Religion and Theology

Buddhism is a philosophy and a religion that encompasses various beliefs, traditions and practices that are largely based on the teachings that are attributed to Siddhartha Gautama and generally known as the Buddha. It is classified as an Indian religion. Judaism on the other hand is basically a set of practices and beliefs that originates from the Hebrew Bible and are referred to as the Talmud. Jews usually consider Judaism to be an expression of the relationship that God developed with the Israel children. Judaism claims a historical continuity that span more than 3,000 years. It is among the oldest monotheistic religions and the oldest to have ever survived into the present days. Its traditions well as the values have inspired the Abrahimic religions that include Islam, Christianity and the Bahai faith. Both Judaism and Buddhism have had a great impact on the cultural, social and political issues. It is therefore imperative to consider their views on life and basically abortion.

Taking a closer look at Buddhism in America, we see that for the last 18 years all Buddhist denominations have experienced an adverse growth in USA. From the year 1990 to the year 2001, Buddhism grew to a range of 170 and transformed to the 4th practiced religions in US. To most people Buddhism goes beyond religion and is a philosophical way of living. Philosophy is the love of wisdom and the path of Buddhism can be always summed up as leading a moral life, for example eradicating all issues of abortion and being aware and mindful of actions and thoughts and developing understanding and wisdom. It explains the purpose of good effectual life and explains perceptible inequality and injustice around the whole world and offers the code of practice as well as a way of life that leads to true bliss. Buddhism is increasingly becoming popular in the western countries for many reasons.

First is because it has answers to most problems in the current materialistic society. It answers questions on abortion and when it should be permitted. Also it includes a deep comprehension of human psychology and the natural therapies which famous psychologists globally are discovering to be effective and advanced.  Though Buddhists might disagree about so many details concerning life and other religions, they view their religion as guide to social and political action. They are likely to be committed to political and social vision just like their Christian sisters and brothers.  Buddhism has had its shares of effects on politics. There is always an inherent crisis in trying to mix politics with the religion. The basis of all religions is faith, morality and purity while that of politics is essentially power.
Religion has always been used to offer legitimacy to those that are in power and their exercises of that same power. It has shown the legal moral dangers of permitting abortion to be legalized. Religion in the past was used in justification of conquests and wars, atrocities, persecutions, rebellions and destruction of all works of culture and art. Buddha came from the warrior caste and was brought into the association of princes, kings and ministers. Despite his association and origin, he did not resort to the influences of political powers to introduce his teaching and neither did he allow his teaching to be misused in gaining of political powers. Today, many politicians always try to drag Buddhas name to politics through referring him as a capitalist, imperialist and communist.

 The political and social thrust of Buddhism is summed up in the words of Dalai Lama which stated that we should always realize that the purpose of giving birth is to basically help other people.If that is not the case then harming other living beings should never be an option. The important axiom of the Buddhist politics and society is non violence. Human beings always have a tendency of being violent towards others in action and speech.

Buddhists always try not to hurt others in any way and their first priority as far as social sphere is concerned is to avoid any type of stereotype and gossip and seek to diffuse their anger. They always avoid all scenarios that lead to abortion in order to avoid hurting the unborn. As far as political affiliation is concerned, is to seek effectual vehicles to prevent conflict between divergent nations. This boils down to positive impact of Buddhism on social and the political life. In the social sphere, it has great significance in the fact that people generally stop speaking ill of other people. It helps to create a basis and sense of a good community where everybody lives in peace with other people. On that concept of the social issues what is the Buddhism take on abortion issues

Buddhists believe that initially life should never be destroyed and thus regard causing death to be morally wrong if death is caused by negligence and deliberately. Traditional Buddhists do reject abortion completely as it involves a deliberate act of destroying life. They usually regard life to be starting after conception. However, the modern Buddhists are divided on the morality grounds of abortion. Buddhists essentially are expected to take responsibility in everything they usually do and all the consequences that do follow. They take the decision to abort as personal which requires a compassionate and careful exploration of the ethics that are to be involved. The ethical impact does depend on the intentions and the motives that are behind the whole decision as well as the mindfulness in which it is taken.

It is almost like a behavioral pattern that though it might prove hard at times, it is within our attainment and prompts us to other positive patterns. The political ramifications are more encouraging and appealing as Buddhism essentially enjoins people to be peace activists and to look up unto the footsteps of the preachers who were against violence and injustice like Martin Luther and Ghandi. This concept is evident even as far abortion is concerned to always do justice as far as lives are initially concerned. According to Buddha teachings there are some conditions that should be present to constitute the whole act of killing. First the thing killed should be a living being. The killer should also be aware that it is a living being and have the whole intention in killing it. There should be some effort to kill and the being ought to die as a result of the whole situation. The Buddhism community is an epitome of great charity work. They have a great basis of social impact on the community and the people they live with. Charity among them is in the form of helping and comforting others. They believe that charity that comes in the form of impulse is weak thus cannot form a major spiritual influence on people.

