Hey guys, for the last few months we have been learning about religious worldview and what better way to understand a religion’s worldview than to visit the sites of worship themselves. However, before we could visit these amazing places we had to learn about the religions first.
The first three religions we learned about were Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism and they were all very different to say the least.
Hinduism was the only religion we learned about that was polytheistic or believed in more than one god. However instead of praying to all the gods worshipers usually have a personal god that they pray to to help them.
Buddhism was also very interesting to learn about because they believe that god will not help you. They believe that you should live a harm free life and follow the eight fold path.
Sikhism is also pretty cool because they believe that everyone and everything is equal. The most interesting thing that I learned was each Gurdwara has a soup kitchen that anyone is allowed to come to and have a delicious meal. They have someone reading the Guru Granth Sahib or holy book at all hours of the day in the Gurdwara.
With this newly found knowledge in our heads and our iPads in our hands we left the school to visit the religious sites. We were tasked with respectfully walking around the sites of worship and taking pictures of things or areas in the temple that show the world views of the religions. We first visited the Hindu temple which had a minimalist design but the display of the gods inside the temple was so breathtaking that the design actually helped show how important the gods are.
Our next stop was the Buddhist Temple, it was mostly out doors with beautiful gardens covering almost every inch of the property. However, all of areas of worship n the inside of the temples were not to be photographed which Mae it harder to show their exact worldview. Lucky for us, we got to go to a Buddhist Monastery but before we could go there we we had to visit the Sikh Temple first.
The Sikh temple was amazing, inside and out, there were so many beautiful colours and architecture that it was hard to focus on one thing. But before we could follow our tour guide around there Gurdwara we were set to have lunch first. Surprisingly enough my favourite part of the whole field study had to be when we had lunch at the Gurdwara because the food was just so good that you would never think it was a soup kitchen. Once we were finished our lunches it was time to enter the main room of worship, everything was gold. And there was a small room at the front where the Guru Granath Sahib was to be sung at all times of the day.
As promised we then set off to the Buddhist Monastery, at the front of the room of worship there was a golden statue that depicted Buddha with many precious thing around the statue. The attention to detail in the statue was amazing and it made it look like Buddha was all the more real. Around the room there were many tiny Buddhas in the walls which show how important the Buddha is to Buddhists. There were also many places in the room showing the eight fold path which is a big part of their religion.
The next three religions we visited were Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. What was really interesting about this group of religions was that the holiest place for each of these religions are all Jerusalem. However, besides that they’re all pretty different.
Christianity and Judaism started out as the same religion but they became two different religions when Jesus came. Christians believed that he was the saviour, they still follow his teachings to this day. The church was beautiful, everything on the inside was symmetrical which made it even more pleasing to the eye. The church had many windows near the roof which made it seem closer to the heavens then we actually were.
When Jesus came the Jewish people believed that he was not their saviour and decided bot to follow him. Their holy book is actually a scroll called the Torah Scrolls which is kept in a special room at the front of the main area of worship. On the walls of the synagogue were plaques that had the names of loved ones that had died, the purpose was to celebrate the lives of these loved ones. The light fixtures were made in the shape of the Star of David and a huge menorah out front. The Rabi at the synagogue showed us the Torah Scroll which was completely written by hand in Hebrew.
Although Muslims also believe in one god they are a totally different religion than Judaism and Christianity. They live their life following The Five Pillars of Islam which are: Shahada, the pillar of faith, Salah, the pillar of prayer, Zakāt, the pillar of charity, Swam, the pillar of fasting, and Hajj, the pillar of pilgrimage. My group later used these Five Pillars as the main part of our poster about their worldview. The Islam temple was very simple on the inside and out but what really facilitated me was that there was a men’s and women’s entrance, there were also separate rooms in which the men and women would pray the Allah or God.
Each of these religious sites were beautiful in their own way, the Buddhist temple had amazing landscaping that showed how amazing nature can be. The Sikh temple had an amazing room where the Guru Granath Sahib is to be read twenty-four-seven. The Church had beautiful statues depicting scenes from the Bible. The Hindu temple had the gods dressed in the most amazing garments I have ever seen. The mosque’s simplistic design allowed Muslims to focus on their prayers and the place where the synagogue is located took my breath away. Everything about these places showed the religion’s worldview in the most beautiful ways possible. All in all the trip was a success, I learned so much from these places that I would have never learned any other way. I learned about the beauty of religion and how it change how someone thinks, and most importantly I learned why people think certain ways or act that way. It’s because of what they believe.