Religion Question
Learning Goal: I’m working on a religion discussion question and need a sample draft to help me learn.
Write a question to stimulate discussion about the multiple paths that religious hybridities move on today.
What do these observations suggest about Cao Dai’s status as a “hybrid religion” or its claim to be a “world religion”?
READ Refugees aim to preserve unique Vietnamese faith
I will send the 3 replies and you will be all set
Jaden Taylor
Week #11: How can hybridization hurt a religious community?
In the article is talking about how the religious community of Cao Dai, is worried that their religion is going to die off with the new generation. If some religions have too many aspects of other religions it can take away the uniqueness and what makes a religious special to its members. This religion is described as ” a colorful blending of beliefs”, which shows the reader that this religion has been a part of hybridization. However, this is a unique Vietnamese faith. The elders say that the younger generation don’t even understand the scripture or the prayers and that is why they are concerned that it is going to die off and have no leaders. They want to expand the religion but that seems hard when everything is mainly in Vietnamese, which makes it hard for other to understand and convert. They are trying to convert their scriptures to English but until that gets done it could be hard for them to spread and grow as a religion.
Asked by Matthew Rojas
Can too much hybridization cause religion to not grow?
If a religion cultivates too many religions, would it make it to complex and detailed for other people to follow? In the news article, it was described how the religion of Cao Dai is losing followers and that the elders fear that the new generation would not uphold the religion like they have. Another viable reason for the lack of growth could be the fact that since it originates from Vietnam, the language barrier is very heavy. Looking back at the article, the son of a Cao Dai follower notes that the sermons are in Vietnamese. This would also make it hard for non-Vietnamese people to convert as they do not understand what is being said.
Asked by Aaron Prieto
Does the complexity of hybrid religions have an influence in the lost interest of younger generations?
In the article “Refugees aim to preserve unique Vietnamese faith” we see that the hybrid religion, Cao Dai, is losing the younger generation’s interest in the faith. To the elders and leaders that are heavily involved in the faith, it is worrisome. The lost interests partly do the language as it is hard to grasp when it comes to prayers and words. However, Cao Dai scholars have been aiming to change that with translations that make it easy to learn. They have also started to build a language school along with programs to help the younger generation of the Vietnamese community and non- Vietnamese as well. However, another main reason the younger generation has lost interest in the faith is its complexity of it. Instead of having one set of beliefs that is unique to only that one faith, it is a combination of beliefs along with a combination of holy figures such as Buddha, Confucius, Jesus, etc. I can see why this can lose a kid’s interest because it can be confusing to a young kid compared to learning of Christianity and Buddhism where there is one main figure and set of beliefs. With that being said, does complexity in a religion hurt the interests in others?
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