Comparative Religion
Reflective Essay
In the Western world, religion has become something that is part of a person’s life. It can be something that we “do” on Sundays, it may determine the people that hang out, or it can affect the way that in which we view politics. For some, it is simply a choice that someone has made to be listed next to the “religious views” tab in the biographical section on Facebook. It is often used by celebrities to appeal to fans, or by businesses to increase profit. This is quite the change from what it has been in the past where religion was vastly important to people; religion once guided entire lives.
A look at the past reveals how truly important religion has been throughout the history of mankind. Over it, countries have united, wars have been fought, genocides have been conducted, and ethnic groups have been identifiable. A look at religious views from across the world shows us how deeply complex and rooted in human culture they have become. It also teaches us that there are many different (perhaps an uncountable amount) of views in which people choose to tackle life with. Some religious claim to be the final authority on God’s will, others choose to follow many different gods, many choose to follow a religion in which the existence of god is not acknowledge or discussed.
Judaism is a religion that believes in one God. According to Prothero, it is the religion that started the trend of belief in a single god (Prothero, 2010). It is religion that believes that God is the creator and the one that makes the laws for mankind. It begins its string of stories with the creation of the heavens and the earth. It also offers hope with the coming of a “chosen one”. Jewish people practice their religion through sincere rituals and atonement of sin (Prothero, 2010). Forgiveness is a gift that must be earned from God, by seeking righteousness and doing the right things. It would be hard to imagine a world that has not been heavily impacted by this religion because it is the beginner of two of the world’s largest religions. This religion has quite literally changed the world and has become a part of what the world is today.
The Hebrew tradition is quite interesting because it is so vastly diverse. There seems to be no certain code or belief that all Jews must possess in order to be considered Jewish. It was until the 12th century CE that Jewish Rabbi Maimon attempted to establish a core set of beliefs for all Jewish people (Parsons, 2015). Interestingly enough, many Jewish people today do not believe in all of these principles, but still call themselves Jews (Rich, 2011). It seems that there is more than the set of beliefs that “all Jewish people” have in common that unites these people under a single umbrella. This seems to imply that the Hebrew people are accepting of others’ viewpoints. It would make sense that Jewish people have an understanding of their own sinfulness because they spend much of their religious time looking to God for approval of their actions.
Initially, it was difficult to grasp the fact that Jewish people were calling themselves Jewish even when they had known and acknowledged differences in belief and theology. It seemed odd that there could be disagreement about a belief that is as fundamental as the nature of the one that was responsible for the creation of mankind and the world that it inhabits. The disagreements about this fundamental fact seems to suggest that Jewish people don’t really know the nature of God. This realization was a scary one at first, but comfort came after realization of the truth that this implies. Perhaps Jews take comfort in the fact that God is unknowable, which would imply that he is infinite and beyond the understanding of humankind. Perhaps it is comforting to them that such an infinite and unknowable being is responsible for the creation of the universe.
Christianity is monotheistic religion that has become vastly important to mankind because it currently accounts for approximately 30% of the world’s population today (PewResearchCenter, 2011). It is a religious movement that spawned from a man Jewish man named Jesus. He was of divine nature and he was to be the “ultimate sacrifice” for mankind. He called himself the “messiah”, the ones that the Hebrew people had been waiting for. He attracted a small gathering of people around the first century CE; this movement subsequently led to the largest religious group in the world.
This religion stresses the depravity of mankind and the need for a savior, Jesus. Through Jesus, Christians believe that man can be saved from his own evil. What’s interesting is that many Christians believe that there is nothing that can be done to earn the forgiveness that Jesus offers. It is simply a gift. This seems to open all sorts of possibilities for the men and women to take advantage of the free gift that God has given them. What is stopping a person from going out tomorrow and sinning one day and asking for forgiveness tomorrow? This is probably a common question for people who do not consider themselves Christian, but it is still an interesting one. Perhaps that is why this religion is so popular; it offers forgiveness for all sins.
Unlike the previously discussed religions, Hinduism is a religion that believes in many different deities. According to Prothero, “Hinduism is the least dogmatic and the most diverse.” (Prothero, 2010). The religion boasts probably the widest expanse of deities in the world. There seems to be a god for everything. This is in deep contrast the monotheistic religions that many Westerners are exposed to on a regular basis. For the Jewish person or the Christian, God is all encompassing. He is love, he is justice, he is anger, and he is joy. In the Hindu religion, there seems to a god of happiness, a god for anger, a god for sexual desire, and a god of war. Each of these are quite different in nature and each of them is to be worshipped separately.
At first glance, many may mistake Buddhism for a simple philosophy behind life because it does not discuss God or extraterrestrial topics. Instead, it seeks to solve the problems of humanity through “human effort and morality” (Guthrie, 2015). When compared to other religions, it becomes clear just how different this concept is. Christians look to God for their salvation; Jewish people look to God for approval; Hindus pray to their Gods; Buddhists look to themselves to stop the suffering in their own lives and in the lives of the people that are around them.
Buddhism stresses the importance of an enlightenment experience, in which they have come to a totally complete understanding of life and human suffering; from this understanding, human suffering can be stopped in their own lives (Prothero, 2010). Interestingly, this is an individual experience. It cannot be done for someone; an example of this individualistic concept can be seen when one takes a look at the Zen master’s relationship with his disciples (Design, 2015). The enlightenment must be undertaken as an individual and truth will be reached by the person; it is not given, it is not revealed by some higher power, it is derived from mediation and searching.
The individualistic sense that comes from Buddhism is quite appealing because it offers a way for an individual to end his or her own suffering. It offers the possibility of gaining true happiness here on Earth, within one’s own power, and inside of a lifetime. Often times, other religions stress the importance of the afterlife and the importance of actions because of the impact that it will have on that life after death; Buddhism seeks to give answers within the foreseeable future. Enlightened ones can be seen here on earth, in the flesh. It seems to take the necessity of faith out of the question and gives its practitioners a tangible goal to reach. Even more appealing, that goal is simply to be fully understanding and entirely happy in the face of human suffering.
Each of these religions offer a very different philosophy to life. Christianity stresses the importance of God’s love and grace in the face of human depravity. Judaism stresses the importance of seeking God’s approval. Hinduism looks to many different gods. Buddhism looks to oneself. These differences have impacted the world in incredibly complex ways; most of which are so subtle and fundamental that they cannot be detected, some of which have become quite evident in the religious and cultural struggles that have plagued human history since the time that it was born. Understanding the world’s great religions, and how they relate is a vastly important piece to the bigger pie that is human culture, human nature, and human philosophy. An education in the world’s religions will provide a good base for which I will be able to go out and encounter other people’s beliefs and philosophies and try to truly understand them and how they impact the people that carry them.
Bibliography
Design, B. (2015, May). Kodo Sawaki. Retrieved from Zen-Buddhism: http://zen-buddhism.net/famous-zen-masters/kodo-sawaki.html?headerbar=3
Guthrie, D. M. (2015, May 3). Zen Buddhism.
Parsons, J. (2015, MAy 4). Sheloshah-Asar Ikkarim-The Thirteen Principles of the Jewish Faith. Retrieved from Hebrew4Christians: http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Scripture/Shloshah-Asar_Ikkarim/shloshah-asar_ikkarim.html
PewResearchCenter. (2011, December 19). Global Christianity- A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Christian Population. Retrieved from Pewforum: http://www.pewforum.org/2011/12/19/global-christianity-exec/
Prothero, S. (2010). God Is Not One. New York: HarperOne.
Rich, R. T. (2011). What do Jews Believe? Retrieved from JewFAQ: http://www.jewfaq.org/beliefs.htm