They believe that the societies need to support and protect their weak members. Individuals can never achieve enlightenment if they are subject to oppression and poverty. Societies also need to limit their greed and impacts of all egoism. It is about letting go of the desires and cravings. The ethical perspective of Buddhism ensures the attachment of life is usually circumscribed to the ideas of impartiality, sharing of all wealth and protecting the living things. Societies should never allow exploitation of human beings. However, despite their charity work, they always face difficulties when abortion does take place. They always face some difficulties in cases where abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother thus a life is lost whether or not there is an abortion. The Dalai Lama claims abortion from Buddhists viewpoint is an action of killing and it is usually negative. It however depends on circumstances. In cases where the unborn child is usually retarded and if the birth will end up creating grave predicaments for the parent then abortion is appropriate.

People who have wealth and power should never be permitted to exploit others. As far as political and social life is concerned, Buddhism is never a determinist. They seek to find the middle way. They always avoid opposite opinions and extremes. Most Buddhist find things of value in the political philosophies that are materialistic for example the Marxism and in theories like postmodernism.

Buddhism in North America is still in its infancy and is complex to determine precisely the social and political directions that it shall take. Today, it is highly dependent on the charisma of the foreign masters and their teachings. Buddhism in North America will only outgrow its leading strings only when it becomes a strong cultural force. North American Buddhism is still a grave cultural position. When religion panders on political whims it ought to forego its moral ideals and be debased by the global political demands.

The thrust of Buddha is not to be directed to creations of modern political arrangements and institutions. Buddhism basically seeks to approach all problems of the society by reforming its individuals that constitute that society and suggesting general principles in which the society is guided towards humanism, equitability and enhanced welfare of the members. There is always a limit at the extent at which political systems safeguard prosperity and happiness of the people. There is no political system despite its idealness that can bring happiness and peace in its people when they let greed, delusion and hatred dominate them. Issues like murder and abortion will never lead to happiness. Buddhism believe that there is no actual freedom but a just system of politics that ensures human rights and have checks and balances to exploit their power is an effectual condition for happiness in the society. People should never fritter with time searching an ultimate system that is politically motivated where people are free as there is none. Complete freedom is never found in any system but only in free minds. Buddhism has had an immense political role in a country like Sri Lanka as it serves as the unifying force.

Is there any political space for the Jewish people in the modern world  What are their take on abortion The process of the emancipation has brought the Jews in the democratic states like equal members. From early as 1987, the Jewish people globally dreamt of having their own state and Judaism as the prevailing theme. Alongside their efforts there have been other current ones that were fighting to separate state and the religion. In 1948, there was the creation of Israel. Today, the compatibility and the role of the religion as well as politics have remained a powerful focal point in many debates. Judaism plays a paramount role in politics and democracy.

Politics and religion essentially tends to deal with the socio- political issues that are connected to organizations, religion, interest groups and the political parties.  Once the political institutions are fully developed, each one of them can establish their own interests and legitimate them. There is a great similarity between Catholicism, Islam and Judaism as they all embark on the social aspect of avoiding sin. Religion affects politics in many ways. It not only does project the ideas on what is wrong and right, but also projects the conceptions and images about nature and the world. Israel is a great country and it is very interesting to observe the role of religion in the political arena as it is quite divergent from other Western democracies. Judaism does combine ethnicity with other doctrines in a challenging way. All the Jews are made to feel at home in Israel whether or not they are agnostics, atheists, anti-religious or religious. The Jews rituals and doctrines have changed with time thus the modern Jews have come to adjust to the cultures that they do live in. There are different varieties of Jews. In USA, majority of them are classified as reformed and conservative. According to the Jewish customs the fetus has great value as it is a human life and always gains full status to be termed as human at birth. Abortions are not usually permitted on the facts of the genetic imperfections to do with the fetus. Abortions are only permitted in saving mothers health and life. With the exception of the Orthodox authorities, Judaism does support the access of abortion to women.

The start of politically relevant religious issues can be dated far back in the time of Joshua. The story is gotten from the bible rendering it religious but it is political on the grounds that it describes the ethnicity rivalry as well as the territory conquest. The bible assists shape the current religion and politics. The greatest elucidation behind interrelation of religion and politics in Israel is on the grounds that the two are similar in regards of the underlying characteristics. Both have vast loyalty base, are organized and use doctrines to attract the people and distinguish themselves from the other groups. They have loosely held doctrines, deal with lofty and ordinary problems, have affiliation that is passed on through the family, are creative, dynamic and have extremist elements. The main reason a country like Israel has gained a lot of prominence is as a result of the coalition government. What is the take of the Jewish government on abortion

Politically, the Jewish view on abortion does not fit in the recent debates. There is neither the banning of abortion or the indiscriminating of the abortion. The easiest way that is meant to conceptualize the fetus in Jewish law is to have the imagination that it is a full human being. The fetus is usually treated just like other people. Judaism culture and law does hold accountable all those purposely cause a pregnant woman to miscarry and sanctions are usually held. The fact that the Torah requires money as payment in situations of miscarriage it is always interpreted as the fact that abortion is not necessarily a capital crime among the Jewish people. In Buddhism one usually becomes great as a result of the progress they have had as far as ethics are concerned and all delusion, greed and hatred have been removed from them. Culture embodies a flawless purity as well as selfless compassion. Culture is developing of the good habits of honesty, compassion, kindness and others.

It is coherent that the Judaism culture and religion has preached the spirit of togetherness and support of each other during crisis. Both Judaism and Buddhism though they might have a divergent set up, they are bound to improve on political, culture and social issues among the people around thus they are quite essential. In both religions abortion is illegal and only in circumstances that compel the abortion to take place for example when the mothers live is in jeopardy.