Chelsea Landini

Period 8/9

AP Language

March 14, 2012

Religion has created much turmoil in the world, since the different sects have broken off

from the “originals”. Is religion all that different, or does it fit into a formula? Five of the most

“diverse” religions, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, all have

characteristics that interconnect and make them seem to truly not be so different. Wars are

fought over religion, yet if one looks at the basis of each of these religions, one would see so

many astounding similarities, that would make it prevalent to say that these five religions are not

diverse as everyone has claimed. Maybe if we as a united world looked at one another as not

having irreconcilable differences, but to look and see that these religions, that people die for are

not all that different from one another.

Judaism was formed around God making a covenant or promise with Abraham

(Morrison, Brown 18) that God would send a messiah or savior to the Jewish people to deliver

them from their slavery (11). Later Moses comes and receives God’s Laws, the Ten

Commandments and leads the Hebrews from Egypt (20). Now from this early Judaism, comes

Christianity. “Christians adopted the ten commandments and also part of the Torah, which

became known as the Old Testament (16).” The Christians and Jews really share two major parts

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Period 8/9

AP Language

March 14, 2012

of their respective religions and therefore have little difference.

The Laws of all five religions are quite comparable. Each religion first has its own

spiritual text or guide to make it to the afterlife. The Christians have the Bible (Gaer 10), The

Jews have the Torah (10), Buddhists have the Trip taka (author 16), the Islam have the Koran

(Gaer 46), and the Hindus have the Bhagavad-Gita. Each of these books contains the laws and

stories of each religions respective history, but many of the laws and stories show commonalities.

Buddhists also have Ten Commandments and perfections, the only difference is the laws against

singing, dancing, and accepting gold and silver (Gaer 49-50). Buddhist believes killing is wrong

just as it says in the Ten Commandments of Judaism and Christianity.

Comparable to the Ten Commandments is the Shari ‘ah or code of regulations of Islam

(Gordon 55). The Shari ‘ah like the Ten Commandments outlines what God or Allah expects of

his followers. The Koran is known as the word of God (Allah), which is the same as Christians

and Jews hold their texts in the same respect. Within the Christian Bible and the Trip taka one

can find sermons and rules of priesthoods.

Chelsea Landini

Period 8/9

AP Language

March 14, 2012

Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all believe in freewill, meaning that God does not control

your actions but will punish you in the afterlife if you misbehave. Judaism, Christianity, and

Islam also Day of Judgment, meaning that whenever someone dies before they can enter paradise

they will have their lives examined and see if they are worthy to enter (Gordon 49). The Hindu

and the Buddhist also believe in Karma (Gaer 26). In the Torah they believed in the adage an

“eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” which also ties in with the karma, in that a person gets done

to them as they do to others. Therefore these religions that are considered to be so polar opposite

have many similarities.

Each religion had a respective messenger of God(s), or earthly founder whom set the

laws of the religion. The Muslims (Islam), had Muhammad (Gordon 19), who wrote the Koran.

The Buddhists had Siddhartha who was a prince who came up with the idea of the self-reliance

of Buddhism ( Gaer16). The Jewish people had Moses and Abraham whom both communicated

with God and helped to deliver his laws. Lastly, the Christians had Jesus (Gaer 10), the son of

God who was sent to open the gates of Heaven. They all had someone who was on earth who led

them to the conclusion of their religious ways.

Chelsea Landini

Period 8/9

AP Language

March 14, 2012

As a Christian one may travel to Israel to pay homage, to the birth place of Jesus and also

where he died (Latourette 10) This

picture is of the hill where it is believed Jesus was crucified. Those of the Jewish denomination

would also visit Israel the “promised land” (Morrison, Brown 10), the place where the messiah is

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March 14, 2012

believed to be coming . This picture

represents the view from Mount Sinai, where Moses saw the Promised Land. Mecca sees many

people flocking to its streets to pay homage by many Muslims (Gordon 12), it is part of their

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AP Language

March 14, 2012

main goal in life to visit at least once.

Here you can see Mecca during its influx of worshippers. As a person who practices the Hindu

religion, a temple with ceremonial shrines that are found all over the world (96).

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AP Language

March 14, 2012

This is the inside of a Hindu temple and how each deity is

represented inside the temple. Buddhist like Hindus worship in a temple with shrines, and other

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AP Language

March 14, 2012

items that differ from the Hindu temples. This

picture shows the lay out of the internal parts of a Buddhist temple.

Although in the Hindu religion there are many gods and deities, Hinduism is a lot like

Christianity in that they both have a Holy Trinity that is believed to have created the world (Gaer

17). Trimutri or three in one God ( 23) which is exactly what the trinity stands for in

Christianity. So even though one religion is polytheist and the other monotheist, they share

something that is a true basis of the religion. Also if you were to look at their Gods versus

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AP Language

March 14, 2012

deities, they have a main God or Creator Brahma and Christians have God and saints. People

who follow the Hindu religion pray to deities for different reasons just as Christians pray to

certain saints.

