Religion

Guruji: Religion is an opinion. It's content is usually determined by some local factors and some universal factors. It is an evolving opinion. Like science. There is no difference between religion and science. Science was originally called philosophy. Physics was published in philosophical magazines.

There are parts of religion that are local. They are particular to a culture, to a micro-environment. Clearly there is no point in pushing them on everyone. The universal parts are common to all religions. The universal parts of religion need no pushing on anyone. Every religion says, "You must extend your love to all." But when comes to practice, the local factors dominate. When you forget that local factors should be applied only locally, you start saying things like, "Hindus should love only Hindus and not Muslims," or that Christians should love only Christians and not Hindus or Muslims or Buddhists. This is where things start going sour. Religion itself is not the cause of strife, but the way it is misunderstood and misused.