Nick Meeker #5125720

The Common Origins of the World’s Major Religions

All too often in modern society it is the differences and conflicts that serve

to separate religious groups that are emphasized. The mainstream media,

fundamentalists’ propaganda, and other sources choose to ignore the numerous

similarities that many religions share, and instead focus on the divisive elements.

In this paper, I will attempt to shed light on the many commonalities in dogma

that I believe exist between the major religions of the world. I also want to

illustrate the fact that in addition to having similar core teachings, many religions

have histories that have either endured or arisen during times of persecution. It

is ironic that in many cases, the persecution that a particular group faces

happens to be at the hands of the mainstream of a society who at one time or

another had been persecuted themselves for their religious beliefs.

Above is a chart showing the population of the followers in millions of several religions

Throughout the history of civilization, religion has played an essential role

in many societies. There are many reasons why religions have played such a

prominent role in defining the culture of a society, but arguably the most notable

of these reasons is that a belief or faith in a spiritual or divine power can add

meaning and significance to may people’s worldly lives. This phenomenon has

proven to be especially true amongst persecuted peoples. One of the reasons

why persecuted peoples have shown a great propensity for holding steadfast

religious beliefs is that their faith can give them a sense of hope and reason for

living despite the terrible conditions of persecution. Evidence of this can be seen

in the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic societies. All three of these societies have

been subjected to varying forms of persecution at some point in their respective

histories, and many historians have pointed to the group’s steadfast religious

beliefs as one of the major sources for their resiliency.

Judaism

The Jewish Bible points to Abraham and the covenant that God made with

him in the Book of Genesis. Yahweh’s people as they are known, today Jews

account for over fourteen million people. Throughout their history, Jews have

been persecuted for their faith as much as, if not more than the followers of any

other faith. From having the first temple of Jerusalem destroyed by the

Babylonians in 586BC to internment in Nazi concentration camps in the twentieth

century, Jews communities have remained solidly united through belief in the

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Diaspora and the goal of reestablishing the state of Israel.1 Finally, in 1948,

Israel once again regained its sovereignty; however, this has not brought an end

to the suffering and conflict that seems to have characterized Jewish life since its

inception.

Above is a picture of an original copy of the famous manuscripts from the Tora.

Central to Jewish dogma, is adherence to the Torah, or the Jewish Bible.

The Torah, which is composed primarily of the first five books of the Bible:

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. While the most

notable split from traditional Judaism can be seen in the origins of Christianity,

other breakings include Conservative and Reform movements in the nineteenth

century.

One of the greatest prophets in the Jewish tradition is Moses. Living at

around the thirteenth century BC, Moses is accredited with delivering the Jewish

Israelites from the harsh oppression of the Egyptian emperor. According to the

Book of Exodus, Moses was supposed to be killed at birth because of an

Egyptian law stating that all newborn Israelite boys were to be put to death.

However, after a clever plot by Moses’ mother which spared his life, Moses grew

up in Egypt unaware of his Jewish ancestry. After killing one of the Egyptian 1 Brittanica

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slave masters, Moses was forced to flee so that he would not be punished. It

was during this time, that God revealed himself to Moses and told him that he

was to deliver the Israelites from Egypt and lead them to the Promised Land for

the Israelites.

Above is a picture of the contemporary Israeli flag. Israel regained its sovereignty in 1948.

In Contemporary Jewish Philosophies, William Kauffman presents the

dominant theories of several prominent Jewish thinkers of the modern era. One

of the most interesting of these theories comes from Richard Rubenstein.

Rubenstein argues that in the post-Auschwitz age, it is no longer practical for the

modern Jew to be always compliant, or submissive. Instead, Rubenstein argues

that the modern Jew must take a stand in defending his faith and change the

“image of the Jew from one of powerlessness to one of power.”2 While theories

such as these are definitely instrumental in building a religious identity, they also

run perilously close to the dangers that come with fundamentalism. Namely, the

militant form of Judaism that can be seen practiced by many in the modern state

of Israel departs greatly from the core of Judaic teaching.

