Indigenous Spiritualities

Indigenous peoples are descendants of the earliest inhabitants who locate themselves as a community in a specific ecological niche, which they call their traditional or customary land.

.Semai shaman during a healing ritual

This land is the basis of their social organisation, economic system and cultural identification. Indigenous peoples see their traditional lands as being imbued with a spirituality and a sacredness whose protection and care will ensure their continued survival as a people. Click here for the article.

Hinduism

The name Hinduism was invented by Europeans for the Indian religion. In reality, it does not denote a single Indian religion but a whole cluster of religions, a confederation of religions.

Kadariya Mahadev temple, Khajuraho

Indians themselves usually call their religion eternal order. In Sanskrit, the old classical language of India, this is Sanatana dharma. This central concept of dharma determines everything: it means order, the law, obligation. Click here for the article.

Chinese Religion

It is not authoritarian patriarchalism that stands at the centre of the teaching of Confucius, but what is truly human.

Humanity (ren) in the sense of loving care, goodness, benevolence, is the ethical term that is used most frequently in the Analects of Confucius. Click here for the article.

Temple of heaven, Khajuraho

Buddhism

It has often been asserted that Buddhism is not really a religion but a philosophy. However, Buddhism is not a philosophy. It is a religion; it is a doctrine of liberation and a way to liberation.

Stone footprint of Buddha,
.Bodh-Gaya, India

And in fact the Buddha understood himself as something like a doctor who wanted to help suffering people to find liberation and redemption. However, everyone had to try out the means of healing for themselves. Click here for the article. ............

Judaism

The Bible portrays the Jews as a people who have been chosen by God. However, for believing Jews, this is not an expression of superiority and arrogance but an expression of a particular obligation: an obligation to God’s covenant, God’s commandments, God’s teaching – in Hebrew, the Torah.

Torah scroll

That certainly does not mean that all the commandments of the Jewish sacred law were given from the very beginning. And of course there were also elementary commandments of humanity among the peoples outside Israel. Click here for the article.

Christianity

It would be wrong to identify Christianity with ecclesiastical power structures and bureaucratic institutions. Christians are those who throughout their personal lives – and everyone has his or her own life to live – are guided by Jesus Christ. Click here for the article.

St George's Church, Penang

Islam

There is no doubt that through the prophet Muhammad, the Arabs were raised to the level of an ethical high religion, grounded in belief in the one God and in a basic ethic of humanity, with clear imperatives for more humanity and more justice.

The Ka'ba, Mecca

From its origins onwards, Islam was a religion not so much of the law as of an ethic. And there is also something like the Ten Commandments, the basis of a common ethic of humanity. Click here for the article.

Sikhism

In Sikhism, it is stressed that without strict ethical purity of conduct, there is no possibility of any advance in the religious experience. A religious life not strictly grounded in ethical conduct, or a religious discipline which ignores the ethical requirements, is considered a great error in Sikhism.

Page from a rare manuscript
of Guru Granth Sahib.

Sikh spirituality is centred around a need to understand and experience God, and eventually become one with Waheguru (God). That is, to attain mukti (liberation from birth, death and rebirth) "through the grace of God". Click here for the article.

Baha'i Faith

According to the Baha’i Faith, from time to time throughout human history, God has sent divine messengers, or manifestations of God, who bring fresh outpourings of spiritual light that nourishes and gives life to the souls and becomes the basis of a new religion with its own character. They each bring new social teachings suited for their time that become the basis of a new civilization.

Shrine of the Bab

However, the spiritual precepts that deal with eternal truths, such as the unity of God, love, peace, truthfulness, honesty and trustworthiness remain the same in all the religions. Click here for the article.

Related articles on places of worship in Penang

Places of Worship are covered under the Attractions section of the Penang Tourism website. The articles offer fascinating insights into houses of worship in and around Penang.

Examples include Acheen Street Mosque, St. George's Church, Kek Lok Si, Dharmikarama Burmese Temple and the Mariamman Temple. Link to articles on religious institutions in Penang.
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