Reflection On The Hindu Temple Of Southwest Florida

For our site visits we decided to do Hinduism and Episcopalians because we felt that they are two different kinds of religions and I had no idea what it really was. My group consisted of myself, Jett, Bill and Joe we decided to go to the Hindu Temple of Southwest Florida and St. Hilarys. The Hindu Temple of Southwest Florida has three main deities which are the focus of the temple. The deities of this temple are Ganesh, Krishna, and Shiva which was very interesting because I was expecting to see Brahma the supreme god of Hinduism. There were other gods that I felt could have been important that also should have been there. Also in the Episcopalian faith which is a very different form of Christianity than the faith I was raised in which was …show more content…
Hilary’s Church for worship was quite a different experience then attending the Hindu Temple because of the number of people and the way the worship went about. One thing that was unique about the service was that the use of women in the Episcopal Church. I know that Catholics for instance do not even have a woman as a priest or really have a role with the worship process. While at the Hindu temple, there were no female priests. Another main difference between Hinduism and Episcopalian is that that Christians worship one god while Hindus worship multiple deities. The use of baptism was also very unique because the priest did not really incorporate the Catholic way where they soak you in holy water instead they just put a little water on each …show more content…
After the service, I went and talked to the priest who was Fr. Charles and he gave me a brief rundown on what the difference between Catholicism and Episcopalian is and it really was eye-opener because the two are very similar. After the service, I was approached by two different people asking me where I was from and talking about the service and what their story was and why they attended St. Hilary’s. One thing that was brought up was that this church is called a “Broad Church” because it accepts all people of the different sections of Christianity like Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and etc. I thought that was pretty cool. I would have to say I would not mind going back to this temple when they are having larger functions, because I feel like this would be a sight to see. The priest said last week he had over a hundred people at the temple which must have been something to see. This is my second visit to a Hindu Temple on record, because the first time I went to one, it was in India at a ISKON Temple which was probably the largest religious structure I have ever been to in my life. Most of my friends in my Indian Community are Hindu and I have never really taken any understanding of what their faith Hinduism is until now. One thing, I have to note was that the temple was