Religious choices become more urgent and more complex, even among people with continuing religious commitments. To make sense of their own lives, individuals have to make choices regarding how to form and balance their religious commitments. Many of these choices are often influenced by the cultural context that one finds themselves in. The development of a religious idea gets mixed in a pluralistic society and a religious practitioner begin to develop their own distinct version of their own religious values. To explain, Aditi Banerjee in her excerpt, Hindu-Americans: An Emerging identity in an increasingly hyphenated world, illustrates her experience of being an Indian-American Hindu and formed her religious ideas in a way that is more of
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Religion practices shape, and are shaped by, the culture around them. To elaborate, Banerjee explains how particularly being “Hindu-American” has its own distinct meaning “from being any other type of American or any other type of Hindu”. To explain, what Banerjee means is that American culture gives Hinduism its own distinct version that is solely “Hindu-American” version of only Hinduism which is, to some extent, different from where Hinduism in India. According to Banerjee, the factor that plays a role to offer this different version of Hinduism for American Hindu’s is that the original religious rituals and ideals get mixed with the American culture which, as a result, produces more room for its practitioners to look at the religion in a more diversified way. It shows that the influence of a culture and geographical location plays a major role in the way a religion is adopted in America, in this case, Hinduism. Furthermore, the practice of religious rituals also receives modification according to of its location. For example, according to Banerjee, Although American Hindu’s “never understand a word of Sanskrit and celebrate pujas on the weekend for convenience rather than the actual day it’s supposed to be held” which creates an iconic and “colored” version of Hinduism, American Hindu’s are still subscribed to the same ideologies and beliefs of Hinduism which “bridge the gaps between themselves and forge a common identity as
Religion practices shape, and are shaped by, the culture around them. To elaborate, Banerjee explains how particularly being “Hindu-American” has its own distinct meaning “from being any other type of American or any other type of Hindu”. To explain, what Banerjee means is that American culture gives Hinduism its own distinct version that is solely “Hindu-American” version of only Hinduism which is, to some extent, different from where Hinduism in India. According to Banerjee, the factor that plays a role to offer this different version of Hinduism for American Hindu’s is that the original religious rituals and ideals get mixed with the American culture which, as a result, produces more room for its practitioners to look at the religion in a more diversified way. It shows that the influence of a culture and geographical location plays a major role in the way a religion is adopted in America, in this case, Hinduism. Furthermore, the practice of religious rituals also receives modification according to of its location. For example, according to Banerjee, Although American Hindu’s “never understand a word of Sanskrit and celebrate pujas on the weekend for convenience rather than the actual day it’s supposed to be held” which creates an iconic and “colored” version of Hinduism, American Hindu’s are still subscribed to the same ideologies and beliefs of Hinduism which “bridge the gaps between themselves and forge a common identity as