I selected ‘Nature of God’ from World View Chart as it is the key factor of religion. Here the word ‘nature’ means the perception of God in different religions, not the relation between God and his devotees or how God is espoused to act or behave in relation to humans as per different religions. How different religions theorize the nature of God is important. Without studying this factor we cannot understand why there is a conflict between different religions and whether this conflict is natural or misconceived.
What is religion?
Before we analyze different religions we need to have a coherent view of ‘What is religion?’ Primarily each religion has a goal. And that goal is seeking a permanent solution to man’s woes. Some religions describe it as immortality, some as absolute freedom, and some as heaven. But all religions promise to put an end to misery, or freedom from want. Most religions assert that the goal has to be achieved with the help of God or by attaining to God. A modern idea of religion is “manifesting the divine within” (Vidyatmananda, 1972, p.1). Now we will consider how different religions perceive God. Here ‘God’ means God almighty.
Hinduism
As this is the oldest surviving religion we will consider Hinduism first. Hinduism is derived from the Vedas. There are several religions that go by the name Hinduism worshipping God (Isvara) in different forms. But all these religions pay allegiance to the Vedas. Hinduism describes God as infinite, indivisible, and without form but manifests himself in different forms to please his devotees; even though he is unborn he takes many forms (Purusha Suktam: Rig-Veda). He projects the universe from himself, sustains it and dissolves it in a cyclical fashion. As per Hinduism ‘thamevam vidva Amruthathva iha bhvathi,’ by knowing him alone can man here become immortal (Ibid). The Taittiriya Upanishad of Yajur-Veda also mentions infinite and immortal nature of God.
Jainism
Jainism believes in Soul (Jiva) but does not posit any God. “Souls are uncreated, imperishable, immaterial, knowing, active, and acceptable entities and are present in endlessly great or endless numbers” (Glasenapp, 1999, p.178). Since Jainism does not believe in God, it says the world exists eternally. The goal of Jainism is Salvation which, it says, is reaching an eternal peaceful region of the Universe (Ibid).
Buddhism
Buddhism like Jainism does not believe in God. As Buddha rejected the Vedas, the followers of Buddha assumed he was an atheist. Buddhists preach that the goal of Buddhism is to attain Nirvana, freedom from the cycle of birth death. According to Todd Lewis Nirvana is an impersonal eternal state that transcends individuality (quoted by Kozak, 2011, p.37).
Judaism
Judaism preaches a monotheistic God called Yahweh (Tanakh, Old Testament). He is the creator and many noble superlatives like the redeemer, the father, the judge, rock of Israel, shield of Abraham are attributed to him (Robinson, 2000, p.10). God is merciful (Ibid 103). The goal of Judaism is to attain redemption or saving by God through good works or righteous life.
Christianity
Christianity is based on the New Testament of the Bible and preaches a monotheistic God like Judaism. It accepts the God of Jews as the same as theirs, so the same description of God as in Judaism applies. According to Lopez, penny, Jonas, and English (2010), “For Christians, the God supremely revealed in Jesus is the same God already revealed in Moses ” (p.74). But Christianity preaches a savior in the person of Jesus of Nazareth who became Christ because of God revealing himself to him. Christianity emphasizes Jesus rather than God as savior. The goal of Christianity is to attain to a salvation state called ‘Kingdom of heaven’ through the grace of Jesus the Christ who is regarded as the son of God.
Islam
Islam preaches a monotheistic God and does not accept any manifestation of him in any form. This strictly monotheistic God is called Allah. He is nameless, formless and eternal almighty. Quoting Koran, Turner (2006) says, “His are all things in the heavens and on the earth He feeleth no fatigue in guarding and preserving them for He is most High, the Supreme” (p.74). Islam’s founder father is Muhammad and is called prophet of Islam. The goal of Islam is to attain salvation through worship of God and following the rituals of Islam. Islam conceives salvation as a state of eternal heaven like Christianity. However, it does not give the same status of Jesus in Christianity to Muhammad. Muhammad did not claim any divine birth for himself. It encourages practicing Islam as taught by Muhammad but God only is the supreme benefactor.
Impact of this category in everyday life. In our city, there are Hindus whose perception of ‘nature of God’ is different from mine. For a long time, we perceived them as the ‘others.’ There is a temple where a statue is installed and that statue is offered food, flowers, and water as if the deity is a living person. This rather appeared strange. But some activists held interfaith dialogue with our community, where a lot of discussions took place and the various customs of religions were discussed. I realized offering sacrament food is not exclusive to Hinduism. Some branches of Christianity practice this. Other similarities like lighting lamps or incense in front of altar have similarities across religions. After this, the temples and their rituals do not seem strange after all.
Conclusion. It is clear that all religions seek to eradicate sorrow, grief or misery by following a given pattern of holy practices. These patterns of holy practices may be different but basically aimed to build holiness in mankind. All religions aim to take the human soul to a permanent state of freedom from want or misery and immortality. Thus all religions are vending their way to a common goal. The conflict of religions since the first religious wars is due to lack of communication among religions. In modern day with a lot of mixing of people of different races or religions, the communication barrier is getting slowly broken. Soon the world’s religions should live in harmony rather than conflict.
References
Glasenapp, H.V. (1999). Jainism: An Indian Religion of Salvation. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited.
Kozak, A. (2011). The Everything Buddhism. Avon, MA: Adams Media.
Lopez, K.M., Penny, D.N., Jonas, W.G., and English, A.C. (2010). Christianity: A Biblical, Historical, Theological Guide for Students. Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press.
Purusha Suktam. Available at http://www.stephen-knapp.com/purusha_sukta.htm
Purusha Suktam. Vaidika Vignanam. Available at http://www.vignanam.org/veda/purusha-suktam-english.html
Robinson, G. (2000). Essential Judaism: A complete Guide to Beliefs, Customs, and rituals. New York. Atria Paperback.
Sharvananda, S. (1921). Taittiriya-Upanishad. Madras: The Ramakrishna Math. Available at http://estudantedavedanta.net/Taittiriya%20Upanishad%20-%20Swami%20Sarvanand%20[Sanskrit-English].pdf
Turner, C. (2006). Islam: The Basics. London and New York: Routledge.
Vidyatmananda, S. (1972). What religion is: In the Words of Swami Vivekananda. Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama.
