...Title: Difference and Similarities between Christianity and Four (4) World Religion, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Muslims and Hinduism. Introduction: In the world today there are many religions of different beliefs with vast numbers of followers. However, some of these religions turn to have similarities and differences which defer them from each another. The following report briefly talks about the differences and similarities between Christianity and other four (4) major world religions and they are Buddhism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism and Muslims. Zoroastrianism and Christianity Zoroastrianism was founded by a man named Zoroaster who was born around 1200 BC (www.Answers.com). During that time the Jewish people were held captive by Babylonians and most of their beliefs .i.e. Christianity and Judaism have Zoroastrian influence in them because they (Jewish) were exposed to that (Zoroastrian). But we will discuss about the similarities and the differences between Christianity and Zoroastrian. Similarities Zoroastrian worship one God to whom they believe the world was made and also the Christians too believe in one God, they (Zoroastrians) also believe that a Saviour will be born of a virgin who will defeat the devil and establish his kingdom when he returns just like Christians believe in Jesus Christ (www.metareligion.com) . Furthermore, both religions preaches about the existence of hell and heaven, both believed that hell is a place rewarded for righteous doing and hell is...
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...Hinduism APRIL RODGERS HUM/130 November 04,2011 MARC RHOADES Hinduism Hinduism is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent that is the third largest religion in the world. Hinduism lacks the uniting belief system because of variety religious paths with no founder, teacher, or prophet. There are cultural and societal influences that have made Hinduism vital to the religion in which it originated from such as practices and beliefs that has started over a thousand years age. The desire for liberation and earthly existence is an important part of the Hinduism religion. According to Mary Pat Fisher, "Some of these are relatively unified religious systems, such as Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism" and because of the wide variety in the Hindu religion it is often referred to as Sanatana Dharma. Sanatana means "eternal" or "ageless" and Dharma means "religion." Hinduism is said to be more than 3000 years old and its fundamentals of faith are even older. Sanatana Dharma is the traditional religion for most of India and is also practiced around the world. Hinduism religion comes in many different religion beliefs that have built-up over thousands of years (Fisher, 2005). Many of the threads of Sanatana Dharma may have existed in the religions practiced by the aboriginal Dravidian peoples of India (Fisher, 2005). The spiritual expressions of Sanatana Dharma range from extreme asceticism to extreme sensuality, from the heights of personal devotion to a deity to...
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...Introduction Hinduism is a major world religion that originated on the Indian subcontinent and consists of several schools of varied rituals, philosophies and beliefs. The name, Hinduism, is actually coined by British journalists and writers in the early 19th century to refer to the tradition of texts and practices. It is believed that Hinduism is now the worlds oldest and widely practiced religions known today having dated back to around the 3rd or 2nd millennium bce. When the term “Hinduism” was first published to describe the religion, it has since been met with mixed reactions with some rejecting it in favor of indigenous formulations. Some have taking to the term “Vedic Religion” as a way to refer to the ancient texts known as the “Vedas”. The majority of those who practice the religion do accept the term “Hinduism”. Hinduism and Buddhism Despite the labeling and acceptance thereof, Hinduism has managed to stay as a thriving religion with various influences in many cultures. Its believed that Hinduism and Buddhism share a common bond. The Buddha was born to a Hindu family and some still argue that because of this, Buddhism is an offshoot of Hinduism and that the Buddha was a part of the Hindu pantheon, a view which is not accepted by many Buddhists. Long ago, Hindu tradition accepted the Buddha as an incarnation of Vishnu. There were many that didn’t believe that Buddha’s teachings and enlightenment were of any relation to the Hindu beliefs though. Despite the fundamental...
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...Contemporary Issues in Eastern Religion Faith Hill Rel/133 March 04, 2010 Hinduism Religions are bound to experience challenges and changes to current traditions and practices with the constant changes within the world that happen. For religions to survive changes, they must be open to adapting to the modern world while holding strong to ancient teachings and traditions. Hinduism is the major religion in India (Molloy, 2010) and focuses on the belief of the worship of many Gods. Hinduism has had a significant influence and has begun to spread into other areas of the world. Hinduism is an ancient religion that has survived the changes of the modern world and has influenced the traditions of other religions in the process. Hinduism has begun to influence the Western and modern world the religion does face some issues with ensuring their ancient traditions can sustain in this modern era. Common Characteristics Hinduism recognized as the oldest religion in the world has characteristics related to other religion. Some of these characteristics are similar to other religions such as Buddhism and Shinto. Some common characteristics of religion include belief system, rituals, and central myths. Hinduism does not have a uniformed belief system. Worshippers are allowed to worship any God of their choice. They can worship one God or many Gods. Hinduism is known for its diverse openness, and a system of thoughts that include monotheism, polytheism, panentheism...
