An April 2018 publication by Pew Research Center, amongst the American population, confirmed my alleged trend: a decline in Religion and an increase in Faith. This trend was most notable amongst the 19% of agnostics / atheists: almost half of this group does believe in some higher power or spiritual force. This is the essence of Faith versus Religion.
Religion is a man-made institute in the Power domain of the 7 Belief systems, and claims that their Deity or Supreme Being is different from – and superior over – other deities (eg, Allah, God, Yahweh). Faith is a belief in a (good) Force, regardless of its form or shape. For Jesus‘ criticism on religious leaders, please see Mathew 23.
The differences between religions become weird once you realise that the prophet Muhammad and the prophet Jesus both descend from Abraham. Hence, the concept of Abrahamic religions. However, Abraham was neither a Jew or Muslim, nor from Judah. Abraham was a member of the black-headed Sumerian people from Ur, a Sumerian city-state that currently lies in Iraq.
The Sumerian people are one of the mysteries in ancient history. They “suddenly” appear in a region called Mesopotamia, after the Great Flood of 11,000 BC to 4,000 BC. Nearly all human inventions date back to the Sumerian people, allegedly the “first” advanced ancient civilisation. Please see my “Sumerian” blogs: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8.
Officially, my religion is Roman Catholic, the “largest Christian church“. For several years, I have not visited a church, not even on Christmas Eve. My personal decline in Religion was more than compensated by an increase in my Faith. In my prayers, I talk to Yahweh, a name that dates back to the black-headed Sumerian people (eg, Abraham in Genesis 15).
The Abrahamic religions have clearly borrowed key religious concepts from the Sumerian people (eg, afterlife, soul, spirit). A key difference is Sumerian polytheism (the “Anunnaki”) versus Abrahamic monotheism (ie, Allah, God, Yahweh). After Abraham fled from the Sumerian city-state Ur towards the Canaan, the Sumerian civilisation (and its beliefs) quickly ended.
Paraphrasing Aristotle and Albert Einstein: the more you know about Religion, the more you realise that you don’t know much about Religion. Interestingly, this quest (for information and/or the truth) does strengthen your Faith. Remarkably, the 2018 Pew publication is also about people losing Religion and gaining Faith.
The transformation from Religion to Faith will have a profound impact on the future 7 Belief systems: Religion will disappear from its Power domain, and Faith will appear in its Knowledge domain. It’s doubtful if the Knowledge = Power notion will survive these transfers (my blog).
Yah Mo Be There (1983) by James Ingram & Michael McDonald
artist-1, artist-2, lyrics, video, Wiki-1, Wiki-2, Wiki-3
Note: all markings (bold, italic, underling) by LO unless stated otherwise
0 Comments