By Rosa Jaimes/reporter
Modern society has sculpted and shaped people to discover other religions, a Texas Christian University religion professor said recently.
Andrew O. Fort presented Exploring Religion and Religions during the World Religions Mini-Conference March 25 on NW Campus.
Originally from New Jersey, Fort has been in Texas for 26 years. He is the first trained non-Christian to be hired in TCU’s religion department. He explained that the Christian in TCU stands for Disciples of Christ denomination.
“Every religion has six dimensions,” he said. “The dimensions are experience, myth, rituals, doctrines, ethics and social dimensions.”
Experiences include those past events people use to see the way religion fits into their lives.
“Every religion is a minority,” he said.
Fort said the biggest religion is Christianity, which accounts for 40 percent of the religious population. Among Christians, 20 percent practice Catholicism. In the DFW Metroplex, more residents are Methodist, Baptist and Catholic.
“Think about the dimensions in your life. Which one of the six do you fall under?” asked Fort as he divided the audience into groups.
The groups discussed various aspects of religion such as lighting of candles, summer Vacation Bible School, fear of religion and no religious affiliation.
“There’s not one true way,” he said.
Fort compared the existing diversity of religions to a buffet. He told the students to feed their spiritual needs with whatever makes them comfortable.
“Get on the boat and make the journey,” he said.
