Dude... this is exactly why your freaking religion is junk.
Your faiths say "There is only one God" whereas Hinduism says "There is only God". Every damn thing is God - so you better respect the other person because he is God and so are you. This is the essence of Vedanta and the Advaita philosophy. It requires a certain maturity in thinking to follow the REAL hindu philosophy. Unfortunately the whites branded our religion as polytheistic when it is really "omnitheistic".
#2. In Hinduism we encourage raising questions. You take any of our scriptures - be it Bhagavad Gita or the Upanishads. They are all in a Q&A format. So a disciple is encouraged to ask questions to his master and defy the accepted norm. Now the onus is on the master to explain to the disciple the philosophy underlying various norms and practices. Now if the disciple isn't convinced he can quit this school of thinking and either join another or propose his own philosophy of things which of course may or may not find followers.
So ours is a religion and culture which have a variety of paths to choose from and abide by.
After all one embraces a religion to guide him/her to lead an organized and fruitful life.
Unlike the other "monotheistic" religions, we don't order anything. We give people the freedom of choice.
