Blog post no. 1: What factors of your native culture have informed your religious world view? Explain the impact of these factors

I was born and brought up in Mumbai, India. India is a country with various religions; Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Sikhism, Catholicism, Judaism, Buddhism and many others. Living in a ‘Hindu Colony’ most of the people around us were Hindus. There were a few others that weren’t but they were a minority as the whole area was a Hindu area. Most Hindu people are rather friendly but there are exceptions. When we were children, my sister and I were told to go back home and play as we were different. After a while they accepted us but my sister refused to play with them and so did I. We went to ‘St. Agnes High School’, an English medium Catholic school about a half an hour bus ride away from where I lived. There we had weekly chapel time, daily pray time and religious education. The school was run by the sisterhood of Jesus and Mary. I went for Sunday school Bible study every Sunday. I was introverted and except for school, church and rare outings with my parents, I never went out. I did not have any friends and so there were no real cultural factors that affected me. At home I prayed with my parents whenever they did. After a while, I decided I did not want to anymore but they forced me to join in anyway. That made me dislike religion and the way it is often forced upon others. I assumed that all religion was just a way to view the world and make sense of it and focus the blame for events on other things. I looked up different religions online and read about them in the library. I liked the way Buddhism viewed Gautama Buddha as a preacher who was telling them the right thing and not a God and how they liked preserving nature: however I did not want to become a vegetarian, I like the Hindu belief of karma and the Muslim belief of ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth’. I believed there was a God but I just was not sure what the true view was. Obviously every religion views their path as the right one and so there was no use asking believers. I viewed Humanism and what explanations it offered for life, evolution, and science. I was an Agnostic and separated myself from everyone. Looking at everything, I came up with conclusions slowly day by day. I moved to Ireland and whatever little belief I had built up was broken down and I did not know if I believed in God anymore. I prayed daily on my own hoping that my prayers would be answered but I did not have enough faith. I prayed telling God that if my prayers were answered then I would believe in him even though that is not what one must do. However, I realized that my prayers were coming true slowly and then I came to South Korea that was a turning point and I decided that I wanted to be a Christian. Once I made that decision I did not feel lonely or unhappy as often as I used to. My native culture made me stop and wonder what my real beliefs were. I appreciate that as I would not have liked become Christian just because my parents and family were. I made the decision by myself. I still dislike when people try to preach to me or convert me because they find my view incorrect. My native culture taught me to accept people whatever religion or view that they follow as t.hat is their view and everyone by their human right can choose. By forcing people to believe what you believe one only makes them dislike the religion but it also does not give them their human rights. I do not think that other religions are wrong I just accept the fact that there are other views out there. After all if one is meant to be open-minded and explore, they must accept that people have other beliefs whether they agree or disagree with it.