Christianity

2 Kauffman, 86.

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After tabulating all of the various denominations, Christians outnumber the

followers of any other religious faith in accounting for just over one-third of the

world’s population. Roman Catholics represent the largest branch of Christianity,

with approximately one billion people who profess allegiance to the Pope.

Christianity originated from a section of Jews who began to follow Jesus in the

first century. These disciples believed that Jesus was the Messiah who had

been sent by God to redeem mankind.

Above is a chart of the breakdown of the various Christian denominations of the

world as of 1991.

During the time of Jesus’ life and after his death, early Christians were

heavily persecuted by the Roman Empire. It was not until Constantine I came to

power in 312 and issued the Edict of Milan that Christians were accepted into

Roman society. The early church was guided St. Paul, and continued to be led

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by successive popes until the Protestant Reformation occurred in Europe in the

sixteenth century.

The Protestant Reformation was led by individuals such as John Wycliffe

and Martin Luther who opposed the abuses of power and corruption that was

prevalent throughout the Catholic Church in medieval times. The posting of

Luther’s Ninety-five Theses on a church door is the pointed to by many to be the

symbolic beginning of the reformation. Soon after declaring the injustices that he

saw within the church hierarchy, Luther was excommunicated from the Church.

In the wake of Luther’s excommunication, numerous other reformers began other

denominations that each varied in the extent to which they departed from

traditional Catholic teachings. Episcopalians are generally thought to be the

closest of the reformed denominations to the Catholic Church; however,

Presbyterians, Lutherans, and Baptists all have several similarities with one

another.

In modern society, the origins that Christianity has in Judaism are often

overlooked or disregarded. In his book Rabbi Jesus, Bruce Chilton examines

many of the commonalities of tradition that exist between the Jewish and

Christian faiths. One clear example of this can be seen in the Jewish

observance of the Passover. On the night before Jesus’ crucifixion, he

celebrated the feast of Passover with his disciples at the Last Supper. The

breaking of the bread and drinking from the cup were adopted by many Christian

religions as a part of their Eucharistic ceremony. In fact at several Christian

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churches around the United States, such as the Epworth United Methodist

Church in Phoenix, Arizona, pastors encourage the congregation to celebrate the

feast of Passover when it occurs in March for the purposes of trying to reconnect

with their Jewish heritage.3 Many Christian pastors also emphasize to their

congregations that within the Bible, God takes special care to mention that the

Jews are His chosen people.

Leonardo da Vinci’s depiction of the Last Supper

Islam

Founded in the seventh century by the prophet Muhammad, Islam is one

of the world’s largest and most historic religions. While the Muslim population

has grown to over 2 billion worldwide, when Muhammad first began preaching in

the city of Mecca in 613AD, he was met with stiff opposition from the powerful

3 “Christians Try to Recapture Jewish Roots.”

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elite of Arabian society at that time. Muhammad’s main preaching taught the

importance of sympathizing with the poor and most needy of society as well as

condemning the worship of idols. It is thus, understandable that the wealthiest of

society resented Muhammad and the popularity that he was gaining. Faced with

increasingly harsh opposition, Muhammad was forced to flee Mecca and escape

to Medina in 622. The Hegira, as this escape has come to be known by Muslims,

is a benchmark in Islamic history and is generally regarded as the beginning of

the Islamic religion. By 629, Muhammad and his disciples had returned to Mecca

and succeeded in regaining control of the region.

