Comparative Study of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity

This article presents a comparative study of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity. It explores their beliefs, practices, and rituals, and highlights the differences and similarities between them. The article also discusses the importance of studying religion and the skills required for it.

Running head: RELIGION 1
RELIGION
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RELIGION
INTRODUCTION
Comparative religion is an independent section of religious study that is involved with
doctrine comparisons and also practices of religions not only in a local set up but also globally as
well. It compares the method of interpretation and religious practices that surround different
religions from Christianity to Buddhism. Religion is quite diverse and also highly sensitive in its
interpretation. It’s always subject to misinterpretation and misconception due to the elements that
form the structure and foundation of the study. Studying religion involves certain skills as it is a
multifaceted study and quite diverse as well. Therefore, one needs to rely on the factual basis that
exists in the religion through use of literary criticism, anthropology, histography, and theology.
At one time or the other, man is bound to feel lost or overwhelmed by emotions. During such
time, many take time to reflect and meditate on a life that present happiness and freedom to live
within serenity. One of the main focus during such times for man involves religion. As many
would have it, the main goal of religion tends to be redemption from a sinful and lost life and
salvation of oneself and others through believed in God, worship and obedience to the set
commandments and rules (Rusell, 2004).
HINDUISM
There are many religious doctrines that defines man. From Christianity, Hinduism, and
Islam amongst others, the diversity in religion is quite broad. Taking an in-depth look into
Hinduism, there is more focus to the soul and what the religion defines in terms of living or
adopting a religious lifestyle. In Hinduism, sin is treated as an act of ignorance and it is
overcome by way of caste and salvation. It is treated not as an act of disobedience against God
but against the moral order (karma). Salvation isn’t dependent on one man and atonement for any

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sin as in the case of Christianity but on Karma. As one sins, the universe will find ways to make
the person undergo suffering of a similar magnitude and form of his sin. Therefore, to safe the
soul, one is required to know the Brahman fully, devote themselves to love and obedience to a
deity, or perform the dictated rituals as in the passage of life (birth, death and re-birth), one can
atone for sin through multiple re-births until he or she gains atonement. This means that one’s
soul reaps what he or she sowed in the previous life in either blessings or misery during re-birth.
There is a deep-rooted faith in recantation in form of animals as opposed to rebirth into little
children as in Buddhism. Therefore, animals are held with a deeper reference as opposed to any
other religion (Shouler, 2009).
The religion exists in different groups which are based on beliefs of different relics that
existed long before the birth of Jesus Christ over 1000 years. Its referred to as the Caste system.
The system divides the Hindus into hierarchical groups that are rigid and based on their work
(Karma), as well religious duty (dharma). It is justified by the Manusmriti, that dates back to
over 1000 years before the birth of Christ and it divides the Hindus into four main categories.
The Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and the Shudras, who all originated from the Hindu God of
creation. The Brahmins were teachers and intellectuals that are believed to have hailed from
Brahma’s head. The Kshatriyas who were warriors and rulers from his arms, Vaishyas or traders
from his thighs and the Shudras Brahma’s feet and hence their work is menial jobs. The four
main groups would branch out to their castes and sub castes that were defined by occupation.
There was the achhoots who were not part of the Caste system and thus they were referred to as
Dalits or the untouchables (BBC News, 2017).
In the Hindu religion, there isn’t more reference made to hell for penance of wrongful
deeds during one’s lifetime. There is however a great belief in rebirth where one gets rewarded

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for good deeds or pays back for wrongful deeds that are done while one is still alive. Karma is
the doctrine and belief of re-birth. The process of re-birth is referred to as samsara and is cyclic
in nature. To it, there is no beginning and ended and its defined by attachments to desire and
appetite binds one’s spirits to a series of births and deaths. Interactions which are fueled by
desire either result to good or bad karma. An emancipation from misery and payment of deeds,
that is salvation, is referred to as Moksha. There several rituals conducted to commemorate an
event that is important example rituals for blessing of marriages, birth of a baby, celebration of a
god amongst others. An example of such rituals includes the Shinto worship (BBC News, 2009).
Shinto worship consists of rituals and follows strict conventions of protocol, order and
control. It consists of the spirit of Shinto worship. This compromises of sincerity, cheerfulness
and purity. This is meant to staffs the senses and minds of those taking part and every set up has
meaning to the worship. It can be a private of public worship. It can be a worship at home where
a shrine is set aside for the offerings of flowers to the deity, and prayers are said then. It also can
be a worship at a shrine at no special day of the week with as the is understanding of the natural
world. Moreover, it involves rituals among them Jhansi held before construction of a building,
Norioto held before formal ceremonies and their typical rituals like adoration, and purification
among others (BBC, 2009).
BUDDHISM
In his mediation under the Bodhi tree, buddha came about with the four truths. The truth
of suffering (dukkha), the truth of the origin of suffering (samudaya), the truth of the cessation of
suffering (nirodha) and the truth of the path to cessation of suffering (magga). Buddha identifies
suffering and that it comes from many forms and also the kinds of suffering from things such as
age, sickness and death. He explains the origin of suffering like pain from loss of a love ones and