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...What Are The Problems Associated With Attempting To Define Hinduism? What is Hinduism? Who are the Hindus? Why is there this problem of association within this religion? This paper will try to give a few simple reasons to answer this question: a brief Hindu history, the multiplicity of faith, a comparison made with Christianity (the dominant worldwide religion ). However, when trying to define, or describe, something, it is always best to start from the beginning and so let us look at Hinduism in Context. Hinduism, perhaps the oldest religion in existence, in today’s recorded history, can be traced back to the Rig-Veda , to today’s one billion followers, most of whom still inhabit the Indian subcontinent. In fact, the word Hindu was given by Greek, British and/or Persian explorers to describe a set of people who lived on the other side of the river in the Indus Valley, whom all shared a similar set of beliefs. As Christianity spread across Europe as the religion, it would only make sense that a people on the same (sub)-continent would also have a unifying religion. This is perhaps the biggest problem when it comes to trying to define Hinduism: an historical event that set the wheels in motion to trying to coin the Western interpretation of the word religion to the Eastern. Although they are both spelt the same, both have very different meanings. As mentioned before, Hinduism was an archaic term for a collection of people all of whom shared similar beliefs, but...
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...Hinduism is one of the oldest known religions of the world; having no founder and no known starting year. Hinduism is the third largest practicing religion in the world, following Christianity and Islam. There are approximately 905 million practicing Hindus live in India and Nepal. The earliest origins of Hinduism can be traced to the Vedic civilization. The thing that makes up the Hindu religion is Sanarana Dharma. Sanarana Dharma is the proper name for Hinduism. Hinduism is the traditional religion of India with a whopping 80% of Indians still practicing Hinduism today (Pearson Education, Inc, 2007). Sanatan Dharma is one of the oldest religions known to mankind (Basham, 2013). One of the biggest spiritual expressions of Sanatana Dharma is personal devotion to a specific God or deity. Like, for instance the female goddess Shakti, who was the other half of Lord Shiva, has several of her own temples built in her honor (Subhamoy, 2013). Hinduism is still one of the major religions in the world, Hinduism it is more than a way of life, Hinduism is indeed a restrictive and organized religion. The Hindu religion has many different beliefs that have greatly evolved over time. The Hindu religion includes Dharma meaning religion, which encompasses duty, natural law, social welfare and many other things. Many of the religious paths of Dharma still continue to coexist in present day India. Other well-known beliefs in Hinduism include karma which...
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...ASSIGMENT TITLE In this assignment, you will select two (2) religions from those studied thus far in the course (i.e., Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism). Next, compare and contrast them . Hinduism is unique among the world religions in that it has no founder or date of origin. While most major religions derive from new ideas taught by a charismatic leader, Hinduism is simply the religion of the people of India, which has gradually developed over four thousand years. The origins and authors of its sacred texts are largely unknown. Although today's Hinduism differs significantly from earlier forms of Indian religion, Hinduism's roots date back as far as 2000 BC, making it one of the oldest surviving religions. Also the linguistic similarities between Sanskrit, Greek and Latin are the result of Aryan migrations in the opposite direction, out of India and into Europe. Aryan tribes from within India spread throughout Europe bringing their culture, language and religion. Passages from the Mahabharata and other Hindu texts are quoted in support of this theory. Whether the Aryans came from outside the subcontinent or whether Aryan culture developed within India, matters little for our purposes here. However, there are some beliefs common to nearly all forms of Hinduism that can be identified, and these basic beliefs are generally regarded as boundaries outside of which lies either heresy or non-Hindu religion. These fundamental Hindu beliefs include: the authority...
