Compare And Contrast The Five Major World Religions

Dave Sitek once said, “There are so many people in the world with so many different perspectives. But ultimately, at the heart of it, they’re people.” This quote about perspective can be applied to Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism; the five major world religions. Although all of the religions have a different perspective on the world, they are still fundamentally the same because of their perspectives on a good life, the afterlife, and the admiration of one central figure.

The five main world religions all believe that there is a similar way to living a good life. In Judaism, five of the Ten Commandments cover what living a good life means. “Respect your father and mother. You must not commit murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal.
In the Bible, the holy text of Christianity, Matthew 25:46 states “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” This is saying that there are two destinations for people after they die; a place for those with kind hearts, and those without. This thought of two different destinations is similar to the moral code and caste system of Hinduism. According to these sources, fulfilling dharma allows rebirth to a higher caste while not fulfilling dharma leads to rebirth in a lower caste. The ultimate goal is to escape reincarnation and attain moksha. Moksha is similar to the eternal life that belongs to the righteous in Christianity. Conversely, being born into a lower caste is eternal punishment for the person in that lifetime, similar to the eternal punishment in Christianity. The other major religions also believe that there is a place to go after death, one being good and the other being bad. Although each of the main five world religions has a slightly different perspective on the afterlife, they have the same fundamental place for someone who does good deeds and someone who does bad