The regular Sunday meeting of the Pattaya City Expats
Club got underway with a minute of silence at the Amari’s Henry J. Beans
Restaurant on Sunday, May 3. Master of Ceremonies Les Edmonds welcomed
everyone to the meeting. Richard Smith then announced that a long term
Pattaya resident and member, Bill Burbridge had passed away that morning
during his sleep. A minute of silence was held in his memory.
PCEC
old timer Roger Fox, speaker of the week, enthuses about the various
religions of the world.
After the usual announcements, emcee Les informed the audience that the
scheduled speaker, Paolo with La Dolce Vita Restaurant, was unable to attend
and had sent his sincere apologies. Fortunately, Roger Fox had graciously
offered to fill in. Roger is no stranger to the club as he often is the
Sunday emcee, currently serves on the board, and often organizes
international trips for members. Roger had agreed to share his knowledge
about, and impressions of, today’s major religions.
Roger began by saying that most in the audience come from the Americas or
Europe, thus having some knowledge about the Judeo/Christian religious
beliefs. However, these are not the only religions in the world. He said
that around 86% of the world’s population professes some sort of religious
belief.
Chairman
Michel advises PCEC members of the dinner of the month, an opportunity to
share one of the many fine restaurants in Pattaya with your fellow members.
Roger told everyone that he is not an expert on the subject, but because of
his interest, he has read many articles about religion and religious
beliefs. He said that if one looks up the definition of religion, there will
be many. However, he considers the various definitions to encompass the
following similarities: a) include a set of beliefs; b) place faith and
trust in a set of principles; c) practice some sort of religious ritual such
as prayer or fasting; d) have known (recognizable) leaders such as Jesus
Christ or Mohammed; e) have a starting event and/or major events in their
history; and f) have a format for meetings or gatherings.
He then said that he similarly concluded that the purpose of most religions
is to: a) answer life’s difficult questions such as where do we come from;
b) provide guidelines for living such as the golden rule on how one should
treat others; c) provide hope of an afterlife; and d) provide a promise of
justice at the end, i.e., must answer for what you have done in life.
John
Fishback looks after the open forum - your chance to find the answers to the
many questions about living in LOS ‘Land of Smiles’.
Roger observed that the majority of religious people are monotheist as they
believe in only one god, followed by those that believe in reincarnation. He
displayed a map and commented on the geographical distribution of the
world’s major beliefs - Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and even
atheists (located mostly in China). Roger pointed out that Thailand on the
map and noted that it is 95% Buddhist.
In discussing the major religions, Roger described for the audience their
characteristics, noting that many have beliefs in common as well as having
differences. He pointed out that three of the major religions share the same
history - Judaism, Christianity, and Muslim. Further, he noted that they
share many of the same prophets. He then displayed outlines showing the
major tenets of these major religions. Obviously, the subject was of great
interest and a bit controversial based on the number of questions and
comments.
After the presentation, emcee Les brought everyone up on current events. He
then called on John Fishback, in the absence of Hawaii Bob Sutterfield, to
conduct the always informative and often humorous Open Forum where
information is shared on living in Pattaya and Thailand.
