Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam

Kellie Murphy
World Religions
05 December 2014

Comparison Paper
This world is filled with many different views. One of the most prominent is that of
religion and belief. This semester in World Religions, I have had to opportunity to go and visit
several different religious services and observe firsthand what it is that members of those
religions do to worship. There are many things they all had in common just as there are many
things that are different. The three religions I will focus on for this paper is Hinduism,
Christianity, and Islam. I will discuss the history, holy text used, and my observations of
practices from attending the services. The history will include how the religion was formed and
if there was a founder. The holy texts are what is considered to be sacred by these religions and
what some of the beliefs out of these texts, and I attended each of these religions services so that
I could witness first-hand how each of them practice their faith on their holy days.
The first religion we covered for class was Hinduism. Hinduism is mostly prominent in
India, and is the third largest religion in the world. It is also the oldest recorded religion and had
no founder. The holy text for Hinduism is called the Vedas. Hindus believe in dharma, which is
ones duty, results in karma which leads to samsara (reincarnation) (Fisher 73, 80). Hinduism is
also what created the caste system in India (Fisher 99). There are a few different ways that
Hindus worship. One of the most widely known ways is through yoga. Yoga requires
concentration, discipline, and deep meditation. They believe that Samadhi is spiritual absorption
through this concentration and meditation (Fisher 81-82). I knew more of the symbols in
Hinduism then I initially thought. But what I knew was mostly because of tattoos or stickers on
peoples cars. I did not know what exactly those symbols or icons meant to the people who used
them. In Hinduism it is common to pray to different Gods. To an outsider it can be interpreted
that they believe in many different Gods. When in fact they actually believe in one God and that

he is present in everything and is many different forms. Brahman is the term used for God, and
the idea of a presence of Brahman in everything is called Atman (Fisher 79, 85). I attended a
Hindu worship service in September. The actual Hindu Temple was under construction so they
were holding the service in the cultural building that was next door to it. I wish I would have had
the chance to see what the inside of the Temple looked like. But they did do a nice job with what
they had in the cultural building. When you walked in it was very open and inviting. All of my
senses were engaged when I entered. There was bells ringing and incense burning. At first I did
not want to interrupt so I stood at the back of the room. One of the men motioned for me to come
forward and sit on the rug with the rest of the people that were there. There was at least two
families and then a few men there on their own. There was an Alter in the center of the room. It
had several statues on the Alter that were Ganesh, Shiva, Vishnu, and a couple others as well.
Ganesh was in the center of the Alter. Before learning more about Hinduism I thought that they
worshiped many different Gods and Idols. The Alter was decorated with several colorful
draperies and many flowers. When I entered the worship area they were ringing bells and I think
the priest was chanting one of the Vedas. I did not understand what was being said. So I
observed the people in the worship area, and the priests doing the blessings. One of the priests
started to walk around with a small fire and were blessing all the people. When he got to me he
showed me what to do so that I could participate as well. After doing to fire blessing the priest
brought a thing of water around. When he got to me he showed me what to do so I could be
blessed and purified. Next he brought around this metal cap looking thing and placed it on
everyones head for a brief second. The priest passed out an orange to everyone in the group.
Although the larger families only got one for their family. To my understanding these rituals
were blessings to all those who participated in them. After all the blessings I talked with the

student and asked him a few questions. The student could not stress enough to us that Hinduism
is not about conversion rates, and that they do not wish to convert everyone to Hinduism. He said
it about 3 times while we talked with him. Another thing he said was that they believe that there
is one God and he has many names, such as Allah, God, Jesus Christ, Etc. Overall I felt very
accepted and invited to attend, he said that if I had any other questions to feel free to come back
anytime. The things I learned in class about Hinduism I observed very well in the field trip.
Christianity is based on the teachings and life of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus of Nazareth is
now known as Jesus Christ. Jesus was born around 4 BCE to a Mary and Joseph, a Jewish
family. He is believed to have been born in Bethlehem of the Nazareth and is a descendant of
King David. By the age of twelve, Jesus was well versed in the Torah (Fisher 301-303). Jesus
life was fairly short, but he left a major effect on the world. He preached across Palestine,
performed miracles, and healed the sick. While he was preaching he gained many disciples, but
also had a few enemies. His enemies were mainly in the Roman government. His Primary
teachings were about love, forgiveness, repentance, and a strict moral code. The Jewish
community did not like that he was called the Messiah. The Jews believed that Jesus was
teaching blasphemy which to their laws is punishable by death. They believed that the Messiah
would save them from the Romans, but he was not a political Messiah, but was a spiritual
Messiah. The Romans also did not like what Jesus was teaching because it was radical. The
Romans arrested Jesus, with the help of one of his disciples. The Romans put Jesus on trial and
then crucified him. He was resurrected and appeared five times after. When he was resurrected
he appointed Apostles to go out into the world and teach his word (Fisher 303-316). This is all
the very beginning of the impact Jesus left. Over three hundred years after Jesus was crucified
the Council of Nicaea was held to define what it meant to be a Christian and it resulted in the

