Comparison Study of Religions

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Particulars	Christianity	Buddhism	Islam	Hinduism	Judaism
Ethnic / Main Origins	Palestine to the West Broke away from Judaism	India to the East Broke away from Hinduism	Arabians Largely influenced by Judaism and Christianity	Indians Indian beliefs	Jews (Hebrews) Initiated by Abraham who was himself a Brahmin
Definition	Followers of Christ’s teachings	Religion of those seeking to be reawakened spiritually (merged with Taoism and Confucianism in China and with Shintoism in Japan)	Submission to the will of Allah	Complicated combination of religious beliefs and social customs prevalent in Indian society	Religious beliefs of the Jewish people
Character Building and Righteous Living	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Existence of God	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes – Many minor gods	Yes
Existence of the Spirit / Soul	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No, not particularly
Spirit World – Heaven / Hell	Yes	Yes – Nirvana	Yes	Yes – Nirvana	No
Reincarnation	No – But must be born again	Yes	No	Yes	No
Karma	Yes – We reap what we sow No – Christ paid for all our sins	Yes	Yes	Yes	No, no compensation and no retribution
Progression	Yes – You must be perfect	Yes	No	Yes	No
Salvation/ Freedom	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Main Proponents / Exponents	Jesus, Angels, Apostles, Saints, Prophets	Buddha(s), Masters, Adepts	Mohammed	Avatars, Gurus, Masters	Abraham, Moses and the Prophets
Source Documents / Teachings	Bible, Catechism for Catholics	Buddhist Scriptures, 4 Noble Truths, Noble Eightfold Path	Koran, Sunna	Vedas (2500 BC)	Old Testament
Basic Teachings / Beliefs	Love God and love your neighbor as yourself, Golden Rule	A "Middle Way" through one’s recognition of the 4 Noble Truths and his following the Noble Eightfold Path, Reverse Golden Rule	Mutual help, furtherance of good and the suppression of evil, Emphasis on equality and brotherhood, The Five Pillars	Salvation through 1) devotional service, 2) accumulation of knowledge or 3) accumulation of good karma, Emphasis on self-realization	Fatherhood of God, Oneness of all creation, All men equal brothers, Virtuous living, Ten Commandments, Messianic era on Earth
Inception Dates	30 – 100	600 BC	570 – 632	2500 BC	2000 BC
% of Followers to World Population	33 – 40	20 – 34	14 – 23	12 – 16	.5