At the core of Islamic teaching is the Koran. The Koran is a collection of

the revelations that Muhammad received from an angel of God, or Allah, in his

childhood. Within the Koran are the five pillars of Islam: belief in one God, Allah

and Muhammad as the most perfect prophet, required prayer five times during

the day, abstaining from food and drink from sunrise to sunset during the month

of Ramadan, giving alms to the poor, and going on a pilgrimage to the city of

Mecca unless one is unable to do so because of a illness or financial hardship.4

The city of Mecca is located on the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia

4 Bloom 35-38.

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There are several similar themes between Islamic teachings and Christian

teachings. In much the same way that Christians believe that God revealed

himself in the four gospels to his disciples, Muslims believe that the same is true

of Allah with respect to the Koran. Additionally, at the foundation of both of these

religions is a belief that we on earth are obligated to care for those less privileged

than ourselves. Perhaps one of the reasons why the western world has

remained ignorant of Islamic society and chosen to accept discriminatory

stereotypes in place of a true study of what exactly Islam teaches is that in order

to preserve its sanctity, the Koran cannot be translated into any other language

but Arabic.5 Another factor that contributes to the misconceptions that many

within western society have concerning Islam is the prominence that radicals and

fundamentalists have gained recently. However, in Islam: Beyond Terrorists and

Terrorism, Iftekhar Mahmood correctly points out that “these Muslim

fundamentalists are no different than those Christian fundamentalists who bomb

abortion clinics or Hindu fundamentalists who want to destroy every monument in

India which has a Muslim imprint.”6

One aspect of Islam of which many are unaware is that while Muhammad

is believed to be the highest of the prophets and the chosen messenger of Allah,

several of the other prophets recognized by the Koran are principal figures of

Judeo-Christian doctrine as well. For example, Adam, Abraham, Moses, and

Jesus are all revered among the most holy of Allah’s prophets. In addition to the

5 Bloom 39.6 Mahmood xix.

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sharing of many prophets, the main aspects of Islamic dogma also share a lot in

common with Judeo-Christian teaching. The main misconceptions of Islamic

culture come from the radical extremists such as Osama bin Laden that receive

massive coverage in today’s media. While it is understandable that individuals

such as bin Laden would receive attention given the tragedy of the September

11, 2001, the media only presents one side of Islam when they choose to focus

only on the extremists.

Hinduism

The world’s oldest major religion, Hinduism, today has roughly around

eight-hundred million followers. Hinduism is renowned for its deeply

philosophical teachings that based upon the idea of reincarnation. The origins of

Hinduism can be traced to the Vedas, or Upanishads, which were holy texts

“which were brought to India by Aryan invaders after 1200BC.”7 According to

Hindi teachings, all living beings on earth go through many phases of

reincarnation in an attempt to reach the state of moksha, or spiritual self-

realization.

One of the most prominent figures in Hindi tradition was Mohandas

Gandhi. Born in 1869 in the Indian city of Porbandar, Gandhi grew up in a

privileged class of Indian society and as a result of his high education; he was

given the opportunity to study law in London, England at the age of eighteen.

After studying law, Gandhi and his family moved to South Africa where he hoped

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to continue his law practice. While Gandhi was in South Africa, he encountered

intense discrimination for the darkness of his skin color. It was during these

years that Gandhi began to take on a more active role in protesting human rights

violations.

Gandhi is one of the most recognizable faces of the Hindi community.

After returning home to India in 1917, Gandhi began practicing

satyagraha. Satyagraha was the personal philosophy adopted by Gandhi

concerning his theories on social action. Satyagraha is composed primarily of

four essential elements: civil disobedience must be offered in resistance to unjust

laws, the disobedience must be carried out in non-violent forms of protest and

must emphasize a love of mankind, disobedience must be offered as a sort of

self-sacrifice on the part of the protestor for the glory of God, and the end goal of

protest must be to change the hearts and minds of the oppressors.8

The resistance and challenges faced by Gandhi were doubly difficult

considering the context of the time in which he lived. In addition to fighting British

imperialism, Gandhi also protested against the bloody battles that were being

waged between extreme Indian Hindus and Pakistani Muslims. In some ways it

8 Herman, 3.

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is ironic that Gandhi was killed by the hand of a fellow Hindu in 1948, just one

year after India was granted independence from Britain. Gandhi during his own

lifetime had always been an advocate of peace between Hindus and Muslims

and in favor of unity between India and Pakistan.

