Learn About an Unfamiliar Religion

Nearly everyone has spiritual questions, whether you were raised within a religion or not. It’s part of the human experience to wonder, after all. What happens when you die? Are there higher powers? How do I find meaning in life? These are beautiful questions.

You could think of spirituality like a form of intelligence, available to all of us, and like all intelligence it grows with practice. Our physical intelligence helps our body move and do things in the world, our cognitive intelligence helps us analyze and process information, and our spiritual intelligence helps us see meaning in our everyday life, and helps us make good choices about how to live. It’s the kind of intelligence that helps us decide, for ourselves, “is it right to kill an animal to eat?” and “should I forgive someone who has hurt me?”.

Perhaps you’ve been raised in one religion but you’re curious about others. Perhaps your family is a “little” religious but you don’t actually know what they do that counts as religious. Perhaps it’s all a total mystery to you what people do when they set foot inside a temple, mosque, or other place of worship. Wouldn’t it be helpful to understand what people actually do, and how they’ve decided to make sense of life?

Getting Started:

1. Think of at least 1 religion you’re curious about and don’t yet know very well.

2. Make a list of questions to ask someone who practices this religion. Create these with sensitivity, care, and empathy. If you show genuine interest and curiosity and are not trying to argue, convince, or make anyone feel like their religion is “strange” or inferior in any way, then your questions will likely receive kind and thoughtful responses. Do a little research online first about the religion you’ve chosen, so that you can ask thoughtful questions. Here are some sample questions:

   Did you grow up with this religion? If so, what are your childhood memories of it? If not, how and when did you find it?
   How do you practice your faith now, on an average day or week?
   What does the religious community mean to you? How do you participate in it?
   How does your religion help you navigate life’s ups and downs?
   What are some of the religious teachings you think about most?

3. Find a good source of information. This may be more difficult because of COVID, but if you’re able to, the best way to get information is to speak with someone who practices this religion. You may be able to ask your parents, friends or friends’ families for help meeting someone in the religion you’ve chosen. Or you may be able to contact a place of worship for that religion – like a church, a mosque, etc – and ask if there is someone you can speak to. If you aren’t able to speak to a “live” human, go online, but make sure your source of information is a good one. Because people get very worked up about religion, there is a lot of misinformation online about religions. Try to find a website operated by the official center of the religion itself.

One Last Tip: With all of this, remember that it may be easy to note differences, like in how someone prays, or what kind of god they believe in, but make sure to also look for the similarities. The “help” people are looking for from religion tends to be more similar than different. Notice when you are surprised by a similar answer; remember that our minds are tuned into finding differences in others who seem outside of our group, but we find more fulfillment and meaning from a life of connections in which we notice our similarities to others, and feel part of a common human experience.