Catholicism and Hinduism: Stands on Gender, Sexuality and Violence

1. Introduction This essay aims to compare and contrast specific aspects of Catholicism and Hinduism, more specifically their stands on gender, sexuality and violence.
Catholicism and Hinduism are two of the world’s greatest religions; the former originated in the west and spread across the world whereas the latter is followed primarily in the Indian subcontinent and to some extent in the Southeast Asian states. Catholicism and Hinduism are essentially different in their approach towards god and religion; Catholicism believing that there is one deity, and Hinduism on the contrary recognizes the existence of many. Two essential points of Christianity, particularly sin and salvation, aren’t present in Hinduism. The two religions nevertheless have several points of similarity. Hindus worship a number of gods and Catholics worship several saints; both of them make use of the burning of candles and incense before the statues for purposes of worship. Both religions make use of images, icons, music and rituals. Catholics chant prayers, whilst Hindus chant mantras; both of them have tremendously wealthy temples, full of statues and golden artefacts and make use of priesthoods that intermediate between humans and gods. Such similarities and dissimilarities notwithstanding, these two religions have distinct and deeply entrenched religious ethos and epistemologies that govern their practice and the attitudes, approaches and behaviours of their members. The goal of this is to compare and contrast Catholic and Hindu approaches towards gender, sexuality and violence.

2. Discussion and Analysis
Gender and Sex Gender and sex have been subjects of significant controversy, intrigue, debate and discussion in the history of the Catholic Church. With the cultural influence of the Catholic Church being