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...Hinduism Paper Jessica M. Thomas HUM/130 July 20, 2014 Daniel Davis Hinduism is considered the World’s oldest organized religion, it is also the third largest in the World. “It consist of thousands of different religious groups that have evolved in India since 1500 BCE. Because of the wide variety of Hindu traditions, freedom of belief and practice are notable features of Hinduism”. (Hinduism: The World’s third largest religion, 2014) The way Hinduism expresses its spiritual traditions is not by one unified religion but by supreme variations of religious paths, this allows for no central tradition but a diverse worship of deities. There has been various definitions of what Hinduism actually is and what it involves so it is important to understand what connects these various beliefs and practices in order to form the religion Hinduism. What makes up the Hindu Religion is that it is not a standard type of religion, but it is a set of religious traditions and beliefs that has evolved over time. Although the Hinduism religion is various in many ways, all of the religious groups and traditions follow certain types of beliefs and practices but also acknowledge and follow the ancient scriptures called Vedas. These sacred writings contain hymns, incantations and rituals from ancient India. “According to orthodox Hindus, the Vedas are not the work of any humans. They are considered shruti texts—those which have been revealed, rather than written by mortals. They are the breath...
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...Hindu Religion Hinduism is one of the oldest organized religions in the world. The religion has thousands of diverse religious groupings that evolved in the Indian subcontinent from as far as 1500 BC. The Hindu religion has a variety of traditions, and, therefore, freedom of practices and beliefs are some of the notable feature of this religion. Hinduism includes the following traditionsVaishnavism, Srauta, and Shaivism, among others (Georgis 62). The religion has groupings such as Kapalikas. Hinduism has a variety of philosophies which include a spectrum of prescriptions as well as laws based on dharma and karma among other societal norms. By 21st century, it is reported that the Hindu religion had about a billion followers around the globe, and about eighty percent of Indians practices Hinduism. Hinduism differentiates itself from Christianity and other religions in that; the religion does not have a single founder, a single concept of deity, a central religious authority, a single system of morality, a concept of prophet, or a specific theoretical system. These are some of things that are found in other religions. Early history of Hinduism is a subject to numerous debates, and this is because of various reasons. First, the term Hinduism is a modern term but the sources of Hindu traditions are exceedingly ancient. Secondly, the religion embraces many traditions. Thirdly, there is no definite start point for Hinduism, and the traditions associated with...
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...Religions are an important aspect of many lives of the people around the world. Religion is a cultural aspect in different countries, meaning different things to different people. When comparing religions there are six areas that are looked at these are; the absolute, the world, humans, the problem for humans, the solution for humans, and life after death. There are many religions around the world, some religions branch off of other religions. When looking into these religions I came to see why many are similar. They have the same beliefs but worship and view some aspects in different ways. Hinduism and Buddhism are sometimes mistaken as being the same religion, though they are similar. They both originated in India. Buddhism came to be by breaking off of Hinduism and now has their own beliefs....
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...Week 3 Assignment Hinduism is the oldest known religion, has been around from 10,000 to 5,000 B.C., and is the third largest religion of the world with over one billion followers. (Hinduism Facts , 2012) While Hinduism is a popular religion, there are differences with it and other major religions. There no central belief system in the religion and they have different beliefs as well. There is no founder of the religion and it has been evolving since it came into existence. Hindus believe in reincarnation and ultimately separation from life and a reintegration with the divine spirit. The religion has much to do with the location from which it originated. Hinduism originated in India and has its majority located here, but has large presence in the rest of the world also. This paper will give some better insight into the Hinduism religion. Even though there is no central belief, the fact that Hinduism has been able to evolve and adapt itself to what obstacles, which have presented themselves, has allowed Hinduism to endure. While it is believed that there is only one god in Hinduism, Brahman, it is also believed that this god shows itself in many forms. This is why there exists many different gods, which are worshipped in Hinduism. With the fact that the Hindu religion does not have a central belief system, the religion has multiple beliefs that clearly stand out. One of things that is believed about is karma. Karma means actions, or consequences of actions. (Fisher...
