The Buddhist temple was interesting. It didn't really help that the Buddhist monk there didn't speak English; he spoke the language of Laos and a little bit of French. So I didn't really learn too much from the visit, but I know quite a bit about Buddhism already, so it was okay. While everyone was trying to listen to the French and Laos that was going on, I just scanned the temple. There were so many statues and colourful trees. It was really cool looking, but it just baffled me.
The Jewish synagogue was my second favourite visit out of all of them. The synagogue was so extravagant. It really amazed me. The main hall where they hold their services is HUGE. The rabbi who showed us around was super funny. He was making jokes and stuff all the time. What was really cool was that he pulled out one of the Torah scrolls and sang some of it to us. 
St. Joseph's Oratory gave me the heebie-jeebies. I've never really understood a lot of the Catholic religion. This oratory was very much focused on the man that founded it, Brother Andre. We even went into the crypt church beneath it to see his tomb. These two women were praying to this tomb. There were two men praying to this wall as well. Also, Brother Andre's heart was taken from his body and pickled. This I found rather disturbing. Let's just say I was glad to get out of there... I really loved the architecture though.
The Muslim Mosque was certainly interesting! There was a man there that decided to try to prove to us that Jesus actually never died or rose again. He tried to quote the Bible, but he quoted the Bible wrong. It was kind of unprofessional. But, in turn, I thought that my fellow students weren't very respectful either, not in the Mosque, but after, on the drive home. Some of them felt the need to pick apart everything the guy said about Jesus and put the guy down. It's been two days and they are still talking about it. Just because he was disrespectful toward us doesn't give us the right to be disrespectful to them, including when they aren't present.
The Hindu temple was certainly interesting. Our tour guide was a world religions professor from McGill University (who I suspect, even though he didn't directly reveal it, was a follower of Hinduism). Something I learned about Hindus that I didn't know before: they actually only believe in one god, Sheva (or depending on the denomination, Vishnu). The reason they have so many idols and altars is because their "god" has many different ways of manifesting himself/herself/itself. See, I'm actually learning stuff on this tour!
The Sikh temple was my favourite place actually. The lady that toured us around was super nice and very respectful. I had never heard of this religion before, so I learned a ton. The Sikh religion actually does not care about people converting. Sikhs are actually encouraged to learn about other religions! Their belief is that all religions follow one god and that in the end, we will all be together. So, instead of pressuring people to convert to their religion, Sikhs actually encourage people to seek and follow their own religion. It was a nice change from other religions. Equality is very important to them also. Men and women are completely equal, so are Sikhs and non-Sikhs. Afterward, they also served us lunch. Indian bread, curry lentil soup, yogurt, and homemade chai tea. It was so delicious!
Now, what did I come away with? Honestly, I came away with more of an assurance of my faith. To me, Christianity is sounding more and more like the only thing that makes sense. Now, I don't want to sound conceited or to come across as someone who has "arrived", but I honestly don't feel like it's necessary to bash other religions. Yes, what they believe isn't true, but that doesn't give us merit to bash them. Let's help them. After learning about their religions, let's not make fun of them or put them down, because honestly, how is that representing Christ to them? Even if they don't know about our making fun or bashing, we still know and so does God. I was really bothered by what happened pretty much every day on the way home from these various temples; bashing. God finds them just as valuable as any one of us, even if they don't acknowledge it.
I'm going to end this entry on a lighter note... this is going to sound like deja vu, but guess what happened on Wednesday night while I was doing dishes! I sliced my pointer finger open. It was nothing a little gauze and polysporin couldn't solve, but just thought I'd share.
