Curtis Winkler Final Comparison Paper HUMA 2300-002

In this class we were able to talk about several different religions and see their practices.
While we were only able to skim the surface of these religions, enough to wet our appetites I
think we got just what we needed.
The first religion I would like to discuss is Hinduism. This religion or way of life,
depending on who you ask was very fascinating to me. I at first thought that it was a polytheistic
religion and had several thousand gods. I learned a new word with this religion, Henotheistic,
where in reality Hindus believe in one God Brahman and all other gods are manifestations of
Him. When we went to the Hindu Temple it was a very nice looking but practical building.
Inside all your senses could experience something, although they didnt really want us to touch
the statues. The first thing was smell, the scent of burning incense which wasnt too bad but a
little overwhelming. The next was sight, we could look at all the different statues representing
the different gods with Ganesha at the center adorned with clothing and whatnot. I could hear an
older priest chanting the words of the Vedas which sounded a lot like poetry to me even though I
couldnt understand what he was saying.
The actual ceremony was interesting where they woke the god Vishnu by bathing and
feeding then clothing him. All while they were doing this they were chanting from the Vedas.
Then they would bring us some stuff so we became part of the ceremony and then at the end we
received a portion of the offerings and I got a banana.
It was real interesting to see this whole spectrum of things going on and how devoted the
priests and parishioners are to their different gods and what meaning it had for them


Curtis Winkler Final Comparison Paper HUMA 2300-002

The second religion is Buddhism. This branch of Hinduism came about when a well off
Hindu saw all of the suffering that was going on around him and decided to forsake his fathers
kingdom and give up everything. He went from one extreme to another in life and later found
out that the extremes are too much and one needs to find balance. He was able to find balance
and became the Buddha. He spent the rest of his life spreading this new way of thinking.
In Buddhism there are really no gods, although some believe Buddha to be divine. The
Hindus believe that the Buddha was actually one of the incarnations of Vishnu. They believe
that one must reach Nirvana or continuously be reborn until they reach that state, some believe
that some reach Nirvana but continue to be reborn to help others reach Nirvana.
There services are pretty interesting. If I remember correctly the service we went to was
a Tibetan service since there was a picture of the Dali Lama. While primarily an Asian religion
the people at the temple we went to were all white, not that theres anything wrong with that. I
remember that most of their service was done through prayer and chanting. Unlike the Hindus
they dont use the Vedas and since they dont have a god they mostly pray for the right thinking
so to speak.
There are still some similarities to Hinduism though. For instance while Hindus believe
in reincarnation the Buddhist believe in rebirth, as my math teacher always used to say its the
same but different. I think there ideas of afterlife were a bit different as well as their rearguards
to a soul. They both believe in Karma but the Hindus want to get rid of all Karma and have a
balance while the Buddhist say good Karma is the best. So we see that there are many things
that stuck from Hinduism but were changed slightly to fit the needs of the Buddhist.

Curtis Winkler Final Comparison Paper HUMA 2300-002

Now to switch gears to the Abrahamic religions. First well start off with Judaism.
Which started out with Abraham who spoke to God, and God told him that he would be a father
of many nations. Then when Abraham had his son Isaac God told Abraham to sacrifice him and
Abraham did as he was told, however God stopped him before and supplied a ram. Isaac then
had Jacob whose name was changed to Israel who had 12 sons one being named Judah. After
the whole Ten Commandments thing the tribes eventually settled Canaan and expanded Israels
territory before the kingdom split into the northern kingdom and the kingdom of Judah. The
northern kingdom was conquered first and they were scattered. What was left was the kingdom
of Judah which was composed primarily of the children of Judah and they became the Jews.
Modern Judaism comes from the rabbinical Jews who rejected priestly authority and relied on
the learned and is a continuation of the pharisaical type of rabbinical Judaism.
Jews believe in one God, Jehovah, although Ive heard different names but they all are
the same God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Their belief that God chose them through
Abraham to be his covenant people and his representation on Earth. They dont have a real
specific view on the afterlife but believe in a resurrection. They believe in a Messiah but have a
different view on what he is supposed to be and that he will still come and defeat the enemies of
Israel. The books that they hold true are the Tanakh which is basically the Christian Old
Testament. Depending on which sect of Judaism these may be literal revelation from God or
what the authors wrote of what they believed God was telling them.
Their practices are pretty much the same with a few differences depending on how
conservative or liberal the sect is. The Torrah part of the Tanakh is still important no matter how
conservative/liberal they are and is a big part of their worship.

Curtis Winkler Final Comparison Paper HUMA 2300-002

So I started out doing Hinduism and its offshoot now the offshoot of Judaism,
Christianity. According to Archie Bunker from the T.V. show All in the Family, Judaism is ok
because Christ was a Jew until His Father told him no more of that. That is basically true
Jesus Christ is the central figure within Christianity, obviously, although some of the Christians I
talk to say the Bible is most important, but whatever. The first four books of the New Testament
are all about His life and ministry and the basis for the religion. The rest of the New Testament
is about the teachings of His Apostles.
So where did we get this Bible? The Bible came from a council who after Rome made
Christianity the State Religion under Constantine. Before this time there were different churches
who used different books from the Apostles and used them differently. Constantine brought
together the prominent bishops and had them decide the creeds and the books they were to use to
decide Christianity and make a universal, Catholic, Christian Church. Note one of the bishops
in attendance was Bishop Kristopher who became Saint Kristopher or Santa Clause. Constantine
appointed one of the Bishops to be the head of the council and make final decisions, according to
the History Channel this basically meant he created the Bible and then became the first Pope.
After a few centuries of the Catholic rule of Europe there came Martin Luther who tried
to reform the Catholic Church but was unsuccessful and eventually, with the support of those
who followed him to make a new Christian Religion named after him. Many others followed
suit and then we had the reformation which has spawned a numerous amount of Christian
Denominations. All of which have the same beliefs in the Bible and similar final destinations of
a heaven and hell and the belief of Jesus being God. Although they dont always agree of
specifics the generalities are the basically the same.

Curtis Winkler Final Comparison Paper HUMA 2300-002

So I chose these four religions because as I stated they share a similar pattern. With
Hinduism it had been around a long time and then a rich boy saw the suffering around him and
decide he wanted to do something about it and did and spawned Buddhism from Hinduism. The
same way that Judaism had been around a long time and then a poor boy saw the need to change
and did something about it and spawned Christianity from Judaism. I understand that these are
broad geralisations but they are pretty accurate. And it was cool to see how similar their
histories really are and in fact many religions have a lot of similarities, of course if you believe in
the Abrahamic traditions where there were two people Adam and Eve and we are all of their
children then you can see how and why these four, and Sikh and Islam, fit together and have
many of the same human beliefs.
Anywho this class was a real eye opener that helped me understand these religions on an
intellectual level and was really helpful to go to the services of the religions to get it from the
horses mouth so to speak.