Download Throughout the history of civilization, religions have played an

Nick Meeker
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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
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century, Jews communities have remained solidly united through belief in the
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.
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Brittanica
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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
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.
2
Kauffman, 86.
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Christianity
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
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Roman society. The early church was guided St. Paul, and continued to be led
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
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religions as a part of their Eucharistic ceremony. In fact at several Christian
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
3
“Christians Try to Recapture Jewish Roots.”
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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
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
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Bloom 35-38.
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The city of Mecca is located on the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia
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
5
Bloom 39.
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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
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
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Mahmood xix.
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Hindi teachings, all living beings on earth go through many phases of
reincarnation in an attempt to reach the state of moksha, or spiritual selfrealization.
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
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
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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
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
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9
Herman, 3.
Herman, 9.
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to the city of Arunacala where he received great attention until his death from
cancer in 1950.
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.
10
Herman, 15.
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Buddhism
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:
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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
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
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12
Humphreys, 51.
Humphreys, 50.
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Jainism
Beginning as an offshoot of Hinduism, Jainism, or Jain Dharma, broke
away traditional Hindi teachings believing that the sacrifice of animals was wrong
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
13
“Jainism.”
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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,
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
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15
http://www.religioustolerance.org/jainism.htm
Armstrong, ix.
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Catholic Church receives does not address the great amount of work which these
individuals do in helping the disadvantaged members of their local communities,
but instead focuses on the rare and isolated cases of sexual abuse and coverups 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 multifaith 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.
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Works Cited
Armstrong, Karen. The Battle for God. New York: Random House, Inc. 2000.
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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