Name a religion. WHat do you want to know about?

I don't know, how about wiccan, that one truly intersts me, because i've known so many, but never found out anything useful about it

That you'd have to ask someone else about. I'm not a fan of any religions that started in the last 200 years. What I do know is that wiccan ethics are pretty much a blend of Buddhist and Christian ethics, taken out of Buddhist and Christian contexts. I have heard it's a good religion to turn to if you live comfortably all ready and need a way to avoid spiritual laxity.

Right, then what religions do you have info about?

Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, Chinese Religion (not reccomended unless you are actually Chinese), Islam, Judaism.

What the hell is Jainism, I've never heard of it?

It's a heterodox religion of India. About the time Buddhism came around, probably much earlier, but no one knows for sure, Jainism emerged. Like all religions, you end up with a very muddled view of it by only reading one person's quick pic of it, but here goes:

Jainists believe that Kevala, or salvation, is possible because of several saintly figures called Tirthankaras, or "fordfinders," great men who have found fords that can cross between the misery of the material world and the nonkarmic world beyond, where all is bliss. They are strict vegans and part of the religion makes occasional tiem spent as a monk compulsory. Monks are often seen wearing a cloth over their mouth to avoid inadvertantly eating tiny living things, they also sweep the ground in front of them to push aside small living creatures so that they don't step on them. To a Jainist, not only is intentional harm to living things evil, but unintentional harm to living things can cause your soul harm as well. The preferred method of "checking out" is self-starvation while in standing meditation. No one actually does this any more, but the Tirthankaras are very important because they actually had the kind of self-control, good will and empathy for the world that they would do this to themselves. Current Jainists believe that salvation will not be possible for several thousand more years, as we are passing through a particularly corrupt and vile period in existence. They also believe in no end or beginning of time or the Universe, merely cycles.

They say that the self is great and blissful and wonderous, but karma obscures our wonderful essence. Where Buddhists and Hindus believe that we should build up good karma by doing good things so that we have increasingly good chances of achieving salvation, Jains believe that salvation is achieved by doing as little as possible, erasing all karma from our record so that there is nothing holding us down, not even our bodies.

See, this is a mistake that people make. I think that the Bible is not meant to be taken quite so literally as some people take. However, se should not completely rely on religion because science can still offer us insight into certain things. I'm just saying we shouldn't be so quick to judge either side.

That sounds somewhat sensible, but i would like to know more.

What exactly would you like to know more about?

Jainism

*runs to get his notes*

Well if you want to be a Jain, you'd pretty much have to move to India. It's a relatively small religion--the smallest of the major world religions, numbering a few million in various parts of India. This is mainly because it was considered, for a very long time, indulgent and irresponsible to travel great distances on anything but your own two feet.

It very much an atheistic religion, believing in the existence and even the power of gods, demons, and amazing beings of all sorts, but totally discounting their spiritual value. Many Jains will worship at Hindu temples because they believe in the power of those gods to help them in worldly matters, and even though it has a very anti-materialist basis, Jainists see no moral dilemma with this, as enlightenment won't even be possible in this epoch. Again, they aren't trying to achieve enlightenment now, later in this life or even in the next, they are trying to push themselves to be in a better spot and position to gain salvation in some distant lifetime. The Tirthankaras are not gods, and this is important to note, they are more like role models or saints, they have made salvation possible for the rest of us, and they were legendarily great men, but they can't help you. The Jains avidly believe that the only person who can help your spiritual situation is you.

Jain philosophy is often described as terribly pessimistic, I don't think so, but whatev. One story goes something like, "A man was walking down a path through a forest when he found he was being followed by a tiger. Terrified, he ran faster down the path. Fatser and faster he ran until he came to a rock, which he trips over into a pit of vipers. The man was luckily able to grab onto a tree root before he fell all the way into the pit. As he is hanging there, tiger above, vipers below, ants gnawing on the root, he looks around desparately and notices a delectable fruit, fallen from a tree, desparate for one last pleasure before his doom, he reaches perilously for the piece of fruit." This was once used by Jain to describe the eternal misery of the cycle of birth and death, Samsara.

The only division in the small community is not a very important one: It has to do with the attire of monks. As all Jainists spend time as monks, and many will spend their whole lives monastically, the division about what monks wear might be kind of important, but really isn't. And while I can't think of the Sanskrit words for them, they are the "white-clad" and the "sky-clad." The white-clad wear plain white robes during their monkhood, the sky-clad go naked, imagine spending three to five years naked, eating next to nothing, meditating all the time. These guys are hardcore.

So then why didn't you just say that in the begining, instead now I feel like a retard. And there is no way in the blue hell that I am moving to India.

Sounds very cool. I like learning about different religions because any religion can help one become more enlightened. I have a question. Islam is a religion that teaches love and compassion much like Christianity. However in any religion, people will use other people's faith to put themselves into power. Do you think that Islam was made for this purpose? Just a thought.

Now I'm just started to get confused

What's confusing?

Now people are having intelectual conversations, and I can't even keep up with the normal conversations

come on, dude, we can't be expected to drop everything just so we can explain shit to you.

And I really don't remember asking you to. Don't get mad at me, I just asked for a brief review of some different religions, and I wasn't talking about you explaining what you have, I was talking about the other persons statement. Don't get mad at me unless you have the facts.