A recent article in Newsweek caught my eye. Entitled ‘We are all
Hindus now’ it quoted a 2008 Pew Forum survey on the way Americans
think about God, themselves, each other and eternity. Turns out that
although the majority of Americans still identify themselves as
Christians, when it comes to spiritual truth, the afterlife and their
religion, most are no longer buying into the idea that theirs is the
only true way to salvation.

As a matter of fact, according to the survey, 65% of Americans believe
that ‘many religions can lead to eternal life’, including, quoting the
article, ’37 percent of white evangelicals, the group most likely to
believe that salvation is theirs alone.’

Meanwhile, 30 percent of Americans consider themselves ‘spiritual, not
religious’ according to a 2009 Newsweek Poll, up from 24 percent in
2005, while more and more people are seeking for spiritual truth
outside the church. Moreover, according to a 2008 Harris poll, 24
percent of Americans say they believe in reincarnation in which the
body is impermanent while the soul is eternal and can inhabit many
bodies in different incarnations.

In other words, Americans are becoming more like Hindus whose
scripture says that ‘Truth is one, but the sages speak of it by many
names.’ Whether through the paths of Jesus, the Qur’an or Yoga, none
is better than any other and all are equal.

I find this finding both enlightening and encouraging. Imagine if
everybody in the world starts thinking along this line then we would
have so much less religious-based conflicts and a much greater
tolerance for the diversity of religious expressions.

People would then not get so hung up on their religion and define
themselves by their religious identities, nor would they see other
religions as a threat to their existence or an offence to their way of
life. There are after all many paths to Rome. The focus therefore,
should be on the purpose of the journey and the destination rather
than the path itself.

To bicker about which is the best path to follow and which is the
right vehicle to take, as we see, only results in conflicts, distrusts
and hatred. It does not help in taking us further on the journey.
Worse, fighting about whose vehicle is the right one, might even
divert us from the destination itself.

This of course, flies in the face of orthodoxy and for many people the
idea that you call yourself of a particular religion but then pick and
choose what works in a sort of ‘divine-deli-cafeteria religion’ to
quote the article again, a rather uncomfortable one.

But then again, why not? The choice is whether one wants to focus on
the religious identity itself, the religion most of us happen to be
born into whether by accident of birth, race, location, society and
moment in time, or whether one wishes to focus on the spiritual
aspect, where one’s relationship with the divine becomes also one’s
personal search for the truth and understanding of why we exist, what
happens to us when we die and the meaning of it all. In which case
religion becomes a means that connects the seeker with the truth.

After all, is not the essence of all religions is peace? And is not a
peaceful mind, a peaceful heart and a peaceful life what every human
being seeks regardless the religion or even when one does not follow
any particular religion?

Personally, when it comes to spirituality, it’s a personal choice on
whatever works. Whether it’s chanting, dzikir, meditation, attending
the mass or Friday prayers, fasting, being a vegetarian or what have
you, they are all good as long as they make you feel closer not only
to God but to your fellow human beings and make you appreciate life
better.

What I find not so good is if your religion makes you feel you have to
force your belief on other people, uncomfortable when you see someone
else wearing religious attributes different from your own, suspicious
when other people build houses of worships next to yours and make
religion the end of your life’s meaning and not a means to create a
better life.

And if religion is about a way of life, I often find it odd that
people can pray so ardently to God for blessing and guidance and yet
still treat other people with no respect, throw garbage anywhere they
want and engage in other anti-social behaviours.

So if Americans are becoming Hindus, what about Indonesians? It would
be interesting to see what sort of results if the Pew Forum survey
were done in this country.

When spirituality becomes the end and not the religion itself, then we
truly have a recipe for global harmony.