Nonverbal communication and culture. Identity, stereotypes and prejudices, страница 25

Before we treat each of these religions in detail, we need to mention the similarities among them. It is often our similarities rather than our differences that lead to intercultural understanding.

Religious Similarities

It should not be surprising that there are numerous similarities among the world's great religions. Every human being, from the moment of birth to the time of his or her death, asks many of the same questions and faces many of the same problems. It falls on a culture's religion to supply the answers to these universal questions. The following six parallel points illustrate how in many ways cultures are alike in their search for a meaning to life and explanation to the experience of death.

Sacred Scriptures

At the heart of all the world's main religious traditions lies a body of sacred wisdom. Sacred scriptures express and provide identity, authorization, and ideals for the people of the tradition. Each of these scriptures enables a culture to pass on the wisdom of that culture from generation to generation.

The Bible, consisting of the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament, written in Hebrew, and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, written in Greek, serves as the written centerpiece of Christianity.

For Jews, the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, is an important document that has lasted thousands of years and offers guidance to the present and future.

The Koran, which Muslims believe was dictated to the prophet Muhammad by Allah, is written in classical Arabic. For Muslims the memorization of the text in childhood acts simultaneously as an introduction to literacy.

In Hinduism, the sacred writings are found in the Vedas. These divine wisdoms cover a wide range of texts and are written in Sanskrit.

The Pali Canon, based on oral tradition, contains the teaching of the Buddha. Pali became the canonical language for Buddhists from many countries, but comparable texts came to exist in other languages, such as Chinese and Japanese, as the religion evolved.

For the Confucian tradition people will turn to the Analects. This collection has for centuries helped shape the thoughts and actions for billions of people.  

Authority

In nearly all cases, religious orientations have an authority figure who provides guidance and instruction. Whether the figure be a supreme all-knowing God such as Allah, a philosopher such as the Buddha, Jesus, "the Son of God," or the wise counsel of Confucius, all traditions have someone greater than the individual who can be turned to for emotional and spiritual direction.

Traditional Rituals

Ritual is one of the oldest, most complex, and persistent symbolic activities associated with religions. Rituals are not instinctive and therefore need to be passed on from generation to generation. Ritual expresses the psychic, social, and religious world to its participants while it is also providing "identity," and structure. Rituals take a variety of forms. They range from the lighting of candles or incense, to the wearing of certain attire, to deciding whether to stand, sit, or kneel when you pray. There can be rituals dealing with "space" (Muslims going to Mecca) and others that call attention to "time" (Christians celebrating Christmas and Easter).

Rituals can also be indirect. A good example of an indirect ritual is the Japanese tea ceremony. At first glance, it would appear that the tea ceremony is simply the preparation and drinking of tea, but the importance of the ritual to Buddhism is far greater.

Speculation

Every religion knows that all human beings seek answers to the great mysteries of life. As we noted earlier, each tradition, knowing that people usually are vexed by the great conundrums of life, attempt to address questions about mortality and immortality, death, suffering, the origins of the universe, and countless other events. From Genesis stories to detailed descriptions of heaven and hell, all traditions supply answers to timeless and overwhelming questions.