Even after his death, the lifetime work and messages preached by Gandhi

lived on. The work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to champion rights for African

Americans in the 1960’s was in many ways influenced by the use of nonviolence

protest taught by Gandhi.

Another prominent Hindi saint was Sri Ramana Bhagavan Maharshi.

Ramana grew up in southern India in the late 1800’s. At the young age of

seventeen, a dramatic event occurred in Ramana’s life that changed his

perspective on the significance of earthly objects. Ramana had reached the holy

stage of “moksha, a stage of release or liberation that so many Hindus believe

that it takes a lifetime to find.”9 At this point, Ramana embarked on a pilgrimage

to the city of Arunacala where he received great attention until his death from

cancer in 1950.

9 Herman, 9.

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Sri Ramana Bhagavan Maharshi

The lives of Gandhi and Ramana are quite different when compared

directly with one another; however, it is important to point out that both men

embodied core Hindi values and principles, but in very different ways. On the

one hand, Gandhi took a very active role in trying to rectify the wrongs that he

saw in society. In contrast to Gandhi, Ramana was focused on self-realization

and spent the majority of his life in deep meditation hoping to find perfect spiritual

harmony. One way that A.L. Herman compares the work of Gandhi and Ramana

in his book A Brief Introduction to Hinduism, is that while Gandhi tried to tackle

the problems of mankind through his own efforts, Ramana turned to God to

provide the cure for man’s suffering.10 It is interesting to note, that strands of

both ways of thinking, active protest and self-reflection, can be seen in other

religions and contemporary western thought.

Buddhism

10 Herman, 15.

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Buddhism, originating in fifth century BC in India, was founded by

Siddhartha Gautama. According to Buddhist scholars, Gautama left his family

and home at the age of twenty-nine to pursue Gautama, who came to be known

as the Buddha, adopted several of his theories from Hinduism including the

notion of reincarnation. It is worth mentioning that due to the fact that Buddhism

was only passed on through oral tradition for the first two-hundred years, there

are some disputes over the original teachings of the Buddha.

Above is a statue of the Buddha in India. Statues such as these are commonly

dressed in ceremonial garb.

The tenets of Buddhist teaching can be found in the Four Noble Truths

which are the beliefs that: existence is suffering, desire is its cause, an end to the

suffering is possible, and lastly that the way to achieve the end of suffering is to

follow the Eightfold Path. In Exploring Buddhism, Christmas Humphreys

describes:

The Eightfold Path begins with Right Views, a deep understanding of the

basic principles of Buddha’s Teaching. Then comes the Buddhist version

of true Morality, including Right Motive, Right Speech, Right Action and

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Right Livelihood with the foregoing. Then Right Effort must be developed

to provide the will power to the final stages.11

One of the unique aspects of Buddhism is that Buddhists do not recognize

any Savior. According to Buddhist teachings, the only way by which one can

break the cycle of reincarnation and reach the Enlightened state of Nirvana is

through one’s own efforts.

Another tenet of Buddhist doctrine is the Middle Way. Buddhists believe

that one of the keys to enlightenment is the avoidance of extremes. In order to

attain the Middle Way, Buddhists spend a great deal of time in meditation hoping

to find harmony with oneself. In many ways, the principles of the Middle Way

can be found in other religions such as Christianity which teach that gluttony and

greed for wealth often corrupts one’s spiritual soul.

Buddhism historically has been recognized as one of the most tolerant of

all religions. Animosity towards other religions or followers of other religions is

never mentioned in Buddhist texts, and “there has never been a Buddhist war,

nor the persecution of any individual for his personal Buddhist views.”12

Jainism

Beginning as an offshoot of Hinduism, Jainism, or Jain Dharma, broke

away traditional Hindi teachings believing that the sacrifice of animals was wrong

11 Humphreys, 51.12 Humphreys, 50.

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because even animals were sacred living things. As a result of this belief,

followers of Jainism take all steps necessary in the course of their daily life to

avoid causing injury to any animals. Jains do not believe that there is one

supreme God that is responsible for creation; however, in much the same way as

other major religions, Jains believe that there is an after-life, and that the way to

reach the after-life is through a deep care and devotion to all living beings.

