“Windows To Spirituality”
What Is Hindutva? Hindutva (“Hinduness”) is the predominant form of Hindu nationalism in India. The term was popularised by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 1923. It is championed by the Hindu nationalist volunteer organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Hindu Sena. The Hindutva movement has been described as “almost fascist in the classical sense”, adhering to a disputed...
Christian Fundamentalism Christian fundamentalism began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among British and American Protestants as a reaction to theological liberalism and cultural modernism. Fundamentalists argued that 19th-century modernist theologians had misinterpreted or rejected certain doctrines, especially biblical inerrancy, which they considered the fundamentals of the Christian...
Islamic Fundamentalism Islamic fundamentalism has been defined as a movement of Muslims who regard earlier times favorably and seek to return to the fundamentals of the Islamic religion and live similarly to how the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his companions lived. Islamic fundamentalists favor “a literal and originalist interpretation” of the...
Jewish Religious Terrorism Jewish religious terrorism is religious terrorism committed by extremists within Judaism motivated by religious rather than ethnic or nationalistic beliefs. History Main articles: Judaism And Violence and Judaism and Peace Zealotry in the 1st century According to a paper authored by then Center for Defense Information research analyst Mark Burgess, the 1st...
Buddhism And Violence The relationship between Buddhism and violence includes acts of violence and aggression committed by Buddhists with religious, political, or socio-cultural motivations, as well as self-inflicted violence by ascetics or for religious purposes. Buddhism is generally seen as among the religious traditions least associated with violence. However, in...
Religious Bullying This article covers Religious Bullying. How should we deal with mockery or ridicule, especially of the young trying to practice their religion by their peers? Forthwith he [Noah] starts constructing the Ark: Every time that the Chiefs of his people passed by him they threw ridicule on him....
What Is Hindu Cosmology? In Hindu cosmology, the universe is cyclically created and destroyed. Its cosmology divides time into four epochs or Yuga, of which the current period is the Kali Yuga. See also:Hinduism and Cosmology Description According to Hindu vedic cosmology, there is no absolute start to time, as...
Buddhist Cosmology Buddhist cosmology is the description of the shape and evolution of the Universe according to the Buddhist scriptures and commentaries. It consists of temporal and spatial cosmology: the temporal cosmology being the division of the existence of a ‘world’ into four discrete moments (the creation, duration, dissolution, and state...
Jain Cosmology Jain cosmology is the description of the shape and functioning of the Universe (loka) and its constituents (such as living beings, matter, space, time etc.) according to Jainism. Jain cosmology considers the universe, as an uncreated entity, existing since infinity, having neither beginning nor end. Jain texts describe...
Christian Views On Suicide This article covers Christian Views On Suicide. There has been much debate over the Christian view on suicide, with early Christians believing that suicide is sinful and an act of blasphemy. In modern times, some Christian churches reject this idea, although others still espouse and teach this view. Early Christianity...
Organ Donation In Jewish Law Certain fundamental Jewish law questions arise in issues of organ donation. Donation of an organ from a living person to save another’s life, where the donor’s health will not appreciably suffer, is permitted and encouraged in Jewish law. Donation of an organ from a dead person is equally...
Jewish Views On Suicide Jewish views on suicide are mixed. In Orthodox Judaism, suicide is forbidden by Jewish law, and viewed as a sin. Non-Orthodox forms of Judaism may instead recognize the act as more akin to a death by a disease or disorder (except in cases of purposeful assisted suicide). Rabbinical scholars (certainly...
Bereavement In Judaism Bereavement in Judaism (אֲבֵלוּת, avelut, mourning) is a combination of minhag and mitzvah derived from Judaism’s classical Torah and rabbinic texts. The details of observance and practice vary according to each Jewish community. Mourners In Judaism, the principal mourners are the first-degree relatives: parent, child, sibling, and spouse. There are some...
What Is Second Death? The second death is an eschatological concept in Judaism and Christianity, related to punishment after the first, natural death. Judaism Main article: Jewish eschatology Although the term is not found in the Hebrew Bible, Sysling, in his study (1996) of Teḥiyyat ha-metim (“resurrection of the dead”) in the Palestinian Targums,...
Spiritual Death In Christianity Spiritual death in Christianity is separation from God caused by sin. Protestantism The phrase spiritual death is not found in Protestant scriptures, and definitions of the concept thus vary among Protestant Christians. Spiritual death is distinct from physical death and the second death. According to the doctrine...
Taoism And Death There is significant scholarly debate about the Taoist understanding of death. The process of death itself is described as shijie or “release from the corpse”, but what happens after is described variously as transformation, immortality or ascension to heaven. For example, the Yellow Emperor was said to have...
What Is Munkar And Nakir? Munkar and Nakir (منكر ونكير) (English translation: “The Denied and The Denier”) in Islamic eschatology, are angels who test the faith of the dead in their graves. Description These angels are described as having solid black eyes, having a shoulder span measured in miles, and...
Druze The Druze (درزي, darzī, durzī, דְּרוּזִי, drūzī, druzim) are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethno-religious group originating in Western Asia who self-identify as Al-Muwaḥḥidūn (lit., “The People of Monotheism”). Jethro of Midian is considered an ancestor of all people from the Mountain of Druze region, who revere him as their spiritual founder and chief prophet. It is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion based on the teachings of Hamza ibn-‘Ali ibn-Ahmad and the...
Karma In Buddhism Karma (karman, kamma) is a Sanskrit term that literally means “action” or “doing”. Karma in Buddhism refers to action driven by intention (cetanā) which leads to future consequences. Those intentions are considered to be the determining factor in the kind of rebirth in samsara, the cycle of rebirth....
Rebirth In Buddhism Rebirth in Buddhism refers to its teaching that the actions of a person lead to a new existence after death, in endless cycles called saṃsāra. This cycle is considered to be dukkha, unsatisfactory and painful. The cycle stops only if liberation is achieved by insight and the extinguishing of desire. Rebirth is one of the foundational doctrines of...
