Kenneth Salguero

Position/Comparison Paper

Are all religions are ultimately the same? I agree with this statement because my definition of

religion is system of beliefs that guide someone through life. When you get down to the root of each moral

and teaching of a religion there are many parallels and similarities with other religions. The three religions

I will be comparing are Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. Islam and Christianity are closely related and

have many similarities between themselves while Buddhism on the other hand was founded on the other

side of the world.

Similarities between Origins of Each religion,

These three religions can trace their origins to one person who received revelation and began

spreading their beliefs. Each of the founders of these religions lived at some point in their life in poverty,

and towards the end of their lives committed all their effort into teaching their beliefs to others,

Buddhism was started by Buddha who began life as wealthy Hindu prince. When he was young

his father received a revelation that his son would die. Fearing this his father kept him isolated from the

outside world. Eventually Buddha grew curious of the outside world and left his home and began living as

a sannyasins, he rejected the material world, began to live extreme poverty and would mediate hoping to

find an answer to all the suffering in the world. When this proved unsuccessful he rejected this belief and

started following the middle way. He started meditating under a tree and after some time he had a

revelation and achieved enlightenment. Buddha would then spend the rest of his life traveling and

spreading his message. (Fisher, Section 5.1)

Christianity was started by the Jewish preacher Jesus. He said he was the son of God and taught

his message of peace and love to his disciples. He performed miracles but was eventually Crucified.

Afterwards he was resurrected and stayed with his disciples for 40 days before ascending to heaven. His

life story is detailed to books known as the Gospels and New Testament. (Fisher, Section 9.2)

Islam emerged from the teachings of Muhammed who was Gods final prophet sent to earth.

Muhammed spent his early life as a poor orphan. He was known to fair and righteous and would often be

called upon to solve disputes between people. At the age of 40 he received a revelation from God and
 Kenneth Salguero

began teaching. This revelation from God is collected in a book known as the Koran, which is believed to

be the word of God. Muhammad life is in a collection known as the Hadiths. (Fisher, Section 10.2)

How these religions view deity and the supernatural

The religions I am comparing have very different views of the supernatural aspects of the world,

while these differences are not the focus the the paper it is important to understand that theses religions

are very different from one another when you first take a look at at, but once you look past the major

differences in belief and practise they begin resembling each other. Each religion has drastic difference in

the way they view deity.

Buddhism does not have a have an all powerful God. There are beings with higher power but

they are not the focus or worshiped in the religion. There is belief in Karma, samsara reincarnation but it

differs from what the hindus believe in, buddhist believe that it is possible to escape the cycle of samsara

and achieve enlightenment within your lifetime (Fisher, Section 5.2)

In Christianity the belief is that there is one God who is divided in three parts known as the trinity.

The trinity is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They are one Deity separated into

three separate beings. The focus in christianity is on the son Jesus who came to Earth in human form and

began preaching. He was later crucified and resurrected. This story is told in the gospels which are the

first 4 books in the New Testament. Christ is the center of worship and they believe that Jesus died for the

sins of mankind. (Fisher, Section 9.1)

In Islam they believe in only one God, this differs from christians interpretation as they do not

view Jesus or the Holy spirit to be God. God created everything and has had a major impact in history

and continued to influence the world. One of the way he influences the world is through the use of

prophets who are individuals chosen to hear and spread the word of God. They believe Muhammad was

the last prophet but there have been countless Prophets in the past. (Fisher, Section 10.1)

How these religions guide you in life

The main purpose in religion is to guide people in life through their moral teachings. This is where

these religions overlap and share beliefs. These religions have many similarities when it comes to how an

ideal life looks like to them. Prayer and meditation are a big aspect of all three religions as well, while they
 Kenneth Salguero

each have their own separate reasons for prayer and meditation the underlying reason is to connect more

spiritually.

In Buddhism you are encouraged to learn The Four Noble Truths, they are The Truth of Pain and

Suffering, The Truth of Arising Pain, The Truth of the Cessation of Pain and The Truth of the Path to end

pain, the Noble Eightfold Path. Buddha believed that pain and suffering was caused by factors that could

be alleviated. The Noble Eightfold Path was the way one could live their life free of suffering. In addition

following the path could lead to a state known as Nivarana where you achieve complete enlightenment.

Buddha's teachings do not go in depth in exactly what this state entails. One part of the Noble Eightfold

Path is Right Action (Fisher, Section 5.2) this encourages people to live a more life by saying Avoid

destroying life, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying and intoxicants. The teaching Buddhism focus on living

a life that is peaceful and spiritually connected. A major element the religion and one of the Noble

Eightfold Paths is mediation. This is used to calm your mind and make connections to universe.

In Christianity the focus is accepting Jesus as your savior and repentance to your sins. Christians

are encouraged to emulate the life of Jesus and attempt to minimize sins. When you do commit a sin you

must repent and ask for forgiveness. Depending on the branch there are many ways of complying with

this, they almost all involve either confessing to a member of the clergy or personally asking God for

forgiveness.(Fisher, Section 9.7) Jesus lived a life of love, peace and compassion, a life which christians

are encouraged to try to live.(Fisher, Section 9.2) Jesus believed God loved everyone and would forgive

anyone the sincerely asks for forgiveness.

In Islam the main focus is surrendering to God and following his will. God's words are going very

clearly in the Koran and this makes up all the beliefs and morals of the religion. (Fisher, Section 10.3)

Muslims also strive to emulate the life of Muhammad as it is told in the Hadiths. Muhammad was known

as righteous and trusting person. (Fisher, Section 10.2) Islam teaches that God is merciful (Fisher 10.3).

Muslims are guided in life by a teaching known as the five pillars. They are belief and witness, Daily

Prayers, Charity, fasting and the Hajj (Fisher, Section 10.5). Daily prayers are used in Islam to show

obedience and surrender to God.

Opposing Perspective
 Kenneth Salguero

Someone could argue that the difference of doctrine and origin of each religion are

enough to be considered such a major difference that there could be one way to classify theses religions

as fundamentally the same.

I believe besides the difference that appear on the surface the morals and teachings of

each religion are similar enough that it can be considered that the religion are ultimately the same. While

it is easy to focus on these difference, people use religion like a tool to guide them to live a righteous

moral life. When you compare the life you live if you followed Christianity it will look very similar to the life

you could have if you followed Buddhism or Islam. In all three religions there is a focus on prayer or

mediation, which is way to try to connect spiritually with God or the surrounding world.

Conclusion

My position on the question was that all religions are ultimately the same, I base this on the idea

that the main point of religion is the morals and teaching not necessarily the beliefs about deity and the

supernatural. Once you take this into account and examine each of the moral teaching the religions begin

looking very similar. In addition the founders of each religion lived lives that are similar to one another.

It is important to understand the similarities between religions because we live in very divisive

time when to religion and beliefs. This is born out of ignorance and misunderstanding in what different

religions believe in. Religion is a universal thing and the teaching and morals of each religion can be

applied universally other ones. The more someone learns about another religion the easier it becomes to

see ties to their own personal beliefs.

Work Cited

Fisher, Mary Pat. Living Religions. Pearson, 2017