Issues and Traditions in Western Religions, Essay Example

There is probably no field of human practice in the world that does not experience problems or is not faced up with certain dilemmas. This can be, as well, said about religion. Take a look, for example, at the three mostly spread world religions: Christianity, Judaism and Islam – every one of them has certain concerns of their own. As far as I can judge, one of the most important current problems with Christianity is the lack of bible reading. People call themselves Christians but how many times a week, a month or a year do they even think sitting down and reading the Scripture. There are even those, who do not have a Bible of their own. As a result, another important problem arises. Nowadays not all Christians are able to distinguish truth from fiction. It can be simply explained as a lack of biblical reading that people are more likely to believe Dave Brown with his “The Da Vinci Code” than the Bible. Talking about Islam, one can say that the most serious current problem of this religion is terrorism. The whole religious movement is being viewed as potential terrorists, which is far away from the real purpose of this particular religion. Consequently, the second problem appears: people of other religions are being afraid of Islamic people and are stereotyping about them. How many times have you seen a person crossing the street when being approached, for example, by a black-dressed Islamic woman? Finally, Judaism’s main current issue, to my mind, is adaptation to the contemporary world environment. Jews live by commandments and with today’s technological and social development some of the commandments are hard to accomplish or impossible to interpret. The second problem is the on-going military conflicts. Again, religion is being associated with human activity but it is not a kind of impression that should be made.

Traditions differ from nation to nation and are unique in their own way. In my opinion, there are two major traditions in Christianity: Christmas – the birth of Jesus Christ, and Easter – the day of Christ’s Resurrection. These two holidays serve as major landmarks of Jesus’ life as well as holding points of the whole religious belief. For Christians they are the blessings showing the coming of the son of God to Earth and his resurrection from the dead after being crucified as a symbol of all human sin being taken away. During these two days people experience the closest relations with God by going to church and feasting in his glory.  When talking about Islam, Ramadan and Hajj should be mentioned. Ramadan is a month of fasting, during which Muslims do not eat or drink anything from dawn till sunset. It is believed that by doing so people practice sacrifice and patience during the month, in which, according to historical background, Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad. On the other hand, Hajj is a pilgrimage to Mecca, the holiest meeting place, which must be made by every Muslim at least once in their life. By fulfilling the pilgrimage, Muslims show their submission to Allah. In Judaism, it seems that Sabbath and male circumcision can be considered two of the most important traditions. The act of male circumcision is referred to as a commandment from God and is performed upon a male getting his Hebrew name. Another sacred commandment from God in Judaism is Sabbath. It is considered to be the day of rest when a person is free of any work and can devote the whole day to religious practices or family.