Nicene Creed. The Nicene Creed resulted in these beliefs to be what define a Christian: The
Trinity, incarnation, atonement, salvation, baptism, and resurrection. The Trinity is the idea that
God is three in one: God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit (Fisher 323). Incarnation is the belief that
God was incarnated as Jesus. That Jesus is the divine Son of God and was born as a human being
(Fisher 301). Christians believe that Jesus atoned for mankinds sins and that we have salvation
if we accept that he died for everyone and was resurrected (Fisher 324). They believe that
baptism washes away ones sins and when they are done they are committing their life to Jesus
(Fisher 352). Catholicism is one of the largest Christian denominations in the world. One of the
major practices they do is Communion (Fisher 350). The service I chose to attend is one called
the Rising. It is a non-denominational Christian church. The service was ceremonial, but very
modern. They started with a few worship songs then the pastor came up and prayed for the
group, shared a few announcements, did his sermon, and they finished with one more worship
song. Before he started he had the congregation greet each other with what he said was the way
they did in the old old days. The greeting was Christ is in our midst and the reply was He is
and ever shall be. He said that this was a way to bring the community together and to connect
with Christ. The sermon that the pastor gave was very relatable for Christian and non-Christian.
He spoke about being too busy and stressing too much and how it is not good for the soul and for
relationships with everyone around you. He used a story out of Luke about a woman named
Martha who was stressing out about having Jesus in her home, but her sister was just listening to
what Jesus was saying. Martha was upset about her sister not helping her prepare, and Jesus
basically said her sister was better for it, because she wasnt stressing about little things.
Islam is a religion that was created by Muhammad of Mecca. When Muhammad was 25
years old he married Khadijah, a wealthy woman who was 40. Muhammad had some spiritual

questions and retreated into the mountains outside of Mecca and saw the angel Gabriel. The
angel Gabriel made revelations to Muhammad, which he shared with his family and very few
friends. He later started to preach to the public the revelations he received from Gabriel. He was
persecuted by the people in Mecca and eventually went to Medina, but there was still conflict
between the Muslims and Mecca. Muhammad returned to Mecca and cleared out the Kabah of
all the idols. He returned back to Medina and from there Islam grew. Near Muhammads death
he made a final pilgrimage to Mecca to show faithfulness. Then he returned to Medina and died.
After Muhammads death, the two major sects of Islam was formed: Sunni and Shiite. The
revelations that Muhammad received were later put together in the Quran. The Quran mentions
a lot of figures that are also seen in Christian and Jewish history. The main revelation that
Muhammad received is that there is only one God and everyone should submit to Him and live
his teachings and follow His guidance (Fisher 383-391). Muslims practice The Five Pillars,
which are considered Gods commandment to them. The Five Pillars are, Belief and Witness,
Daily Prayers, Charity, Fasting, and the Hajj. Belief and witness or Shahadah, is that you must
believe and to tell those who want to know of Islam about it. It says though that you should not
coerce anyone into believing. Second is the daily prayers. Muslims pray five times a day, called
Salaat. They face toward Mecca and recite prayers and passages from the Quran. Next is charity
or Zakat. Muslims believe that 2.5% of money should go to the needy. They also believe that
prayers will not be answered unless one is charitable. Fourth is fasting. Muslims fast in the
month of Ramadan. They fast from food, drink, sex, and smoking from dawn to sunset. The fifth
pillar is Hajj, which is the pilgrimage to Mecca. It is expected that at least once in a Muslims
lifetime they should make the pilgrimage, as long as they are physically and financially able to
(Fisher 396-400). I attended a service at the Khadeeja Masjid, which is an Islamic Mosque. The

women were separate from the males, which is where the sermon was being given. . Other than
the older women, everyone else was sitting on the floor listening or were praying. I noticed that
the women who would walk in late, after taking off their shoes would walk into the area and
begin praying. When praying they would go from standing to kneeling with their face on the
ground. In class I learned that this was meant to be them being in a vulnerable state. Later in the
sermon, all the women went to the frosted glass in 3 lines and they all prayed at the same rate.
The only people that did not participate in the prayers was those who I am sure were visitors and
the really young children. I did not notice a hierarchy between the women but I am fairly certain
the male giving the sermon and leading the prayers was in charge. Throughout the entire service
I was somewhat confused. I did not understand most of what the guy was saying. He would
switch languages and he spoke really fast. Other than being confused it was peaceful.
In conclusion, there are a few things in common between the religions but there is a few
differences as well. They all believe that there is a God, but worship him in many different ways.
Hindus use yoga and meditation, Christians use prayer, and Muslims use prayer as well. Each of
the histories behind each of these religions of interesting. Hinduism does not exactly have an
origin, but has been around for a very long time. Christianity and Islam trace its self to the same
patriarch, Abraham (Fisher 381). Each religion has its own holy text. Hindus have the Vedas,
Christians have the Bible, and Muslims have the Quran. And each service was fairly different,
but all ultimately had the same goal: to worship God. Hindus engage a lot of the senses and do
many blessings, Christians sing, pray and share stories out of the Bible, and Muslims praying is a
very important part of their service. All of these religions have a day of worship, but also believe
that you should worship God all the time.

Works Cited:
Fisher, Mary P. Living Religions. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education. 2011. Print.