A Thesis: Are all religions really the same?

Are all religions really the same? Are they just different paths to the same end? Evaluate the case for religious pluralism (syncretism? By selecting one mono and one non-monotheistic tradition we’ve studied this semester and compare them on the basis of the following:

-The absolute: what has ultimate significance and value? (Christianity=God the creator, Hinduism=Brahman)

-The World: What is the origin of the world? Its future? Its relationship to the absolute?

-Humans: where do they come from? Do humans have a destiny/purpose in the world?

-What is the fundamental problem for humankind?

(Christianity- eastern-suffering—Christianity- separation from God)-sin

-What is the fundamental solution to that problem?

-Moral code of ethics: How ought one to live his or her life?

Interpretation of history: Does history follow a certain plan/destiny?

Life after death: What happens to us when we die? Do we have a soul?

Relationship to other religions: How tolerant of other faiths/traditions is it?

Does it matter that it’s different???????

Engage and analyze them in the paper…Make an argument!

Religious pluralism -although different religions manifest different responses to the divine reality, each can successfully facilitate salvation, liberation, and self-fulfillment

- Religious doctrines reveal same underlying reality

- Different languages really talking about the same thing

-R really not asserting anything different-fundamentally all mean the same thing

Opposite—world religions don not all mean the same thing

Thesis—

1- They are rally the same

2- Never the same

They overlap in some ways and some ways they don’t