Have you ever wondered if you are professing the right religion? Well, an individual practices a religion based on their parents’ beliefs and the geographical location of the religion itself. Across the globe, there are numerous religions with Christianity, Islam, and Judaism being the major religions. These religions have significant differences in their set of beliefs and way of life. Even though the three religions possess historical connections, they continue to face numerous challenges. This essay explores the connection and effect of globalization among the three religions. Despite the differences and challenges facing the three major religions of the world, they have a historical relationship and unique set of similarities on a global scale.
Historical Relationship
Judaism dates back to four thousand years ago and is usually regarded as the oldest monotheistic religion. Judaism followers believe in the existence of one God whose presence is manifested through ancient prophets. The history of Judaism illustrates the heritage of law, tradition, and culture among Jewish people. Judaism is mostly practiced in Israel and a significant number are located in North America and some parts of Europe (Mahla, 2020) . Abraham is regarded as the founder of Judaism. The are three major theological divisions of Judaism: Reform, Orthodox, and Conservative.
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Christianity is a faith tradition that focuses on the teachings of Jesus Christ. Christianity began when Jesus, a Jewish teacher, died after being crucified and resurrected in the first century AD. Originally, it was practiced by a small number of Jewish people in Judea which eventually spread across the Roman Empire and the world. Christianity is dominant in Europe, North and South America, Oceania, and some parts of Africa. Christianity is divided into several groups including the Church of the East, Eastern Orthodoxy, Protestantism, Roman Catholic, and Oriental Orthodoxy. Protestantism does not have any governance and has different beliefs with varying practices.
Islam, like Judaism, is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion whose followers believe in the teachings of Muhammad as a prophet of God. Islam is the youngest of the three religions have originated in Mecca around the seventh century in the time of Prophet Muhammad’s life (Lewis, 2019) . However, Islam remains one of the fastest spreading religions in the world. The Islamic religion is dominant in Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia, and some parts of Asia. Muhammad is regarded as the founder of Islam. The religion is divided into various theological divisions including Sunni Islam, Ibadi, Shia Islam, Shia, Kharijite Islam, and Sunni.
Elements
Nature of God
Jews believe in the existence of God who should be worshipped alone. Judaism teaches that everything that exists on earth and in heaven comes from God. In Judaism, God is described in different ways including omnipotent- God is all-powerful and omnibenevolent- God desires the best for everything He created (Wertheimer, 2018) . On the other hand, Christians believe that even though God is one, He exists in three forms: He is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Johnson, 2020) . Christians believe that God created and preserves everything that exists in nature. The similarity between Judaism and Christianity is that they worship the same God.
On the contrary, Islamic religion refers to God as Allah. Allah has no plural form and it is of no gender. Muslims believe in Shahadah which means that there is no other God apart from Allah. The oneness of Allah is an essential component of the Islam religion. There is a huge difference in the nature of God in Christianity & Judaism and Islam. In Islam, Allah needs the believers to do good actions to save their souls while in Christianity & Judaism, salvation is rewarded to those who believe in God. Allah is strict on those who sin against him while God can forgive the sinners if they repent.
Nature of Jesus
In Judaism, there is no official view of Jesus Christ. In Christianity, Jesus Christ is the son of God and holds the second position of the Holy Trinity. According to Christians, Jesus is both a fully human and full God (Hirt-Ramon et al., 2020) . Christianity teaches that Jesus died on the cross so that the sins of every person on earth could be saved. Besides, Christians view Jesus as the Messiah because he was crucified, died, and resurrected so that salvation can be brought to the world. However, there are differences between the Christian and Muslim views of Jesus. Jews do not believe that Jesus is the son of God or he is the Lord Christ as claimed by Christians.
Islam believers refer to Jesus as Isa and they do not worship him. Even though they believe that he was a messenger or prophet of God, they do not consider him as divine. Muslims believe that the role of Jesus was to lead the Israelites with a new revelation. Islam describes Jesus as someone who was accompanied by disciples when performing miracles and got rejected by the Jewish religion (Zahniser, 2017) . There exist a difference between Christianity and Islam in the nature of Jesus. Islam religion claim that Jesus did not die on the cross nor was he crucified. Unlike Christianity, Islam religion does not believe that Jesus is God incarnate.
Challenges
The first challenge facing the relationship between the three religions is dominance in a particular country. In countries that Islam constitutes the majority, politicians may demand the application of Islamic laws in running the government. The decision will receive opposition from Christians as they feel that they are put in a second-class position. This creates conflicts based on religion. An individual set of beliefs also affect the relationship between religions. In Islam, men are allowed to marry up to four wives whereas Christianity does not believe in polygamy. Christians may view Muslims as backward and this creates tension in the two religions.
Globalization refers to a situation where religions with different beliefs interact with each other. Globalization has helped in strengthening the relationship between religions as it has facilitated the rapid spread of religions to different regions. This has been made possible through various websites that provide information about different religions. On the contrary, it has been challenging for religions to cope with the values that accompany globalization including consumerism and liberalism. Such aspects come with scientism and secularism which are against the relationship of the religions. Strict rationalism that comes as a result of globalization may be incompatible with norms of other religions such as Islam.
In conclusion, the three major religions have evolved in different ways since their establishment. Each religion is dominant in its place of origin and neighboring regions. The spread of a religion depends on several factors such as its dominance and globalization. Globalization brings both positive and negative aspects to religion and the relationship that exists between religions. There is a huge difference between Christianity and Islam in the nature of God and Jesus. Christianity and Judaism possess a lot of similarities. Despite attempts of reconciliation, the religions continue to face various challenges. Therefore, freedom of religion without hindrance should be made possible to have peace among religions.
Reference
Hirt-Ramon, O., Gabel, I., & Wasserman, V. (2020). " Jesus was a Jew": presenting Christians and Christianity in Israeli state education . Lexington Books.
Johnson, J. J. (2020). Christianity and Islam: Incompatible Views on God, Christ, and Scripture . Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Lewis, B. (2019). The Shi'a in Islamic history. In Shi'ism, Resistance, and Revolution (pp. 21-30). Routledge.
Mahla, D. (2020). Orthodox Judaism and the Politics of Religion: From Prewar Europe to the State of Israel . Cambridge University Press.
Wertheimer, J. (2018). The new American Judaism: How Jews practice their religion today . Princeton University Press.
Zahniser, A. M. (2017). The mission and death of Jesus in Islam and Christianity . Wipf and Stock Publishers.
