Much ado

About Religion
 Comparison Paper

A more important question than whether or not the chicken or egg came first is:

does God play dice or not? This is a famous quotation from Albert Einstein describing his

reluctance for quantum mechanics. Einstein believed there must be some underlying

laws of nature that could define particles and make it possible to calculate both their

speed and position.1 This was in response to quantum mechanics claim that everything

in the universe is random and that some information is impossible to know concurrently.2

In a round about way this ties into the present subject of this essay: whether or not all

religions are ultimately the same? Ill get straight to Snape killing Dumbledore in that my

position is in the negative, to which I will explain later. But to start off with Im going to

discuss similarities in religion.

But what in the world is religion? The etymology of the word religion can be tied

back to the Latin word religare which means, to bind fast or in a more spiritual context

a bond between humans and gods.3 An apostle of the Latter Day Saint church, Russell

M. Nelson defines religion this way: The word religion comes from Latin

roots: re, meaning again or back to, and likely ligare, meaning to tie or to ligate.

Thus, we understand that religion ties believers to God. 4 It is in this sense that Im

going to be using the word religion: that bond or tie that links us to God. Religion is the

vehicle from which one drives from the world to Heaven.

To varying degrees of involvement and level of worship, it is estimated that about

84 percent of the worlds population has a religion that they subscribe to. 5 This bears in

my mind that a large majority of human civilization has a religious bent. As C. S. Lewis

said If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most
probable explanation is that I was made for another world.5b There is something in our

nature, it would seem, that beckons us to worlds unknown. This leads us to the great

quest of churches and faiths: that of describing and explaining the unseen world. Science

in the last two centuries has accelerated and developed our understanding of the world

and universe in which we reside. There is so much more color to our own home as well as

to the expansive universe around us. We know as a consequence so much more about

physics, astronomy, biology, chemistry and so on. In spite of these great

accomplishments, science has had a difficult time with the terrible questions.

What are these terrible questions you may ask? In the words of Mormon

scholar Hugh Nibley: There is only one question, the sole question for religion, the only

reason for religion existing at all There is only one justification for religion, and that

is to answer the question Is this all there is?6 Nibley continues with a story about early

Apostolic Father Clement where Clement questions the apostle Peter about some of lifes

deepest questions. Clement questions were much like those of people of every century of

human life: is this world all there is? Where did I come from? Did I live before I was
7
born? What happens after I die? This body of questions is the primary subject of

religions. In essence, the terrible questions are those that only religion can properly

address.

This brings us back to God playing dice. It is the general consensus that the

universe we live in is completely random. The Big Bang happened serendipitously and

the Universe behaves towards an unknown end. The universe as an entity is absolutely

unaware and indifferent to our existence as a species. It is the religious point of view that
not only is there a God, but that he does not play dice. In other words there is a purpose

and design for not only the universe but more importantly for mankind. We are here on

earth for a purpose and this purpose is addressed by the many religions that dot the earth.

It is at this point that Id like to compare some of the major religions.

All religion begins with revelation which the Oxford Dictionary defines as [t]he

divine or supernatural disclosure to humans of something relating to human existence. 8

Put another way, revelation is gods or other divine beings communicating with both men

and women. Inspired leaders among many religions have had communications with God,

angel, or some other divine emissary that communicates the will of Heaven to them. In

Judaism Jacob not only wrestles with God9, but sees God face to face as does the

prophet Moses.10 Gideon, one of the judges of Israel, is said to have acquired Heavens

divine will through an angel while seeing him face to face. 11 In Christianity angels also

communicate with mankind in the instances of Zacharias12, a group of shepherds being

told of Christs birth13, and the apostle John the Beloved seeing the end of the world 14

among many others. Even in Islam does the prophet Muhammad obtain his divine

commission from none other then the angel Gabriel. 15 A staple of most world religions is

that communication happens from the heavenly realm to the earthly realm.

Following the concept of divine revelation is that of inspired men such as the

prophets of Christianity, the buddhas of Buddhism, the Imams of Islam, as well as other

holy and spiritual men and women in other faiths. In the presence of the Almighty, Guru

Nanak, the originator of the Sikh faith, is given his mission to redeem the world from

Kali Yuga.16 In Zoroastrianism, one of the worlds oldest religions, the prophet

Zarathushtra is brought into the presence of the creator god Ahura Mazda by the divine
emissary Vohu Manah. Even in one of the most recent religions, the Latter Day Saints,

Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father reportedly visit the prophet Joseph Smith where they

tell the young prophet to call the world to repentance. Interesting note, it is typical from

the record of antiquity that the divine communicates chiefly with man and significantly

less with woman. From the volumes of religious history it is made clear that one of the

modes of education is directly from God or one of his representatives and that holy and

moral men and women are inspired and guided to teach the rest of human kind.

