George Carlin, an American Comedian once said "Religion is like a pair of shoes.....Find one that fits for you, but don't make me wear your shoes." While obviously Carlin’s statement has a comedic edge it is a useful metaphor. For example when one chooses a pair of shoes one does so for many different reasons. Sometimes it is for comfort or practicality, on occasion for acceptance into a peer group or to be seen a certain way, and yet other times it is for no other reason than you found a pair of shoes that fits you like none other. This is often the case when choosing a religion as well. During the time period of 500CE through 1500CE two of the major religions were those of Christianity and Islam. When looking at which religion was the most attractive during this time comparing things such as benefits, opportunities, tolerance, and government interaction one can see that Islam was often the winner.
To begin with, both religions offered benefits to the believer such as eternal life, fellowship, and belonging to a vast empire. While both religions united their empires, Christianity ...
They each contributed certain traits to help build a stronger, more structured civilization. Although each religion shares many similarities, they are all unique. Christianity helped to end human sacrifice and slavery making human life more valuable. Judaism focused especially on laws and values. Judaism specialized in giving the western civilization a sense of structure in such a traditional time. Finally, Islam help to build a manner of respect. Not just to the wealthy or well-known, they made it a necessity to be polite and kind to all social statuses equally. All of these contributions added together fabricated a more sensible and well-structured
...l and perceptive way for rulers to unite empires and spread their society to other regions. The religion of Christianity, in itself, holds a number of assimilations with local pagan rituals that allowed for a much smoother transition. People tended to take the religion of the successful or more advanced civilizations because of logical areas as promoting trade and unifying their own neighbors, turning enemies into allies or possibly vassals. A further dissection of Christianity reveals that the ideas and precepts of this organization have striking similarities to that of other religions of the time. Although it should be noted that there is obviously no definitive answer on religion and it is the choice of the individual to follow their beliefs to their hearts content, but a bit of abstract observation and scrutiny is hardly a crime, at least in modern society.
...ifferent from each other and not to be compared in regards of which religion is “better” or more superior.
One of the needs for a civilization is to have a structured religion. Due to this there have been countless religions that have formed and also fallen throughout history. When religions are compared similarities can almost always be found, but they also have very drastic differences throughout their beliefs. The Hindu, Christian, and Islam religions all have many things of their beliefs that one can consider a similarity, but the differences overpower the similarities.
Religion changes how a person lives their life, religion affects lifestyles making either noticeable or discrete changes throughout your life. Different people life for different things, some life to serve one God, some to survive and be successful and others to find peace and serenity. As portrayed in Shoeless Joe, Ray’s entire life has been surrounded by baseball, from a small child to a father, Ray lives for baseball. It is his lifestyle. Every night either before or after dinner, Ray sits down with his wife Annie and their daughter Karin to watch baseball. Even as a small child, Ray has grown around baseball, his father always talked about it and his failed passions, and he eventually learned to love it. “Instead of nursery rhymes, I was
History gives people the ability to look back at the past and see what happened and prevent what went wrong in the past from occurring in the future. The knowledge of history is particularly helpful for religion. In 74 CE, in Masada, Jewish rebels would not give in to Roman authority so instead, “each man was responsible for killing his own family and then, because suicide is strongly discouraged by Jewish faith, the rebels drew lots and killed each other in tern” (Sayre 245). This instance is just one of the many revolts that the Jews were involved in, each revolt shows their dedication to their religion by not giving in and changing who they are and by only making it so one man had to go against his belief and kill himself. As Christianity developed, it “would come to argue that humankind is inherently good, and even if fallen in sin, is capable of repentance” (Sayre 249). Nothing is ever the same as when it originally developed, Judaism became the foundation of many religions. Humankind is perceptive to evil, nonetheless, it has the ability to suppress what is wrong and do what is right. Islam was able to spread its religion in the region that it did because most of the people, “although Christian, were the same linguistic and ethnic background of” Muslims (Sayre 294). It is merely instinct for people to take to something that has a sense of
In conclusion, the process of growth and expansion for both Eastern and Western religions has been a great journey. As mentioned before Eastern religions expanded in a very peaceful manner, while the growth and expansion of the Western religions was more violent. They both went through many changes and adaptions which included some blending of cultures and beliefs. In some cases the result was a new religion. In the end, both religions had to go through as process of great growth and expansion to become the World religions of today.
