Major Religions Compared - Vaughn's Summaries

Vaughn's Summaries *Religion Summaries*
Religions Summary - Compares Major Religions This page not intended for small screens. by Vaughn Aubuchon
This *major religion comparison table* includes Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. .	-

The chart below compares selected religion characteristics such as prophets, adherents, founders, origination date, deity names, afterlife, path to redemption, place of worship, holy book name, and main sects. .

. Summary of Major Religions Chart (or, where were you born?)
Religion Millions of Folks	ONE God The Monotheistic Religions (Also called the "bloody" religions)				MANY Gods	NO God
Religion Millions of Folks	Judaism 13	Christian-ity 1,955	Islam 1,126		Hinduism 793	Buddhism 325
Origination	Egypt - Israel	Israel - Rome	Arabia		India	India
When	586 B.C.	32 A.D.	622 A.D.		1500 B.C.	500 B.C.
Prophets	Adam, Noah, Abraham				No prophets
Adherent	Jew	Christian	Moslem		Hindu	Buddhist
Founder	Abraham/ Moses	Jesus	Mohammed		Many	Siddhartha Gotama
God	Yahweh, Elohim	Christ, Jehovah	Allah		Many: Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva	none
Devil	No (adversary)	Devil, Satan	Satan		Iblis, Shaitan	Mara
This Life's Purpose	Now, plus test	Just a test	Just a test		One-of-many	This is it!
Afterlife	Eden, Gehenna	Heaven-Hell	Heaven-Hell		Reincar-nation	Nirvana
Redemption	Prayer, Study	Confession Repentance	Faith, Works Pray 5 times/ day		Karma Eliminate passions	Enlighten-ment Eliminate passions
Place of Worship	Synagogue	Church	Mosque		Temple	Temple
Holy Book(s)	Tanakh (Torah), Talmud	Bible	Quran plus Sunna (sayings)		Bhagavad Gita	Tipitaka
Seeks Converts?	No	Yes	Yes		No	No
Main Sects (worldwide est.)	8% Ortho. 34% Conserv. 23% Reformed 35% Secular	52% Catholic 17% Protest. 19% Ortho. 2% Anglican	83% Sunni 16% Shiite		70% Vaishnait. 25% Shiavites 2% neo-Hind.	56% Mahay. 38% Hinay. 6% Tantray.
Labels - Criticism	Worldly	Up tight	Extremist		Backward	Is that it?

Characteristics	Judaism	Christian-ity	Islam		Hinduism	. Buddhism
Circumcision	Required Abraham introduced	Tradit- ional	Tradit- ional¹		No	No
Capitol Punishment	Murder	Murder	Murder, Adultery		No	No
Kill for God	Yes	Yes	Yes		No	No
Kill for Honor	No	No	Yes		No	No
Kill Unbelievers	No	Yes²	Yes³		No	No
Kill Homosexuals	Sect dependent	Yes⁴	Yes⁵		No	No
Race Equality	NO, Chosen by God	Equal	Equal		4 Castes	Equal
Original Sin	No	Yes - Baptism	No		"saddled with past"	No
Alcohol	OK	No - Yes	No		No	No
Women's Status	Far Improved	Not Bad⁶	Supressed⁷		Poor⁸	Ambivalent
Notes: ¹ Regarding Genital Mutilation - Although the majority of clitoridectomies in the world are performed on Muslim women in Africa, female circumcision (genital mutilation) is NOT a part of Islam. It is a cultural practice, and not a Muslim practice. To western culture, this practice is repugnant, disgusting, unjustifiable and SICK.				Reading down the column on the left, may help to explain why the author is NOT a big fan of religion. How do YOU feel about it?
² Regarding Unbelievers - "Stone them with stones until they die." Consider the crusades - for over 300 years, christians KILLED people who would not convert to Christianity.
³ Regarding unbelievers - Kill the infidels - "I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve, Therefore, strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them." KORAN 8:12
⁴ Regarding homosexuals - "It is an abomination" Leviticus 18:22 "They must be put to death" Leviticus 20:13
⁵ Homosexuality Punishable by death
⁶ Regarding Inequality of women - "Let your women be silent in your churches: for it is not permitted for them to speak: but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law." ... 1 Corinthians 14:34
⁷ Regarding the official status of women - "Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because God has guarded them. As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them. Then if they obey you, take no further action against them. Surely God is high, supreme." ... QURAN 4:34 A female is worth half as much as a man - "A male shall inherit twice as much as a female" KORAN 4:11
⁸ Regarding wife-killing - Although India has outlawed the practice, it still occurs - Sati - The burning of the widow, when the husband dies.
Author's thoughts - 1. Geography determines most people's religion - not some divine revelation. 2. Stated another way, "You do what you are told". 3. You do not "get" religion, it is given to you. Your spirituality does not come from inside you, but rather, is thrust upon you, by your culture. Whatever religion you are, is not determined by rational deliberation and choice, but primarily by geographic location. In most cases, what you are, is determined by where you are from. .
175 - 690	100	100	100	15	100	100
This same religion comparison chart is available in a graphic format, as a Graphics Interchange Format (.GIF), here - Religion Comparison Chart (GIF) .

top of page Main Religion Books Comparison
Religion	Sacred Book Name	Rough Equivalence	-
Judaism Judaism Judaism	Torah (Moses) Hebrew Tanakh Talmud	Pentateuch Books - 5 Old Test. Books - 39 Talmud Tractates - 63
Catholic Protestant	Rheims Bible King James Bible	Books (46 + 27) Books (39 + 27)
Islam	Qur'an (Koran)	Koran Suras - 114
Hinduism	Bhagavad Gita	Bhag. G. Chapters - 18
Buddhism	Tipitaka	Canonization
Books of the Bible Summary - The books and chapters of the Jewish Bible, the Catholic Bible, and the Protestant Bible compared.
100	160	240 - 600	20

top of page

Vaughn's Other
RELIGION-Related Pages

* Angeles Temple

* Bible Word Count

* Books of the Bible

* Christian Denominations

* My Father's Religion

* Religion Followers

* Religions Summary

* Seven Deadly Sins
.

top of page

This Vaughns Major Religion Summary
page was last updated on 2020-04-25.

Religions Summary - Compares Major Religions

Religions Summary -
Compares Major Religions