Another fundamental aspect of religion is the presence of diving beings such as

gods, angels, cherubim, and pantheons. Diving beings though constitute a lot of different

meanings. Some religions made men into Gods like Buddhism making Gautama Buddha

into a godly figure. Some sects of Christianity do a similar thing, albeit on a much

smaller scale, when they promote men to the level of saint. Greek, Roman, and Egyptian

religions all had vast pantheons with many differing gods that were in charge of certain

aspects of life. For example, Aphrodite and Venus were the Goddesses of beauty while

Ares and Mars were the gods of war. These gods had higher natures, in the sense that

mortality, death, and nature did not affect them the same way as mortals. Even though

they had greater capacities than mortal man and woman they were still committing what

any moral person would call sin. For example Zeus and the other Greek gods committed

atrocities from rape and murder to incest and war.

To summarize, there are many similarities between religions and faiths. Such

things as revelation, inspired persons, gods, places of worship, religious practices, and

doctrines to live by, are general among most religious people. That this fact exists does

not convince me that the major religions around the world are ultimately the same.
Though chemistry, biology, physics, and even economics all use calculus does not mean

they are entirely the same discipline of science. Though all animals have DNA does not

mean that pigs, horses, and monkeys are fundamentally the same animal. Even though all

of these religions have the basic purpose of disseminating truths from an unseen world

does not mean that all are the same.

To illustrate this point further if religions are ultimately the same there would be

no sense to have manifold churches and religions; there ought to have only been one

religion. If we were all practicing, worshipping, and behaving in very similar ways there

would be no need for Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Judaism, Jainism, etc. Though it is not

the greatest contributor to human strife, religion has been the poster child for many

conflicts in many volumes and pages of human history. The most convenient example is

that of the many crusades between the Christians and the Muslims. The idea that religions

across the world are similar becomes less believable when there are many different

branches of thought in any given religion. This is most profoundly true in Christianity

where there are hundreds of different churches that believe in different shades of

Christianity.

In conclusion, Im convinced that a lot of external features in world religions are

similar. But a Muslim could not one day switch from Islam to Buddhism in a day without

an extreme culture shock. This fact is true of all religious peoples. Even a western

Christian would struggle transitioning to the life of an eastern Christian. A large part of a

religion is influenced by the surrounding cultures and customs and one is not easily

convinced to leave a familiar faith for a foreign faith. There is a wide spectrum of belief

and how we treat one anothers belief goes from benevolently to indifferently to
intolerably and finally to violently. In the words of Sam Harris Every Christian is an

atheist with respect to Islam, theyre just not convinced by the claim that the Quran is

the perfect word of the creator of the universe.17 Even though the religious communities

the world over may have similar beliefs, practices, and lifestyles, we soon find that we

are generally not convinced by the claims of another faith. Its for this primary reason that

Im not convinced that religions are ultimately the same.

Notes
1. http://www.businessinsider.com/god-does-not-play-dice-quote-meaning-2015-11
2. For example, in quantum mechanics it is impossible to know at the same time both the
position and velocity of an electron. Ibid.
3. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=religion
4. Though there is some dispute on the etymology of the word religion. See
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/let-your-faith-show.p13?lang=eng
5. http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/watercooler/2012/dec/23/84-percent-world-
population-has-faith-third-are-ch/
5b. C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity Book 3, Chapter 10.
6. Hugh Nibley Temple and Cosmos pg 338-339.
7. Ibid pg 343-344.
8. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/revelation
9. Genesis 32:24-25.
10. See Genesis 32:30; Exodus 33:11.
11. Judges 6:22.
12. Luke 1:19.
13. Luke 2:8-16.
14. Revelation 1:1
15. I have the app instead of the physical textbook and the app has no pages, so Im
unable to fully cite book pages.
16. Kali Yuga: In Hindu world cycles, an age of chaos and selfishness, including the one
in which we are now living. See RELS 2300 Living Religions Face to Face.
17. Sam Harris speaking with Bill Maher https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=I8ZYiLSPDHE