How to Enhance Your Understanding of Different Religions

There are many fun and educational steps you can take to learn about different cultures, especially world religions with which you are not familiar.

Instructions

Religious Texts

1. 

   Borrow or purchase the Torah, the Koran (Qur'an) and the Bible from a nearby place of worship. If you do happen to purchase all or just a few of the above, you'll be happy to know they don't cost all that much.

2. Read the sacred texts where and when you feel most comfortable. If you can't read or interpret them in their original languages, feel free to pick up English translations of them at a nearby bookstore.

3. Ask a clergyman or religious scholar what the proverbs or quotes in the sacred texts mean and how they relate to situations people like you face in today's world.

4. If she feels comfortable with saying as such, ask a well-respected friend, acquaintance or relative about how religious texts have impacted their daily lives. As they always say, it never hurts to hear and respect a different point of view.

Religious Holidays

1. Go to a religious holiday festival being held in your area. It could be one representing Ramadan (Muslim); Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Passover and Hanukkah (Jewish); Christmas and Easter (Christian), among others.

2. If you can afford round-trip air fare and hotel stays, travel to Mecca, Saudi Arabia; the Vatican in Rome; and Jerusalem, Israel. They are the world's holiest cities for the Muslim, Christian and Jewish faiths.

3. 

   Purchase ethnic foods from your nearby grocery store or specialty shop. Even if you don't formally celebrate a religious holiday, it never hurts to get inside another culture's shoes for one day out of the entire year.

4. Take some time out to meditate and reflect on your life's greatest blessings, regardless of which religious holiday you celebrate.

Tips & Warnings

• Not every person on the planet likes to talk about or share their religious faith with others, so please respect that person's reluctance if he recoils when you bring it up. Also, do keep in mind that traveling to the Holy Land, Jerusalem, can be very dangerous. The Arab-Israeli conflict continues to dominate the headlines, and it shows no signs of abating anytime soon. Also, get informed on local laws if traveling to Mecca. Saudi Arabia is not a democracy.

References

• Religious Holidays
• Ethnic Food Recipes
• Sacred Texts