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the causes from greed, delusion to hatred and he then explains the cessation of suffering from
lifestyle behaviors like estrangement. The fourth truth magga, is the understanding of the end of
suffering that is divided into 8 supports and reinforcement from right understanding, right
intention, right speech, right action, livelihood, effort mindfulness and concertation. All are
defined through wisdom under meditation. They are identified as the eight-folds of Buddhahood
(Kozak, 2011).
The folds include Samma ditthi which is the right understanding, samma sankappa – the
right thought, samma vaca – right speech, samma kammanta – right action, samma ajiva – right
livelihood, samma sati – right mindfulness, samma sammadhi – right concentration. The eight
divisions were stated in a numerical order and were intended to be followed as such as they assist
in cultivation of each other (Rahula, 2017).
Buddhism is based on concepts that direct Buddha and his followers and they differ
greatly from Hinduism. Some of the concepts that Buddhists reject that Hindus follow include:
 Buddha and his followers reject Brahman as a God or Creator of the universe,
 they reject the transmigration of souls from one body to another,
 They reject reincarnation but they believe in rebirth,
 They reject Vedas authority as he rejected Brahmins of the time and
 They also reject caste as they believe in the natural birth of children and not
through the mouth.
THEOLOGY
Being that religion is identified through relationships held between the individual and
higher deities, often than not some of the religions perform rituals to improve on their spiritual

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relationship. Confucius thought of rituals as the cats of the everyday life are taken as rituals.
They may not be arbitrary in nature but they are often routines that one engages in knowingly or
unknowingly in the normal course of life. When shaped, the lead to a healthy society.
Relationships are foddering duties the arise from one status to another. Individuals are held in
different degrees of relationships to different people whether junior to senior relation, students
and others. The juniors are seen to owe more duties to the seniors. Apart from the identified
religions among them Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism, there are other similar as
well as different belief systems, among them Zoroastrianism. It’s a belief that is identifiable to
the Islam group of Iran. In the belief, there is the belief that there is a transcendent supreme god,
Ahura Mazda or the wise lord that is universal. He is believed to be just and compassionate and
the creator of all universe and one who knows everything according to Islamic religion of
Iranians.
JUDAISM
Others include the Jewish faith. Their key identifiable features include the fact that they
are often viewed as scape goats for societal problems. They also have uniquely large aquiline
noses as well as hairy nationals with some of them giving uniquely red hair which gives them the
name “red Jews”. They also are known to be greedy and living in miserly. They are known in
ancient relics to charge excessive interests in their loans and this partly because they were
restricted to working by Ursula. They hold the Judaism religion with upmost importance, with
references to books like Torah and Talmud being made during the course of the study. Talmud
means instructions in Hebrew and may refer to Gamara or Mishnah and Gemara together. It is
the codes for the Jewish law. Torah are the instructions handed to Moses by God whereas Talmud
are the oral word of God that were handed down and repeated to generations. The Torah

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documents the instructions that God through Moses passed to the Israelites during the Passover
which holds great significance to the Christmas and Jews as well. Passover to the Jews is a
special occasion where they commemorate the day that God delivered Jews from suffering and
slavery in ancient Egypt, in which they gained freedom from King Pharaoh. Judaism was a
religion started in the covenant established between God and the Abraham which gained ground
based on Torah after God delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Thus, without the great
Passover, there wouldn’t be Judaism (Rusell, 2004).
The Jews mostly relate their origin to the ultimate story of Christian and have their
lifestyles defined by the Talmud and Torah. The Christian hold the same reverence in terms of
creation but have their lifestyles defined by the teachings of Jesus. The birth of Jesus the son of
God as in the writings of Luke and Mathew in the New testament was seen and recorded to be a
fulfilment on an old testament prophecy where it was claimed that a messiah would deliver
Jewish people from captivity. Jesus brought about healing, teachings and freedom of mind. This
was the beginning of Christianity or the Christ way of life. This mode of worship is
characterized by prayers and hymns. Christianity expects the church leaders and any other
Christian leaders to lead the congregation to the way of Christ, be “shepherds for the flock”.
They are expected to lead by example by following the word of God through prayers, sacrifice
and self service to others. They are expected to work as a team, to be responsible for those in the
church in their walk of faith through biblical guidance and uplifting them when in need (Rusell,
2004).
CHRISTIANITY
For the same, there have been leaders overtime that have taken up roles in defending the
Christian virtues especially in terms hey they relate to other people. Amongst them is Martin,

