Are They All the Same?

[Beau Geste (imported)]

I recently read a post on another message board, in which someone made the assertion that, since they recognize one deity, all monotheistic religions are fundamentally the same. I guess that one archbishop of the Church of England has even used "Allah" instead of "God" in services.

Of course, there are a number of monotheistic religions, the most prominent being Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. I think there has been at least one monotheistic religion for at least 1000 years. The Bahai religion is based on the idea of unifying all the religions, including the monotheistic ones.

I don't personally adhere to any religion, and therefore I don't have an emotional stake in this. However, I have to think that the idea that all monotheistic religions recognize the same deity, is a gross oversimplification, and the gods described by the monotheistic religions differ profoundly. The god Allah of Moslems is claimed to have instituted sharia law, which requires that adultresses be stoned to death, and thieves have their arms and sometimes their legs amputated. The general moral codes and world views of the different monotheistic religions seem to me to be large enough, that it can't credibly be said that Allah of Islam, Jehovah or Yahweh of Judaism, and God the Father of Christianity are all the same god. However, on the other message board, there were people who did assert that.

Curious as to what Archive members think about the matter.

[Dave (imported)]

Historically, Judaism was the first Monotheistic religion. Catholicism (Roman, Orthodox and Protestant) came second and Islam came third. Everything else has multiple gods of some sort. Those three religions derive from the God of Abraham. I think they are silly to argue over who is the "right" religion.

Even Buddhism and Taoism are not monotheistic. Buddha is not followed as a god but as a philosopher to follow. The way of the Tao (or Dao) has no deity, it is a path to achieve an end. The Hindu faith is polytheistic.

[moi621 (imported)]

Ye forget the Zoroastrians whose teachings may have been passed to itinerant Hebrews.

[devi (imported)]

At the forefront is the Hebrew faith which did adopt from other religions itself. Most of the Hebrew covenant is extremely strict and calls for stoning of adulterers among other things. The Christian religion began as an offshoot and so did the Moslem religion.