The many ways faith affects your lifestyle

Have you ever stopped to think about how your faith affects the way you live and the activities you engage in?

The many ways faith affects your lifestyle

For millions of believers, there comes a point in their adult lives when their chosen religious affiliation starts to make a difference, and many are often surprised to encounter these moments. For instance, your faith can have a significant impact on what you're allowed to eat during certain seasons, how you invest, what kind of job you can accept, your healthcare choices, whether or not you start a family, how you socialize with the opposite sex, your educational path, and much more. It's enough to say that religion and faith, when deeply held and practiced, can influence unexpected aspects of a person's life. Here are details about some of the most common ways that happens.

Diet

In no other area do religious rules have such a widespread impact as dietary restrictions. Among Jews, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, and most other faith traditions, there are, at the very least, seasonal rules about what you can and can't eat. In stricter religious organizations, rules about eating apply all year long. Examples include the Catholic prohibition against eating meat on Fridays during the Easter season, Muslim and Jewish rules about avoiding the consumption of pork, Buddhist seasonal and special event guidelines, and Hindu-based laws that discourage adherents from eating beef.

Investing

Those who practice Islam by following Sharia law discover the real-world impact of investing restrictions when they choose a broker. Because the religious rules prohibit charging interest or finance fees, or paying them, devout Muslims who want to delve into securities investing and trading need to hook up with a broker who offers special accounts designed to meet Sharia financial guidelines. Setting up an Islamic trading account is a relatively straightforward process if the firm offers such a service. Many don't. 

If you want to know how to open an Islamic account, make sure your brokerage provides them. Next, fill out all the standard account setup information as you would for a non-Sharia account. After you've funded the account and filled out a special form asking for it to be set up as an Islamic trading arrangement, expect to wait up to three business days before getting approval. After that, you can engage in all kinds of transactions, and they'll be shielded from interest (both charged and earned) as well as fees that fall into the prohibited zone of Sharia law.

Jobs

Many devout Buddhists are shocked to learn that many modern jobs are not within their allowed range of selections. This kind of restriction, based on the concept of earning money in an ethical, nonviolent way, also affects people of other faiths. For example, practicing Theravada Buddhists typically don't hold jobs at companies that manufacture weapons, drugs, or alcohol products. Other job-related restrictions that are religion-based include prohibitions against working in the film industry, for meat packing businesses, at slaughterhouses, with organizations that earn profits through gambling, and more.

Dating, marriage, and family

Less than a generation ago, it was rare for people not of the same faith to marry each other. Even in today's digital, secular society, several religious organizations maintain strict adherence to this practice. In Asia, Europe, and much of Africa, practicing Muslims don't often marry those outside the faith. The same goes for traditional Catholics, Jews, Shinto (in Japan), and Buddhists all over the world. 

Dating protocols are another way in which faith-based rules can have a direct impact on your life. Many Muslims, Jews, Catholics, Baptists, Buddhists, Hindus, and others work hard to make sure their children only date and socialize within their faith groups. Even though parents are not always successful at enforcing the letter of the law, their efforts often create a long-term succession of child-rearing within a single religion.

Education

Most of the world's major faiths have their own schools for the devout. In Europe, the U.S., and Asia, there are hundreds of Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim-based educational institutions that educate children from the age of 5 all the way up to college. Many of these schools have been in existence for more than a century. 

Today, however, some of them admit people of all faiths and simply maintain an informal connection to their original mission. Some of the world's most prestigious universities were once single-religion entities but today admit applicants of any background. The University of Notre Dame in the U.S. is a typical example of a well-known university that no longer has any formal restrictions on incoming students in terms of religious background.

Header Image Credit: Pexels

This is a user generated post from our wider Voice community and was not edited by the Voice team. We would love to hear your views too! Sign up for an account and make your Voice heard!

Author

Sponsored Post

Sponsored Post

This post has been placed here in return for a small payment. We've deemed the content interesting and useful to our users, but as with all other posts cannot accept any liability for it. Please see our House Rules and Terms and Conditions.

Recent posts by this author

View more posts by Sponsored Post

0 Comments

Post A Comment

You must be signed in to post a comment. Click here to sign in now

You might also like

The place for creativity in the corporate world

The place for creativity in the corporate world

by Guest Contributor

Read now