The Year of Faith is a personal attempt to learn about different religions by living and experiencing them rather than studying them from afar and reading about them in textbooks. I have selected twelve different religions based on my own curiosities, and intend to follow their principles and moral codes for each scheduled month. The goal is to gain insight and understanding into these various religions, and to explore my own spiritual identity.
The name ‘Year of Faith’ is slightly misleading. This is not a time where I will be trying to acquire faith. I will certainly wrestle with the idea of faith, and it will certainly play a part in my month to month experiences, but this is not just an investigation into faith. It is an investigation into religion and how it affects us, and how it affects myself. I am making this point because there are a few religions on my schedule that have very little to do with faith, some I don’t think can even be called religions. Faith is not the point. These ideas are the ones that arise in my mind every time I consider the questions of God and religion. They are the religious ideas that I wish to more fully understand and appreciate, and are not necessarily “faiths.”
Each month I will read the primary scriptures and sacred writings of each religion, as well as secondary sources like poems and theological texts. But then I will be going one step beyond any normal investigation. I will change my diet to reflect the prescriptions of the religion, as well as my appearance and behavior. I will mimic, as best I can, the behavior of the everyday adherent of that particular religion. I will act as though I have been a Christian/Buddhist/Muslim/etc. for my entire life. I may even go a bit further than what most faithful practitioners consider the norm- doing extra prayers, meditation, and fasting since I will only have a month to experience as much as that religion has to offer. I will immerse myself into each devotional gathering and community, trying to learn as much of the religion as I can from those people who live it every day.
The reason I am doing this is to get a sense of what these religions are really about. Yes, I know the basics and the doctrines, I know about the Five Pillars of Islam, the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path of Buddhism. I know the Ten Commandments, and I know what the Scientologists will teach you after you promise them the mortgage to your home. But I have no idea what it is to be a part of these religions. I don’t know what it is like to actually have to pray five times a day, to meditate regularly, or to believe that there really is an infinite being out there who loves me and created this world for me to live in. I want to know what makes these ideas so appealing, and what it is like to have a religion.
I am not using this as a way of “testing” each religion to see if it is right for me. It may very well be that I shall find a set of beliefs or a church or temple that fits me perfectly, but this isn’t the point. I am ultimately trying to sate my own curiosity, and perhaps pick up a couple of personally fulfilling rituals and principles to live by.
It should also be said that this is not an avenue to criticize religion or faith. I am going into this projet as an atheist, and I have a history of being critical of religious beliefs, but I do not wish to just spend my time demeaning these ideas. This doesn’t mean that I won’t find something within these religions that I find reprehensible or irrational. I will be doing everything I can do understand my critiques as they arise, and will bring them up with my fellow adherents, but if they are persistent, you will definitely hear about them.
The Year of Faith is a personal investigation into the meaning, practice, and purpose of religion. I intend no disrespet and mean no offense. A year of practicing different religions does sound a bit superficial, but I hope this will be overshadowed by my sincerity, by how much these religious topics mean to me, and what they mean to us all.