If one was to look at the beginning of each of these religions, they all have a story of how

everything was made, or a creation story. Christians believe the world took six days to create the

earth and used the last day as a day of rest, which became the Sabbath. Hindus believe that

Trimutri created the world (Gaer 23). The Muslims believe that God simply said, “Be,” and the

earth was (Gordon 44). People who practice the Jewish religion believe the same as Christians

because it came from their Torah and then was adapted into the bible (Morrison and Brown 64).

Each of these religions have a creation story, to explain things that they could not explain

at the time. They use stories to have a uniform answer to all the questions that would be asked

by followers. Each of these religions, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Judaism all believe in a

form of life after death. Christians, Jews, and Muslims believe in Heaven (Gordon 21) or

paradise, while Hindus believe in reincarnation (Gaer 25-26). Buddhism has a more nomadic

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March 14, 2012

approach, where the body does not stay in one place for all that long (Gaer 56).

One fact that has gotten many religions persecuted, was their belief that God was king.

Christians, Jews, and Muslims all hold the above as a law (Gaer 18). Both Muslims and

Christians believe that Allah/ God forgive those who repent their sins (Gordon 48). Similarly

both religions believe in submitting to God (Gordon 10), meaning being respectful of his laws

and helping one another.

Each of these religions have borrowed and even originated from one another. For

example Christianity branched off from Judaism and Buddhism from Hinduism, so in all honesty

how different can they possibly be? When a couple has a child, does that child not receive genes

from both parents? Therefore the religions carry certain similarities from the religion they broke

from. The Tabernacle (Morrison and Brown 25) originated with Jewish religion is now a big part

in some Christian demonations.

Hindus believe that God takes many forms (Gaer 10), throughout the Bible God can be

seen in symbols such as the dove or the wind. God not only can be found in his spiritual form,

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but also in the natural form which many Buddhists believe (Gaer 27). A commonality is the

Islam commandment of no idols of gods ( Gordon 47), Islam, Christianity, and Judaism all focus

upon one God. The Ten Commandments state, “ You shall have no God before me,” which does

not suggest to the followers of that religion to have multiple idols.

Each religion has individual symbols that people world wide recognize the religion by

said symbol. Christianity is characterized by a cross. The cross represents

the death of Jesus on the cross, which portrays his love for the world (Breuilly, O’ Brien, Palmer

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10). Muslims use the crescent moon and star symbol (10). The symbol

was adopted from country flags and then used on many Muslim country flags. Judaism is

symbolized by the Menorah and the Star of David (10). The

Menorah represents a tradgedy that during Hannuaka the candles would not last because of a

short of oil, but by a miracle, the candles burned for seven days more than believed possible.

The Star of David is from the story that Jesus was from the House of David, and during World

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War Two, the Nazis used the symbol as a degrading way to single out Jewish people.

Hindus are sometimes are portrayed by Aum, a symbol meaning three worlds

or three gods (Breuilly, O’Brien, Palmer 10). . The Buddhist symbol is characterized by

generally Buddha. Buddha comes from after the death of Siddhartha and the New Lights believe

that Buddha is their guide. Some people believe rubbing

Buddha‘s belly will bring them good fortune.

Chelsea Landini

Period 8/9

AP Language

March 14, 2012

Sadly, throughout history due to lack of understanding and acceptance many religions

have been abused and ignored. During the Crusades, Muslims and Christians were fighting over

the “Holy Land”. What they should have realized though is that aside from a few slight

differences, that they have the basis of many similarities. Buddhists unlike Hindus rejected the

Caste system (Gaer 25). The believe that the Caste system was unfair was one of the major

pushes for a breakaway from Hinduism.

Both Christianity and Judaism have seen their share of persecution. At the birth of

Christianity, Rome opposed Christianity at first (Latourette 327), using them as sources of

entertainment in gladiator battles. And Jewish people have been slaughtered, especially in the

mid twentieth century, when Hitler attempted to wipe all of the Jewish people off the planet. All

of these religions have been persecuted at some point or another, but all of them follow the same

basic formula.

These very “diverse” religions actually have more in common then people care to further

Chelsea Landini

Period 8/9

AP Language

March 14, 2012

investigate. It could be said that religions fit into a sort of formula. They all have a God or more

powerful god than the other deities, they all have a creation story, their symbols all have

historical meanings, all have religious texts, earthly guides, and laws that are all extremely

similar. Whether one may see the similarities in the Old Testament of the Bible and the Torah, or

the fact that each religion has a spin off of a form of the Ten Commandments.