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...Contemporary Issues in Eastern Religions Contemporary Issues in Eastern Religions Common Characteristics between Buddhism and Hinduism Buddhism is closely related to Hinduism, they both share some important beliefs. They both believe in reincarnation and the cycle of samsara - birth, life, death, and rebirth - and in the influence of karma on the circumstances into which you will be born in the next life. They both believe that the ultimate end is to escape from the cycle of rebirth. However, they are quite different in some very fundamental ways. For Hindus, there is an eternal soul that does not change, in essentials, from life to life. The material bodies it inhabits are like clothes. Buddhists believe that there is no core soul - that your experiences, actions, and intentions (your karma) constantly act upon you and you are constantly changing in response, so that the cycle of samsara is a long process of becoming. They also have different beliefs regarding the escape from the cycle of reincarnation. For Buddhists, achieving enlightenment, seeing the true nature of phenomenon and of oneself, eliminating all craving and desire releases you from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. For Hindus, realizing the oneness of existence, achieving mental peace or perfect unselfishness, perfect detachment from the world, or perfect knowledge of oneself, or the realization of unity with god releases you from the cycle of rebirth. As it relates to salvation...
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...The Hindu religion is very different than what we have always considered a religion. In reality it is a group of several smaller religions, or beliefs, that are all comprised of the same basis. Most see that there is a uniformity of behavior and not belief. Hinduism, in a general speaking though, is the belief in either several Gods and Goddesses, or the belief in one god that has many different faces. The gods would choose whether you were a good soul or bad soul, and your fate depended upon their choice and your deeds. Those that lived there lives with good karma were able to be liberated from the circle of birth, and given redemption, or Moksha meaning freedom. Those who had bad karma though, were to be punished for their sins by being forced to live in this world and be born again and again (Pecorino & Romano 2001). As said, Hinduism is a religion with various Gods and Goddesses. The three main Gods that are considered to rule the world are, Brahma: the creator, Vishnu: the preserver, and Shiva: the destroyer. For some, they believe that one God controls all three characters. Some people outside the Hindu religion do not believe it is a true religion. Some say that since it does not have one single unified structure that it cannot be. One who felt very strongly about this was Chief justice P.B. Gajendragadkar. In 1995 he was quoted: "When we think of the Hindu religion, we find it difficult, if not impossible, to define Hindu religion or even adequately describe it...
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...Hinduism, the world’s third largest religion with almost a billion followers, is considered by many to be more a way of life and less of a religion. Unlike other religions, Hinduism supports different beliefs as opposed to one. “Hinduism embraces a great diversity of beliefs, a fact that can be initially confusing to westerners accustomed to creeds, confessions, and carefully-worded belief statements. One can believe a wide variety of things about God, the universe and the path to liberation and still be considered a Hindu” ("Hindu Beliefs,”). One of the best ways to describe the primary difference between Hinduism and other religions is that “Hinduism grants absolute and complete freedom of belief and worship. Hinduism conceives the whole world as a single family that deifies the one truth, and therefore it accepts all forms of beliefs and dismisses labels of distinct religions which would imply a division of identity. Hence, Hinduism is devoid of the concepts of apostasy, heresy and blasphemy”(De Lingen & Ramsurrun,). There are, however a handful of important uniting beliefs that all Hindus subscribe to; beliefs that generally identify the borders between Hindu and non-Hindu. They are the belief in the existence of a soul that is reborn upon death into a new life, the idea that your destiny is determined by Karma and the goal of one day obtaining enlightenment. Reincarnation, also known as Punarjanma, is the “religious or philosophical concept that the soul or spirit, after...
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...Hinduism as a whole is a simple yet complex religion that has had a great impact on the region of its conception. The Hindu religion as a whole has one ultimate goal and that is to become liberated from the earthly existence we know and to be without worldly limitations of this earth. Even though Hinduism lacks a uniting belief system there are many aspects that make Hinduism a religion. There are also many cultural and societal influences that have made Hinduism a vital influence to many across the world but most notable in the region it was originated in. In the religion Hinduism or also referred to as Sanatana Dharma “eternal religion” followers acknowledge that there is good in all and a link that good to the cosmos. Sananta Dharma’s foundation is set in the Vedas which is the religious text of the key principles of Hinduism. All though the followers of Hinduism have over 330 million deities the Devas are the controlling forces in the cosmos. Even with all of the deities the sages perceived one unseen reality. This reality is beyond human understanding and creates and sustains life and everything that exists. Hinduism may lack a unified belief system but it is undoubtedly a religion by definition. A religion can be translated as a set of strongly-held beliefs, values, and attitudes that somebody lives by. One of the beliefs that are a crucial part to how Hindus follow their religion is concept of reincarnation. In reincarnation when a being dies the soul leaves the...
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