Gregory Gouvin

September 28th, 2016

Comparative Religion Essay

The five main religions make up 77.2% of the population. With many individuals that

believe in these religions, people ask the question, Do the five major religions do more to bring

people apart or bring people together? While this question is looked upon with different views,

some say it does bring people together while others claim it does not. In turn, these five religions

do share similarities. For instance, they all have some sort of higher power or a god. Another

example is they all have rules based on the religion. A final piece of evidence is in each religion,

if one undertakes bad actions you will be punished, but if one chooses wise and good actions,

that person will be rewarded. Therefore, these five religions typically bring people together

rather than apart.

According to the Tanakh (Jewish religious text), The Bible (Christian sacred text), and

the Quran (Islam religious text) each has a connection with The God of Abraham. This God is

mentioned in many of the texts. For example, in the Hebrew Bible god spoke these words: I the

Lord am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage: You shall

have no other gods besides Me. (Document 1). From his example in the Hebrew Bible, the word

god is brought up many times and is also used as Lord. God is also brought up in the Old

Testament of the Christian Bible. For example, in an excerpt from the Old Testament it states,

And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant

is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. (Document 9). Throughout this text

there is an example of god being used as a higher power. Even though Hindus and Buddhists do

not believe in the same exact god there are examples of a god-like subject. For example, in

Hinduism, the ultimate goal is to become one with Brahman who is believed to be the highest
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September 28th, 2016

power. In Buddhism, there are many gods including the God of death, the Great black one, the

conqueror of death, and so on. Because each religion has some form of higher power, it makes

all of them one step closer to being similar.

Another reason why the beliefs of the main five religions are similar is due to the rules

that each follow. For example, Christians, Jews, and Muslims follow the Ten Commandments.

Buddhists follow the Eightfold Path and Hindus follow the Vedas. Although each religion

follows these rules separately, they all still have things in common. An example of this is in the

Jewish Ten Commandments; it states, You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You

shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.(Document 1). This line

from the Ten Commandments in the Hebrew Bible is similar to the Eightfold Path in the religion

of Buddhism. It states in the Eightfold Path, that the Right Action is not killing or injuring

any living thing, not stealing, and not committing sexual misconduct.(Document 6). Based on

their rules, these two religions are closely related, making them similar. Although some articles

do not clearly state that one must not steal, there are examples of it shown by giving to charity,

which is the opposite of doing harm. For example, in the Five Pillars of Faith, during Zakaat or

almsgiving, Each Muslim must give charity and help the needy. They also must pay a zagat to

the government.(Document 8). Even though it does not state that one cannot steal or harm, it

claims that one must give to the needy, which could be seen as not harming others because it is

an example of showing kindness and caring for society.

The third reason as to why all of the five major world religions are similar is because they

all have the same concept as to why the wicked are punished and the good are rewarded. Each
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September 28th, 2016

one of the religions may show an example of this in different ways but they are still along the

same lines. An example of this is in the Christian religion with the concept of Heaven and Hell.

In the Bible, located in Romans 2 it says , He will render to each one according to his works: to

those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give

eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey

unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.(Genesis 4). The meaning of this is that if one is

good and loyal to God, one will live eternally in Heaven with Jesus; but if you are a bad person

you will be sent to Hell where it is described as dreadful. Another example of the concept of the

good are rewarded and the wicked are punished is in the Buddhist Religion. They have the

concept of karma, where if one does acts that are bad, bad things will occur to them. But if

they do good acts, good things will occur to them. In the religion of Islam, it states, living

according to Gods guidance, which will be rewarded with salvation, or eternal life in Paradise

with God. The opposite is damnation, or eternal suffering in hell.(Information About Islam).

This example is closely related to the Christians belief because if you do good acts you will go

to eternal life with god, but if you do bad acts you will go to eternal suffering in hell.

The five major religions are very similar and they bring people together. They are all

similar because they all believe in a higher power, they all believe in the same rules, and all of

them believe that if one undertakes good actions that person is rewarded and the opposite is if

one chooses bad decisions they will suffer. For these reasons, the five major religions are similar.