ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

How To Live Harmoniously With People Of Different Beliefs

Updated on August 16, 2013
Good Guy profile image

I like to share information that makes life more joyful and meaningful. My main interests are health and general wellness in body and mind.

The world is not at peace

How to live harmoniously with people of different beliefs, when the world is not at peace.

Humans have been fighting one another since time immemorial. This is the greatest curse of mankind. Nations fight against nations. Wars result out of racial hatred. Religious intolerance breeds clashes. We can still narrow down to seemingly trivial differences such as different sects within the same religion, different dialect groups within the same community. All fight. Narrow down further, neighboring villages fight one another, and if that is not near enough, neighbors fight against neighbors. Within the same extended family, relatives bicker against one another. And we come to the core unit of human civilization; the family unit. Brothers, sisters, father, mother, grandparents, and what have you. Misunderstanding, intolerance, disrespect, aversion, jealousy and dissatisfaction. The world is in a crazy mess.

Sorry for such an awful introduction. The topic of this article is not trying to identify the causes of our human problem, but rather on the more positive aspect of how to live harmoniously with people of different beliefs. Different beliefs encompass more than religious beliefs. “Different beliefs” means “differing sets of ideas that are opposing to one another”. For the purpose of this article let’s focus on “differing religious beliefs”. I like to share with you my own personal experience on how to live harmoniously with people of different beliefs, more specifically as in my case, with members of my extended family.

Case study #1 : How to live harmoniously with people of different beliefs

Let me start with this member of the family. I shall not mention the exact relationship of my family members, as I have not told them about my intention to write this article. If you read carefully you will be able to know the relationship.

She is a devout Buddhist. This man eyeing her is a devout Catholic. So she told him point blank that this relationship would not work, and he might as well forget about this big idea of a permanent relationship. This man has the gift of the gap, and true to his persistent salesmanship, he put forward his “irresistible greatest free gift” and said to her, “That is not a problem, dear. Maybe you can convince me with your belief, and I may change my religion!”

She was offended, “I have no intention nor wish to influence you on my belief. You can continue to believe in whatever you wish. Just leave me alone, and now please get lost!”

Being the greatest salesman on earth, this man did not “get lost” but made his sales!

To cut the story short; and they “live happily ever after”! It’s been more than 20 years now that they have been happily married. And no, he did not become a Buddhist, neither she a Catholic. Both also did not discard their respective religions. He remains a devout Catholic, and she remains a devout Buddhist. How could this come about? The answer is in this magic phrase : “respect for others’ beliefs”. That simple. He respects her belief without any condition. Likewise she respects his belief without any condition. “Respect” would mean that no one belittles the other’s belief. In very simple language, “live and let live”.

Case study #2 : How to live harmoniously with people of different beliefs

Three sisters, three husbands. Three Catholics and three Buddhists. Should they talk about religion? No one here is interested about religion when all six meet. We have better things to talk about. We? Yes, I am one of the six. By the way, I am a Buddhist. We respect one another’s belief. That is good enough. Sometimes on special occasions we would attend their Church functions, and sometimes they would attend our temple functions. When they pray we keep quiet. And when we recite in our own way (Buddhists actually don’t pray), they likewise keep quiet. We are very close to one another because the three sisters are very close. We enjoy each other’s company. We got so much to talk about on other subjects that we don’t indulge in talking about our different beliefs. What is the secret that we can live harmoniously with people of different beliefs? Respect. Yes, live and let live.

Case study #3 : How to live harmoniously with people of different beliefs

How about when your children are married into a different religion? Are you “magnanimous” enough to turn the other way? Not many will be able to do that. This is a very sensitive situation. At the very extreme end, it may even cost lives. I can live with this. So I don’t have any problem. I am talking about my own experience. You can choose which way you want to go.

When all hell will break loose

When no one is interested to influence others of one’s belief, there is no problem. When no one is arrogant to regard one’s belief as superior than the others, there is no problem. When no one is intolerant of others’ beliefs, then no problem.

All hell will break loose when someone is arrogant, intolerant, disrespectful, and inconsiderate. Which way would you choose?

Link to my other interesting and beneficial articles

If you find this article interesting or beneficial, you may go to my "Profile" page to read my other articles by simply CLICKHERE:

By the way, the copyright to this article is owned by Good Guy. Please do not “copy and paste”! Thank you.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)