One of the largest ideologies i came in with when i enrolled into the course “Jerusalem: The Holy City” was that most religions are branches of one same faith. Something most religions have in common is that we believe in a supernatural force that is divine, many as well respect that force, believe in sacred space and perform certain religious rituals to enforce their faith . As it was explained in lecture today, religions consecrate space when something divine has happened in the place. Stories attract people to attend that space and these fellows interpret supernatural stories as evidence of their faith.
To a religious man, stories of faith and reputations of sacred spaces are true evidence of there faith they might desire to witness. This then turns into and opportunity for sacred spaces to create economic benefit for a country. I mention this because one example is the Path to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Millions of people pay significant amounts of money to visit this divine church that has made history because of the story of a figure named Saint James, who according to the catholic religion was one of gods apostles whos remains ended in the location where the church now stands. This is an example of a consecrated space as well as an economic revenue from religion. He is a symbol of a sacred time in history where his remains were left in that city, therefore people today insist to visit and witness, pray, and worship such amazing history that rewards their faith. Not only are these examples of a faith and sacred space, however it is an example of how humans benefit from faith.
Something i found incredibly interesting today during class, was the fact that jews do not call God by his real name out of respect. This is an admirable way to respect the LORD, this ideal supports my ideal in that all religions are similar branches of the same faith.
One question i have however is, how is it that so many different religions have grown out of one sacred space: Jerusalem? There are multiple factors that make Jerusalem a sacred holy city however, do most religious faiths begin in this city?
