are certain beliefs comparative and even the same?. When u look at religions like Christianity or Islam, or Paganism u most of the time see the differences but sometimes u see that each hold similarities. The cross from Christianity is slighty the same as the ankh from Egyptian mythology, the deluge or flood is mentions in all kinds of beliefs, then Heaven and Hell are common in many beliefs. The question I ask is do u think religions and mythologies are comparable. Please reply and leave comments.






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Well lets take the most obvious example right now.

The Torah, the religious book of the Jewish people is also the "old testament" of the Christian belief.

fyi I'm Jewish and have no issue with making this comparison, some people have been offended by it for some reason.

there are tons of similarities between religions. Most moral codes are very very similar between religions with things like the "Golden Rule", chastity, humility, forgiveness, service, charity, etc etc as common themes among them.

I personally think there is a common source for religion. Whether natural or supernatural being the reason for it. Religion of some sort is common among basically every ancient culture. People built temples and pyramids and all sorts of other structures as part of worshipping God or the Gods.

Many stories have some basis in fact. Historical events do influence religion. As for the cross, it has been used for much longer than anything we would likely call an "organized religion".

I think there is some similarity between beliefs. For instance I find some similarity between Judaism and Christianity. And the Hindus and Buddhists. But I don't see any similarity between Christianity and Islam other than The Fact they both descend from the line of Abraham.

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have the most in common as far as major religions go. As mentioned, the Torah is the Old Testament, and the teachings of Jesus are included in the believes of Islam as well as that in the Torah. Seeing as each religion was rooted in the ones before.

The cross, as a symbol, has been in many religions with various meanings. As has the swaztika, before its perversion by Hitler. Symbology itself is a very facinating field that I wish I had more time to devote to.

As for similarities between pagan and christian believes... well, it is fairly logical. To gain more converts, the church adapted many pagan ideas and figures in order to make the process easy and appealing. I mean, seriously, what do pine trees have to do with someone born in an arid climate? Or eggs and bunnies to do with ressurection? Also, notice how in Mexico it is the Virgin of Guadalupe, standing on a crecent moon? There was an indigenous goddess with similar traits, who was depicted in the same pose... whose holy site is where the church of the Virgin of Guadalupe now stands. Or how about St. Brigid? Basically an adoption of the Celtic diety of the same name to further convert the Irish. Her feast day is the same day as Imbolc, the pagan fire festival that celebrates her Pagan form.

So yeah, there are a lot of similarities between the religions. Many of the mores (sociological term, meaning social laws and norms) of the world's cultures are the same (don't kill, don't steal, etc) and these mores are usually included in the religions because fear of divine retribution can sometimes be just as strong or stronger than fear of punishment by your fellow man. If you didn't figure it out already, mores is the root word of the term morals. What makes religions differ is the varying folkways, or less formal mores, they include. Folkways are more culture-specific... things like not eating certain foods, wearing certain clothes, gender roles in religious context, etc.