Not a religion
Many faiths or traditions claim they are not a religion (try google).
Or others claim it is actually not a religion. In the case of Buddhism it is mostly non-Buddhists or maybe neo-Buddhist that consider Buddhism not a religion. But for Mongolia it is obvious Buddhism is a religion. The daily practice consists of many rituals and involves a pantheon of deities.
However, many of the new faiths here claim they are not a religion. Baha'i claims to be metareligious, taking the best from different religious traditions, but not being a religion itself. Evangelical Christian sects claim Christianity is not a religion, but a "relationship with Jesus". Institutionalized and ritualised churches like the Catholics are a religion, but the "pure Christian", in their view, is not religious in the sense that they don't need institutions or rituals.
Being a religion, or not being a religion, has more consequences than just a tag. Like tax. In some places you might get lucrative tax cuts as a religion (See Texas - by the way, is this what they call a redneck?), but in Mongolia, many religious organizations try to pretend they are secular NGO's to avoid the heavy taxes on religious organizations: 20 per cent tax under Mongolia's 2000 tax law, whereas commercial companies pay only ten per cent. This applies not only to the evangelic missionaries , but also the century old Buddhist monasteries.
posted by Guido V @ 00:44
reference
6 comments
6 Comments:
Dear Guido,
Although it is a common conception that Bahá'ís are, as you say, "metareligious" (or "syncretic) in picking and choosing from different religions, this is actually not true. Although we as Bahá'ís do believe that many Faith traditions were sent by God for humanity's instruction (e.g., Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Chrisianity, Islam), our Faith is actually an independent religion with its own Writings and teachings specific to today's age and requirements. Best wishes to you, Brett
Dear Brett,
Thanks very much for explaining! Are you in Mongolia as well? There seems to be quite a a number of Baha'is here. Including a Danish Baha'i community. Are you familiar with that?
Dear Guido,
Thank you for being informative about the subject (and pardon my curtness in just jumping in!)...I actually came across your site by doing a Feedster.com search of "Baha'i"...I am not in Mongolia, though I would be very interested to travel there at some point...I have heard there is a quite an active community there (despite being one of the newer national communities)...Do you mean there is a Danish Baha'i contingent in Mongolia? That would be interesting...I actually know one of the first (if not the first) Baha'is to go to live in Denmark and share the Baha'i Faith with its people. I am currently in Tucson, Arizona, U.S.A., though I plan to join my new wife in China, sometime in early December. best wishes to you, Brett (feel free to email me if you like)
Hopefully this won't offend anyone, but I think the reason alot of people may be saying, especially with regard to Mongolia and Tibetan lamaism, that Buddhism is not a religion is that this allows them to feel more justified in their missinary efforts. There are many Christina groups and especailly the Mormons in Mongolia who are no doubt bringing education and health services to the poeple -- and I think that's great. However, Mongolians have their own religion -- Tibetan lamaist Buddhism (also called Vajriyana Buddhism). While the missionary groups do provide good services and are certainly well-intentioned, it seems a bit inappropriate to make those services conditional on acceptance of an outside faith. I lived in Dornod, on the Eastern steppe, and let me tell you, most of the people I spoke to were not happy about all the proselytizing. Why do our countries insist on changing these people's religion? They are just now starting to gte the chance to explore it after 70 years of atheist oppression. Sorry if this a bit blunt, but this practice seems a bit predatory to me.
Dear Ariel,
I like the point you make of the misuse of of the idea of Buddhism not being a religion. And there is no way you can be here in Mongolia and deny that it is a religion.
See also a recent post on the missionairies.
Guido
Can someone help me to find information on Mormons in Mongolia and how Mongolians are receiving them?
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