Reflection 15
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School
University of Toronto, Scarborough *
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Course
A01
Subject
Religion
Date
Nov 24, 2024
Type
docx
Pages
1
Uploaded by ProfArt11715
Academic scholars believe that religion is a unified form of belief that
consists of many cultural traditions and superstitions that are combined to
create one particular faith. However, fundamentalists would argue that
religion is a direct message from god.
They would believe that it is the
absolute truth without any contradictions.
Therefore, religion can be
perceived in various ways. Some might consider it holy or pure and others
might look at it as a cultural practice.
Syncretic and radical/fundamentalist are different approaches in
understanding and practicing of a religion. Syncretic focuses on the fusion of
different religious beliefs and ideologies into one. It gathers these different
concepts and traditions from two or more different religions to unify them, it
is like creating a new religion based on different religions. On the other hand,
radical/fundamentalists focus on the literal interpretation of the scripture or
texts of a religion. Biblical inerrancy, people practice/believe word for word
the scriptures that are written on a religious text. There are some religions
that set a religious text as a metaphor and do not take every word written as
it is, but radical/fundamentalists take every word into account because they
believe that the scriptures are without error. Unlike a syncretic religion that
views and believes that this concept or tradition of a religion is true, but
another concept and tradition of another religion seems right too, so they
fuse them together to create what they believe is the ultimate truth. This
means that the views of a syncretic and a radical/fundamentalist do not see
eye-to-eye because one believes in the literal interpretation of a religious
text, while the other believes in the fusion of different religions' traditions
and ideologies that they deem to be the absolute truth.
Part of a definition for "syncretic" in the Oxford English Dictionary is
"...aiming at a union or reconciliation of diverse beliefs, practices, or
systems". From the very beginning of the film, India is established as a
syncretic nation. It is a nation of great diversity that is diverse in terms of
language, culture, tradition and religion. We are introduced to Karthik,
someone who is the complete opposite of a religious fundamentalist. He is
very accepting of his fellow Indians and takes pride in his country's varied
heritage, accepting India's syncretic nature. Suddenly, we are then
introduced to the religious wars that have occurred. There are mentions of
communal violence, the demolition of the Babri Mosque in 1992, and a
Muslim genocide in Gujarat on February in 2002. The sort of existing radical
or fundamentalist views in India are made known when Amin says that he is
a humanist, and the response to that is "You can't be that, you can either be
a Hindu or Muslim." This response contradicts the idea of India being
syncretic, showcasing two certain beliefs to fundamentally be the only beliefs
to be subscribed to, and the tensions between the idea of religion being
syncretic and the existing views of religious purity and absolute truth in
religion and the people who subscribe to the two different sides.
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