A study of the legal decrees of either society reveals they both desired to maintain hegemony and obtain respect (manifestly and psychologically) for their faith. They also both capitalized on the ability of infidels to perform tasks considered necessary yet sacrilegious, or that they were more suited to because of their involvement in trade. Conversion of the unbelievers to Christianity or Islam was also a primary goal. To accomplish all of these, Christians and Muslims instituted laws delineating the level of toleration and subjugation of minority faiths.
The comparison of these two religions is one that is full of differences with the occasional similarity. Mainly, I find Hinduism to be a religion full of positive aspects that give meaning and importance to any of its follower's lives. Conversely, Christianity is a religion that is steeped in contradiction and confusion. It uses guilt and dire consequences to push people into it arms. Where Hinduism allows for personal choice at a personal price, Christianity allows for personal freedom with almost no responsibility for personal action.
Throughout history it is evident that many religions have been tried, tested, and, for some, radically changed. Many religions have gone through periods of time in which the way they were run or enforced underwent changes in practice and leadership. In many cases disagreements and differing outlooks among members of certain religions were to blame for these changes. Christianity and Islam are two examples of religions that have experienced changes over the course of their existence. While these religions seem to have little in common at first glance, both have strikingly similar pasts that consist of radical splits due to disagreements among members of the Christian and Islamic churches, resulting in new branches within each religion.
They were both founded by Spiritual Master who accepted disciples. Both were taught through the use of simple parables. Jesus Christ and the Buddha sought to reform existing social / religious practices. Christ criticised the money lenders while Buddha criticised the caste system and hypocrisy of the Brahmans. Both religions stress ethical living, compassion / love to other people as well as to overcome the forces of hate through the power of love. The Buddha ‘hatred cannot be overcome by hatred’The Christ ‘Love your enemy. Like Buddhism, Christianity also encourages followers to take steps to improve their well being. Like Christianity, Buddhism has a strong devotional aspect. This is characterized by faith in the Buddha. This is especially marked in traditions such as Pure Land Buddhism, which stresses prayer to the Buddha. Both religions encourage its followers to be charitable towards the poor because the same person that abusing money could become poor as well. Both aspire to greater spiritual perfection because of their strong belief in the one they serve. Though they may have different approaches they are both seeking a higher spiritual perfection because the one that they serve depends
The first reason that supports that religions are superficially the same is that some religions believe that humans go to a heaven or a hell. Other religions believe that humans will be reincarnated after they die, and other religions believe nothing happens at all. Some religions who believe in a heaven or hell, say that their fate is decided by actions, and others say that it by grace. There are many more religions and many vary beliefs of the afterlife, but Christianity is unique. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Gotquestions.org said “Only Christianity teaches that salvation is a free gift of God through faith in Christ” (Houdmann). So because of that Christians have a large difference between them and all the other religions of the world.
Renard, John. Islam and Christianity: theological themes in comparative perspective. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011. Print.
Christianity and Buddhism have a bunch of similarities. Both religions believe in their spiritual master and follows their teachings. Buddhism founded by Buddha and Christianity founded by Christ. Both spiritual master use simple words to communicates with their disciples most of the the time they used parables in their teachings. Both shared the same ethical values. For Buddhism their values it’s based on five precepts: Though shall not kill, though shall not lie, though shall not steal, though shall not commit sexual immoralities and though shall not take intoxicant. We also find those precepts in the ten commandments. Both encourage their followers to love other people. Christ taught his disciples to love their enemy as well for Buddha.
There are numerous topics that can be compared and contrasted between the two faiths, however, a few topics can demonstrate the major similarities and differences. Islam and Christianity believe in one high power which is superior to everything in life. Pertaining to Christianity, Walsh and Middleton state, “All creation (which includes us as human creatures) is covenantally bound to God and is constituted essentially as a response to his laws” (1984, p. 51). Christians rely on God and make Him a priority.