What came before religion? To me this is and will forever be an unanswered question, because my inquisitive mind will not accept the easy answers. Answers are easy to come by in the scripture and religious texts for the simple questions of reason. Religious texts give pretty direct guidelines to live by as Huston Smith explains, “In the realm of ethics the Decalogue pretty much tells the cross-cultural story. We should avoid murder, thieving, lying, and adultery. These are minimum guidelines but they are not nothing, as we realize if we reflect on how much better the world would be if they were universally honored.”(page. 387) Humans seek authority; we need it to function in a cohesive manner with one another. Humans seek purpose; we need a reason to continue. Religion gives both of those things and a fairly simple to follow rule book. …show more content…
Western religion is external in the sense that things are preached to you by a preacher, a way of translating scripture to fit the needs of the sermon. Eastern religion is internal the teachings are about mastering your inner self and how to find enlightenment within yourself. Western religion is more about control for selfish reasons, whereas Eastern religion is control of self to help others. If you look at it from that aspect it would make sense how the big three Christianity, Judaism and Islam are so wide spread, they are the fighting religions. The eastern religions that are more focused on growing self to help community, the ones that did not fight their way into the hearts of the world are not near as