Hinduism vs Buddhism

I remember when I first studied Buddhism and Hinduism in my sophomore year of High School. We talked about one of the major differences between the two was the idea of the caste system. In Hinduism you must perform tasks that will fulfill your caste your whole life and then when you die, you will be reborn into a higher caste. The only way to move up toward achieving Brahman is to stay within your caste and accomplish everything required of that caste.
One idea we came up with, is that this is a very good way to keep the status quo. Then the lower class people will feel no need to try to move up in society because they will believe that they must first fulfill this role and then next life they will be higher in social status. In Buddhism the belief is that anyone is able to achieve Brahman no matter where they are born into society. This way there is no status quo or caste system that you need to climb before you can be enlightened.
The caste system is an interesting belief when it is also thought that everything in the universe is made up of the same "stuff." Then why is there a system in which people are at different levels in the caste and are unequal.

Holy Land

I agree with the author of "Magic Kingdom Come." I liked how he talked a lot about the creator and his reasons for making this theme park. From what I got from the reading I think the author and I would have the same feelings about this place. I hate the idea of the park being used to convert Jewish people, and the way it portrays the creators values and enforces only his beliefs. This is the kind of thing that turns many people off to religion, and more specifically Christianity. Just like the author, even Christians feel uncomfortable with how their religion is being portrayed to others. It creates a very suppressive environment. Personaly I don't like the idea of trying to force people convert and being condescending to them and their religion. If any revelations or transformations of significance are to occur within someone, it will most likely occur due to an internal discovery, not someone running them through the facts of a religion and telling them why they are wrong. Religious history is not something to be portrayed by charicatures and skits being performed on repressentations of actual religious land. It is an interesting idea to bring the pilgrimage experience to people who are not able to go see the actual place, but it is impossible to re-create something with such immense historical and religious meaning. It is also very risky to try to educate masses about religion becuase it will be impossible to teach all the different points of view on translations of text and so there will always be a baised. Just like the author I think that this place would make me feel sick rather than give me a life experience.

Judaism

I've always like the history of Judaism, and not just because it is also the origins of my religion. The history of Judaism goes back so far that it really gives you a sense of how things came to be and a better look at the mentality of the Jewish faith. Judaism has been through so much and still persevered. Through exile, slavery, return, exile, and then a Holocaust, they've still kept their faith because they consider themselves to be chosen by God. Many times people forget that Judaism is the basis for both Christianity and Islam. We differ upon who recognizes certain prophets and which specific traditions we follow but we all beleive in the same God. Just as Judaism does not recognize Jesus Christ as The Savior, Christains do not recognize Muhammad as a prophet. At the core of all these religions lies many related ideals.