A Critical Essay on Raimondo Pannikar Essay Example for Free

A Critical Essay on Raimondo Pannikar Essay Raimondo Panikkar is a Roman Catholic Priest who specializes in the study of comparative philosophy of religion. He was born in Barcelona Spain on November 03, 1918. Perhaps, the mixed inter faith marriage of his mother, who was a Catholic from Catalonia Spain, and his father who was a Hindu from a highly situated caste Nair from South India, accounts most for his interest in comparative religious philosophy. His education also contributed much in this. He was educated in a Jesuit school and he took up chemistry and philosophy at universities in Madrid, Barcelona and Bonn. After being ordained as a Roman Catholic Priest in 1946, and holding doctorates in Philosophy and Science (Complutense University, Madrid 1945 and 1958) and theology (Pontifical Lateran University, Rome, 1961), he left for India in 1953 to undertake studies in Indian philosophy and religion at the University of Mysore and at the Banaras Hindu University. He authored 40 books and almost a thousand articles dealing with comparative philosophy and religion and has deliberated on principles and practices of multi-faith, which includes among others, dialogues between Christian-Hindu, Christian-Buddhist and Christian-Secularist. In the book Intrareligious Dialouges, Panikkar said I left as a Christian; found myself a Hindu; and I return as a Buddhist, without having ceased to be a Christian. (Panikkar, Paulist Press; revised edition, July 1999. ISBN 0809137631). Panikkar’s contributions are widely quoted and heavily used to support the theory of (your family name 2) religious pluralism, interfaith and multi-faith studies as well as religious comparative philosophy. THE WEBSITE HTTP://WWW. RELIGIOUSTOLERANCE. ORG No matter how you describe yourself, you should find your beliefs and practices accurately represented in this website. – (ReligiousTolerance. org) This site is a copyrighted side by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. In their Statement of belief the web masters said that they are a multi-faith group. As of 2008-FEB, we consist of one Atheist, Agnostic, Christian, Wiccan and Zen Buddhist. Thus, the OCRT staff lack agreement on almost all theological matters, such as belief in a supreme being, the nature of God, interpretation of the Bible and other holy texts, whether life after death exists, what form the afterlife may take, etc. (ReligiousTolerance. org) They proceed to enumerate key points in their belief system in a bullet style, and among others, said that they In working towards a culture that is relatively free of discrimination on the basis of gender, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, physical disability, age, etc. (ReligiousTolerance. org). On the left hand side of the website there are clickable links of articles and essays that list among others, the major religions of the world, Non-theistic articles such as Agnosticism and Humanism. There are also articles on Spiritual Ethics, Peace and Conflict, â€Å"Hot† Topics as well as Laws and News. Over-all the website is plain and straightforward. The interface is very easy to (your family name 3) use and very user friendly. The website has sponsors ads, but none of the usual annoying pop-ups, and/or annoying background music and other widgets that are found in other websites. The articles in the website presented in a logic way, are easy to use and topics are indexed clearly for easy referencing and retrieval. It is also peppered with nuggets and quotes from religious leaders and other notable personas. One such example is on the bottom part of the web page, from Mahatma Gandhi â€Å"The need of the moment is not one religion, but mutual respect and tolerance of the devotees of the different religions. (Ghandi). The website is a valuable resource for information in the major religions of the world. It is an excellent source of in depth religious comparative articles as well as current issues affecting faith and practice. WORKS CITED Pannikar, Raimondo. Intrareligious Dialouges: Paulist Press; revised edition, July 1999. ISBN 0809137631). Raimon-Panikkar. org Fundacion Vivarium Raimon Panikkar – Tavertet (Catalunya) Retrieved February 25, 2009. http://www. raimon-panikkar. org/index. html ReligiousTolerance. Org. Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. Retrieved February 25, 2009. http://www. religioustolerance. org/