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Luther. Martin was a great civil rights leader and activist who is greatly remembered for his I
have a dream speech that had a great deal of influence to the American society back in the 1950s
and 60s. He believed in the need for non-violent protests in changing the tone of movements. He
impacted change and gained respect among many political leaders. This is a bid to achieve
ecumenism which is the tendency towards the global Christian unity or cooperation that is
looked up on by all Christian churches. There has been transformation that has occurred since
16th century which involved protestant reformation which means a movement that was imagined
ant reforming the beliefs and practices of Roman Catholic Church. Among those great leaders
that steer-headed such causes include John Wycliffe. He was a theologian that translated the
bible to common language in 1300s and was referred to as the morning star of reformation as he
tried to bring together the poor and common folk in the church to be held the same as the elite
and thus preached against purgatory and indulgence and transubstantiation. Another is Martin
Luther. He is credited as a great German theologist, composer, author and priest, monk, and a
seminal figure that greatly contributed to the protestant reformation and one who had a great
belief that salvation was achieved through believe in faith that fear and thus he rejected several
teachings and practices of roman catholic churches (Rusell, 2004).
Ecumenism exists in orders that date back to 20th century that were followed in over 101
religious houses and it combines first order characteristics with a family composition. It
composes of the external mission which refers the memory on the word of Jesus Christ and
improve understanding of the world of God. It is concerned with the witness of the world. There
is the Internal life that is tailored to meet eternal mission by focusing on creation of a corporate
body that has definitive roles in human enterprise. It is sustained by visions. There is historical
function that seeks to stand present to God. It depicts the journey of the religion and seeks to

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present to the world through social vision and prefiguring of new societies. In the post lude the
order seeks to serve the church and the world as a global servant face though support of local
network churches in six continents using mobile units (Rusell, 2004).
ISLAM
Mohammad to Prophethood also called Muhammad Abdullah, is seen as the founder of
Islam religion and is said to be a messenger of God and the last of the Islamic prophets after
Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus. The faith that is believed to have existed was gradually
revealed to humanity to several prophets (Rusell, 2004). However, the complete faith and
revelation of the Islam faith was made through Prophet Muhammad in the 7th Century. The Islam
faith is based on 6 major beliefs which are: The Belief that Allah is the one and only one God,
the existence of angles that are present among people, the existence of the holy books, the
existence of prophets that existed throughout time e.g. Ibrahim or Abraham, Musa that is Moses,
Dawud that is David, Isa that is Jesus and Adam amongst others. They also believe in the
presence of judgement day and predestination. There are important events to the Islam
practicing Muslims which includes Hijrah. It means emigration or migration. It was the Prophet
Muhammad’s migration from Mecca in order to escape persecution from the land of Shirk to the
land of Islam. Hijrah means movement and locomotion which is why it is used to describe the
movement of Muslims from Mecca to Abyssinia or medina. There are two kinds which include
the physical and moral Hijras (Dodge, 2009).
More to that, the Islam faith dies branch out into different autonomous divisions that are
based on geographical location. An example is the Bahais. This is a consideration of several
theological, spiritual ideas, social set ups in the Bahai faith, founded by Bahaullah. It was passed
down to several leaders among them Abdul-Baha and Shogi Effendi who were Bahaullah’s sons.

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The faith combines Islam and Christianist and is collectively referred to as Bahais which are
teachings revealed by God. It includes messages and statements by Gods to humans based on
gender, race, class, science of religion, compulsory education and elimination of extreme wealth
and poverty amongst others (Dodge, 2009).
Some of the key features that stand put between Bahai faith and Christianity include:
BAHAI FAITH CHRISTIANITY
13th largest faith globally. Largest faith globally.
Concentrated in India,
USA and Iran
Concentrated in Europe, North and South America
and there is a rapid growth in Africa.
The founder is
Baha’u’llah
The founder is Jesus
Its written in Persian Its written in Aramaic and Greek
It has no splits Its split into catholic and orthodox and catholic and
protestants.
There is believe of one
God
There is belief of one God.
There are no other
spiritual beings
There are other spiritual beings like angels and
demons.
There is believe in
seconding coming of Jesus
(Dodge, 2009).
There is believe of second coming of Jesus (Rusell,
2004).
The sacred text is based
on inspiration
The sacred text is believed to be inspired a well as
original texts in original languages too

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References
A.V. (2017, April 20). The Bahai faith. Retrieved from The Economist:
https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2017/04/19/the-bahai-faith
BBC. (2009, September 16). Shinto Worship. Retrieved from BBC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/shinto/ritesrituals/worship_1.shtml
BBC News. (2009, November 17). The four noble truths. Retrieved from BBC NEWS:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/beliefs/fournobletruths_1.shtml
BBC News. (2017, July 20). What is India's caste system? Retrieved from BBC News:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-35650616
Dodge, H. C. (2009). The Everything Understanding Islam Book: A complete guide to Muslim
beliefs, practices, and culture (Everything®) 2nd Edition, Kindle Edition . U.S.A. :
Everything.
Kozak, A. (2011). The Everything Buddhism Book: A complete introduction to the history,
traditions, and beliefs of Buddhism, past and present. U.S.A: Everything.
Rahula, W. (2017). The Noble Eightfold Path. Tri-cycle, 1.
Rusell, F. M. (2004). The Everything Christianity Book: A Complete and Easy-To-Follow Guide
to Protestant Origins, Beliefs, Practices and Traditions. U.S.A. : Everything.
Shouler, K. A. (2009). The Everything Hinduism Book: Learn the traditions and rituals of the
"religion of peace" (Everything (Religion)). U.S.A.: Adams Media.