American).

it is essential to develop a comprehensive understanding of the phenomena of religion from the perspective of cross-cultural, historical, and interdisciplinary methods. Further, students are expected to develop an ability to conceptualize, analyze, and organize discrete bodies of material both in terms of a breadth of vision regarding the scope of the study of religion and also in terms of areas of disciplined and focused expertise.-

Answer 6

I think there are a lot of people who confuse various cultures with different religions. At the same time, I think every religion has a bit of it's own culture. There are different words for describing spiritual events, different customs of conduct at meetings, different everyday-lifestyle customs performed by it's followers, etc.

Answer 7

I'm a pakistani muslim. Things that are not allowed in my culture, are allowed in Islam and some things that are not allowed in Islam are allowed in my culture. There are many muslims with different cultures.