One of the defining characteristics of Jainism is that “during its existence

of over 5000 years, it has never compromised on the concept of nonviolence

either in principle or practice. It upholds nonviolence as the supreme religion

(Ahimsa Paramo Dharmah) and has insisted upon its observance in thought,

word, and deed at the individual as well as social levels.”13 As one might expect,

all Jains are strict vegetarians and do not eat any organisms that have any more

than one sense. As a result, Jains do not consume the roots of many plants

because it is not uncommon for many other organisms to dwell within the root

systems of plants.

In addition to their strict dietary regulations, the Jain code of conduct is

composed of five vows which all Jains adhere to: Ahimsa, Satya (truthfulness),

Asteya (non-stealing), Aparigraha (non-possessiveness), and Brahmacharya

(chastity). Also, Jainist teaches that the world has no beginning and will have no

end.14 According to Jains, the universe is composed of seven spheres: the

supreme abode, the upper world, the middle world, the nether world, the Nigoda,

13 “Jainism.”14 http://www.religioustolerance.org/jainism.htm

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universe space, and space beyond. All the liberated souls, according to Jains,

live in the supreme abode. Jains also believe that each person has karma, the

aggregate total of the rights and wrongs that one has committed during his or her

lifetime.

Multi-faith vs. Fundamentalism

In The Battle for God, Karen Armstrong addresses and traces the rise of

various fundamentalist sects that have arisen in many of the world’s major

religions. Armstrong contends that it is not one single religion, such as Islam,

that is susceptible to perversion by fundamentalist movements, but oftentimes in

western society in particular Muslims and Islamic society are castigated because

of the actions of a few radicals.

There are Buddhist, Hindu, and even Confucian fundamentalists, which

also cast aside many of the painfully acquired insights of liberal culture,

which fight and kill in the name of religion and strive to bring the sacred

into the realm of politics and national struggle.15

In addition to the overload of attention given to Islamic fundamentalists, it is not

uncommon for the media to routinely focus on the negative aspects of various

religious communities. For example, much of the press which clergy of the

Catholic Church receives does not address the great amount of work which these

individuals do in helping the disadvantaged members of their local communities,

15 Armstrong, ix.

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but instead focuses on the rare and isolated cases of sexual abuse and cover-

ups that have resulted.

In sharp contrast to the mass attention and negative press that various

fundamentalist groups receive, not nearly enough focus is given to groups that

attempt to bring together peoples from religious faiths. Rather than encouraging

people to set aside their respective creeds, the main emphasis of many multi-

faith groups is to place differences aside and recognize the commonalities that

do exist. From web based forums such beliefnet.com to local community based

organizations the work of multi-faith organizations can have a large impact on

both the micro as well as macro levels.

Works Cited

Armstrong, Karen. The Battle for God. New York: Random House, Inc. 2000.

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Armstrong, Karen. Islam. New York: The Modern Library. 2000.

Chilton, Bruce. Rabbi Jesus. New York: Random House, Inc. 2000.

Encyclopedia Britannica 2002

Herman, A.L. A Brief Introduction to Hinduism. Boulder: Westview Press. 1991.

Humphreys, Christmas. Exploring Buddhism. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd. 1974.

Kauffman, William E. Contemporary Jewish Philosophies. New York: University Press

of America. 1985.

Iftekhar, Mahmood. Islam: Beyond Terrorists and Terrorism. Lanham: University Press

of America. 2000.

“Christians Try to Recapture Jewish Roots,”

http://www.jewishaz.com/jewishnews/970418/christan.shtml

http://www.religioustolerance.org/jainism.htm

http://www.ops.org/scrtec/india/jainism.html

www.beliefnet.com

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