Transcendental Meditation
Understanding World Religions
Our quote for today is from Karl Menninger. He said, “It is doubtless true that religion has been the world's psychiatrist throughout the centuries.” In this our last podcast, we are completing our journey through Garry R. Morgan's book, "Understanding World Religions in 15 Minutes a Day." Our Understanding World Religions topic for today is, "Transcendental Meditation" Transcendental Meditation, popularly known as TM, typically would be considered a New Age religion. For its size and popularity, it will be covered in a brief chapter of its own. The movement and related organizations were...
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New Age Religions
Understanding World Religions
Our quote for today is from Edwin Lewis. He said, "A religion without the element of mystery would not be a religion at all." In this podcast, we are making our way through Garry R. Morgan's book, "Understanding World Religions in 15 Minutes a Day." Our Understanding World Religions topic for today is, "New Age Religions" New Age is an umbrella term for a host of recent religious startups, most originating since 1970. The name comes from the expected dawning of a new age of human consciousness and development, often referred to as the Age of Aquarius from its connection to astrology. Although...
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Neopagan Religions
Understanding World Religions
Our quote for today is from George Washington. He said, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.” In this podcast, we are making our way through Garry R. Morgan's book, "Understanding World Religions in 15 Minutes a Day." Our Understanding World Religions topic for today is, "Neopagan Religions" "The Goddess is alive and magic is afoot." Thus proclaimed an I-694 billboard in a Minneapolis suburb a few years ago, sponsored by the Goddess Committee, Northern Dawn Council, Covenant of the Goddess. The growth of...
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Jehovah's Witnesses
Understanding World Religions
Our quote for today is from Theodore Roosevelt. He said, “Wide differences of opinion in matters of religious, political, and social belief must exist if conscience and intellect alike are not to be stunted, if there is to be room for healthy growth.” In this podcast, we are making our way through Garry R. Morgan's book, "Understanding World Religions in 15 Minutes a Day." Our Understanding World Religions topic for today is, "Jehovah’s Witnesses" Jehovah’s Witnesses are well known for the door-to-door pairs who encourage people to join Bible studies and purchase Watchtower literature....
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Mormonism
Understanding World Religions
Our quote for today is from Ronald Reagan. He said: "The frustrating thing is that those who are attacking religion claim they are doing it in the name of tolerance, freedom and openmindedness. Question: Isn’t the real truth that they are intolerant of religion? They refuse to tolerate its importance in our lives." In this podcast, we are making our way through Garry R. Morgan's book, "Understanding World Religions in 15 Minutes a Day." Our Understanding World Religions topic for today is, "Mormonism." The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often called the Mormon (or LDS) Church,...
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Christian Science and Scientology
Understanding World Religions
Our quote for today is an old Negro proverb: “Education without Salvation equals damnation.” In this podcast, we are making our way through Garry R. Morgan's book, "Understanding World Religions in 15 Minutes a Day." Our Understanding World Religions topic for today is, "Christian Science and Scientology" Once again, we'll look at different faith systems with similar names in one episode, since sometimes these also are confused with each other. The Church of Christ, Scientist is the official name of a movement (founded in 1879 by Mary Baker Eddy) commonly...
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The Unitarian-Universalist Association, The Unity School of Christianity, and The Unification Church
Understanding World Religions
Our quote for today is from Elizabeth Gilbert. She said, "Look for God. Look for God like a man with his head on fire looks for water." ...
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Cults, 'Isms,' and Contemporary Religious Movements
Understanding World Religions
Our quote for today is from Ravi Zacharias. He said, "My premise is that the popular aphorism that 'all religions are fundamentally the same and only superficially different' simply is not true. It is more correct to say that all religions are, at best, superficially similar but fundamentally different." ...
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Secular Humanism
Understanding World Religions
Our quote for today is from Simone Weil. He said, "Humanism was not wrong in thinking that truth, beauty, liberty, and equality are of infinite value, but in thinking that man can get them for himself without grace." ...
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Shinto
Understanding World Religions
Our quote for today is from Yukitaka Yamamoto. He said, "To be fully alive is to have an aesthetic perception of life because a major part of the world's goodness lies in its often unspeakable beauty." ...
info_outlineOur quote for today is from Joe Mullally. He said, "I judge a religion as being good or bad based on whether its adherents become better people as a result of practicing it."
In this podcast, we are making our way through Garry R. Morgan's book, "Understanding World Religions in 15 Minutes a Day."
Our Understanding World Religions topic for today is, "The Nation of Islam."
The Nation of Islam is probably best known for the Million Man March, held on the National Mall in Washington, DC, on October 16, 1995. Louis Farrakhan, its leader, gave the keynote address and led the huge crowd in pledges to "take responsibility for their lives and families, and commit to stopping the scourges of drugs, violence, and unemployment." Social and economic improvement for African-Americans through self-discipline and moral living has always been part of the Nation's beliefs, and it has made a positive contribution to the lives of many in this regard.
The Nation of Islam began in 1930. In this period of Jim Crow laws, legal segregation, and horrendous discrimination, millions of poor, rural African-Americans from southern states migrated to northern cities in search of work. Conditions often were no better than what they had left behind. Into this situation a man named Wallace D. Fard appeared, in Detroit, preaching a message of Black supremacy. He said all Africans were originally Muslim; Christianity, which most African-Americans then professed, was a tool of "white devils" to subjugate them. Rather than seeking equality and integration, Fard preferred a totally segregated, Apartheid-like system where Blacks would have their own country. Many saw his message as the way out of poverty and oppression, and he gained many followers.
In 1931, Fard met Elijah Poole (who took the name Elijah Muhammad) and trained him for over three years before Fard mysteriously disappeared. Elijah Muhammad took over leadership, and the organization continued to grow, later attracting such celebrities as Muhammad Ali and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Elijah Muhammad taught that W.D. Fard was Allah in the flesh, the Messiah and the Mahdi, and gave him the title of The Master. He claimed he'd been called by The Master to be the true religion's final Messenger.
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