Comparative Religion

All across the world people have Religions. We have faith and belief in certain things, and as people, we certainly do not all believe in the same things. What some people consider to be true can be contrary to what another person thinks is true. There are many Religions in this world. They all have differences and similarities. The greatest similarity across all religions we have studied is that all religions believe in a higher being.

            There is and has never been a religion in the world that was or is completely atheist. One way or the other, every religion believes in a higher power and worships that higher power. The five major religions we have studied are: Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism. Islam and Christianity are the two most popular religions of them all. There are many differences between these two religions, but there are similarities and the most important one is that they both believe in God and both worship God to the fullest. Islam believes in God; they call him “Allah”. He is the creator of earth and he is almighty. For Christianity God is the creator of heaven and earth who sent his son Jesus Christ for us. He died on the cross, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. The Islam religion recognizes Jesus Christ, but not as the son of God. Both religions have a very deep relationship to God. Islam has been known for their extremist beliefs in what will be given to them by “Allah” in the afterlife. For example: believing that seventy two virgins will be given in the afterlife to those who sacrifice their current life for “Allah”. Although Islam beliefs are a bit extreme in our eyes, it is still a God-based religion.

            Judaism is a religion that is much like Christianity. Jewish teachings are that God exists, he is the only God, and he is eternal. Judaism focuses on the one on one relationship with God. The teachings of Judaism are to be found in the “Torah” (the Jewish Bible) or the more recent “Talmud”. Judaism beliefs are that God will reward the good and punish the wicked. They believe that the messiah will come to earth and the dead will be resurrected. Hinduism teaches that no man will escape his destiny. Hindus believe heavily in Karma. One’s destiny will be determined by the thoughts, words and deeds of that person. Hindus worship God through meditation of the body and soul; a complete surrender to the almighty. Buddhism is the one religion that stray the most away from the other religions. Buddhists have many gods. For example: the god of wisdom, the god of healing, and the god of purification. All of which are prayed to when needed.“Buddha” is more of a teacher about life how one should go about it. Buddhism is seen as advice to consider rather than rules to follow or commandments.

            Though all these religions differ in many areas, the one similarity still remains that they all believe in a higher being.

Comparative Culture

Our modern pop-culture art is definitely, to what I believe, up to date with our society. I think it fits in perfectly with how people are today. You look around at modern art; it is bright, full of life and color, fun, and very interesting to view. Then look around at our society. You see people walking around in outfits you would never think some one would wear. You see billboards filled with artwork, buildings with paintings on them, cars with designs on them, etc. That is just a few examples of how art mirrors life right now in our society. If you look back at ancient art you will notice a huge difference. They had sculptures, paintings, cave drawings, statues and much more. They were all very unique in their own way. The artwork from Egypt, for example, blends in to their society perfectly. Paintings and sculptures of Pharaoh’s and animals showed basically everything Egyptians lived around and dealt with on a day-to-day basis. The animals they worshipped were drawn in the pyramids, and sculptures of Pharaoh’s were made. The thing that gets me the most is, they did not have the technology or tools we have today. Comparing our society to ancient cultures, you can easily see how much times have changed. Our society today has much more to choose from when it comes to pretty much everything. We have better tools now made just for artists. We have many more colors and options to choose from to make any type of masterpiece anyone would want to create. There is much more abstract and odd-looking art in our world today than they are ever was in ancient times. I could never even think of coming up with some of the art, artists come up with today. Ancient cultures did not have much to choose from. Most of their artwork was basic and of natural things such as, animals, people and nature. Sculpting something back then could take them years to perfect, while now in our society we just need a few computers and were good to go. Another thing is we have art stores. They come filled with all types of paints, brushes, canvas’s, any type of supply you need for art and crafts. Ancient Egyptians had nothing anywhere near that! If they wanted paint they would have to make some, and tools would be made of stone, brushes would be hand made. They could not just walk into an art store and pick these things up as easily as we can today.  You can tell just by looking at their art how much we have modernized over the years. I personally have not been to an art museum anytime recently, but I can tell just from looking at the outside of the museum how modern it would be if I walked inside.  I definitely agree with the saying, “Art mirrors life”. I mean what else would an artist base their artwork on if there were no life? Most artists let their feelings out through their artwork, from what I hear.