Faith Isn't Only About Beliefs, but Growing, Learning As Well

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Q: Beauty may be "in the eye of the beholder," but what about religion? It's incredible to me how many people today create their own sets of beliefs. It's as if they see religion as a cafeteria. They go in with a tray and fill it with what they want. Of course, they don't pick up anything that might negatively impact them. It's as if they say to themselves, "I'll take some grace, love, favor. I'm not going to put judgment on my tray, though; don't need that! I'll take some heaven for dessert. Done. Now I can lead my life the way I want." What do you think of this trend? -- A., via e-mail A: The label "Cafeteria Christian," or for that matter, "Cafeteria (fill in any religion)" was coined to describe people who pick and choose the beliefs and rituals they like in a religion, while leaving out others. I understand your frustration over this trend.

Buddhism has a belief called "Dependent Co-Origination" (pratityasamudpaya), meaning each idea depends upon other ideas and is inseparable from them. I agree. Judgment and grace, justice and mercy, the purity of diet and the purity of thought, all depend on each other for their essential meaning. When we rip them out of their seamless context, the spiritual coherence of the entire religion can suffer. The point of faith is not just to pander to our existing beliefs and practices, but to challenge us to grow and embrace and understand the parts of our religion that at first seem alien.

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Faith Isn't Only About Beliefs, but Growing, Learning As Well

In any case, I think you should open your mind, heart and soul to people who just aren't able to dive into the deep end of the spiritual pool. You ha...

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