Essay Sample on Eastern and Western Religion

Introduction

The world when it comes to religion is divided into two the eastern region and the western region. Though some people in the East practice the religion in the west the two religions have differences (Shiah 1267). The Eastern religion comprises of the religion practiced in countries like China and Japan while countries outside the east mostly practice the western religion. Below is a discussion of the differences and similarities between the Eastern religion and Western religion. In the world, they are the five main regions namely the Islam, the Christianity, the Hinduism the Buddhism and Judaism. Judaism, Christianity and Islamic religion are the four main western religions while Hinduism and Buddhism are the two main eastern religions. The two religions have differences and similarities.

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Differences Between Eastern Religion and Western Religion

The western religion believes in one God hence are referred to as monotheistic (Ellwood et al. 249). They believe in the God of Abraham. The western religion is Semitic since they are descendants of Shem. On the other hand, the eastern religions believe in the existence of many gods hence are referred to as polytheistic. Second, the western religion believes in the origin of the universe and believes at the end of the world. According to the religion, 'GOD' created the universe and its only 'GOD' who will end it. On the other hand, the eastern religion believes at no end of the universe and believes at no beginning of the universe.

According to the Eastern religion the nature of humans is considered to be ignorant and as one becomes enlightened the more an individual becomes better (Clobert et al. 225). On the other hand the nature of humans in the Western religion, the resisting o the evil ways and sins make human better. Fourth punishment in western religion is done only after death unlike in eastern religion where they believe in karma which is the total effects of individual actions.

Lastly, the worship routine in the eastern religion is periodic and happens in all days. On the western religion, the worship of 'GOD' happens of Sabbath days. For example in Christianity worship happens on Sundays in many churches (Abdou et al. 20).

Similarities Between Western and Eastern Religion

Both the two types of religion stress on good things in love. They teach ethics and how to treat other people. In Christianity the main teachings are about love, giving the needy and treating other people with dignity that is similar to Buddhism. The second similarity, the two religions teach ways to improve the inner being of a human the two believe in following steps toward the well-being of an individual (Abdou et al. 21). Thirdly in the two religions, they both believe in the infinite peace. Although the Buddha did not expound about the existence of God, the public believed that the consciousness could not be expressed that easily. In the values shared in the eastern religion are acceptable in the Western religion, for example, killing and stealing are both against values the beliefs.

Conclusion

The two religions share differences and similarities. From the geographical differences though people from different locations practice religions from other regions. Among the major difference is the belief of the existence of God in western and no existence of god in the eastern religion.

Works Cited

Abdou, Ehaab D., and WY Alice Chan. "Analyzing constructions of polytheistic and monotheistic religious traditions: A critical multicultural approach to textbooks in Quebec." Multicultural Perspectives 19.1 (2017): 16-25.

Clobert, Magali, Vassilis Saroglou, and Kwang-Kuo Hwang. "East Asian religious tolerance versus Western monotheist prejudice: The role of (in) tolerance of contradiction." Group Processes & Intergroup Relations 20.2 (2017): 216-232.

Ellwood, Robert, and Barbara Mcgraw. "One God, Many Words and Wonders The Family of the Three Great Monotheistic Religions and Zoroastrianism." Many Peoples, Many Faiths. Routledge, 2016. 243-253.

Shiah, Yung-Jong. "Religion and subjective well-being: Western and Eastern religious groups achieved subjective well-being in different ways." Journal of religion and health55.4 (2016): 1263-1269.