Has Religion Shaped Your Worldview?
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Welcome to the Thoughtful Thursday series, where I ask a thought-provoking question every week to inspire reflection and introspection. You can find more questions in this series by clicking here!
Today’s Question
How has your religion shaped your worldview?
We all know that religion plays a very large role in the way we view the world. Having grown up in the United States, a Christian culture, has been an interesting experience as a Pagan. Honestly, I can’t say I was ever really Christian. I did go to church. I tried to believe in God, but I never held onto that belief tightly. It wasn’t a core belief of mine.
This question of how religion has shaped my worldview reminds me of the book Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. I think her book sums up how my religion has affected my worldview. It also shows how paganism has opened my eyes to the wider world. It is a completely different perspective on my place amongst everyone and everything on Earth.
I’m not going to quote the book because, honestly, I feel like I talk about this book a lot. However, two sections in the book show how religion has affected my worldview. The first section details the comparison Robin Wall Kimmerer makes between the Christian creation story and the creation story of her people. The second section details an interaction the author had with her students, and the ensuing discussion about English’s ability to other non-humans.
The first section of the book that details the differences the author noticed between the Christian creation story and the creation story of her people is one thing that stuck out to me when I read this book. It has honestly stuck with me ever since, and it made me really analyze how I view the world. It shifted my perspective. To make a long story short, the author compares the purpose of creation between the two stories. In the Christian creation story, God created the world specifically for Adam and Eve. The trees were there for them, the wood was there to be used by them, the animals and plants were there to be consumed and used; the entire world was created for Adam and Eve’s consumption.
In the story of the author’s people, it’s entirely different. The world was discovered and created by Sky Woman, and the people were instructed to work with the animals and the plants and the land. There was a beneficial symbiotic relationship between everything on Turtle Island, and that’s the way it was supposed to be. It was an interconnected web of life rather than a food pyramid.
Embracing an animistic perspective as part of my religious worldview helps me see that the world is not here for my consumption. The trees are not here for me to build a house. They’re not here for me to take their bark or tap them and drain their sap. The rivers are not here specifically for me to take the water. The animals are not here specifically for me to consume in whatever way. Everyone serves a purpose, and everyone has a right to be here. Everyone and everything has an energy, has a spirit. It reminds me of the song from the Disney movie Pocahontas, Colors of the Wind, and that’s really how I see the world.
This also goes into the second section of her book that I talked about, where she describes an interaction she had with her students, and the differences between the English language and the language of the author’s people. English makes things other. “That thing, the tree, it gives me shade,” versus “That tree, he gives me shade.” And when you make things other, even if you don’t realize it, it’s easier to distance yourself from whatever it is, having personhood and having a spirit. It’s easier to see it as a commodity and something to be used, rather than something to partner with.
Religion has fully shaped my worldview, and I could probably talk about it for hours and hours, but I won’t. For now, I will leave it as this: my religion has opened my eyes to the personhood of everything around me.
Thoughtful Thursday is meant to be inspiring, thought-provoking, and reflective.
Feel free to journal your answers, leave a comment here, or start a discussion with your friends! I encourage you to get deep with your answers — this is a learning experience, so learn a bit more about yourself and others!
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