If not the same? I got into a debate like this just yesterday and all I had to back it up with was that each of them has a divine being worshipped (Jesus Christ, Buddha, etc) and I'm not really big on debating religion anyway.

So are all the major religions essentially the same?

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"I find no black men appealing, they look like giant monkeys." -LilithIshtar (some member of another forum I used to be part of)

I think that the roots of most major religions (especially Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) are very similar and that many texts and beleifs are based of of the same events/experiences as interpreted by different people. As far as doctrines go, they branch in separate directions, but the basic message of almost all religions is to the betterment of one's self and those around them by way of scriptural and moral code.

The difference and similarities between religions today is not in the religions themselves, but in how strictly they are interpreted. There is the strict interpretation, non-orthodox, and the other end which is much more liberal or modern. Sometimes people of different religions beleiving in a less strict interpretation of texts can have more in common than they can with the more conservative side of their own religion. This is especially true with Islam and Judaism in my opinion.

Religion at its roots is commonly a check against the worse natures of mankind in cultures, and many traditions and beleifs were created in religious texts to survive as a guideline for what was at one point the ideal or bettered society by some veiwpoint. Most of these beleifs are general truths about the good and bad sides of humanity. I guess thats kindof from a non-religious perspecitve though.

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"...Follow the crystal star to the pyre of the flame; there exists the dwelling of the spreading fire. The heart of this life rests upon the fate of that place, and what begins there sends a contagion to the rest of the universe.
As long as the fire burns we shall never be free..." (The Shadows of Yavara, Final Reclamation)

They are all Abramic. They all stem from the same stuff, really.

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Let me tell you bout a girl I know, she like hip-hop and rock n' roll,
She walk slow down the avenue, I ain't met her but I get her when I do
Let me tell you bout a girl I know, she stay home cause she hate the club
I ain't met her but I get her when I do...

~Shwayze

Buddha isn't divine - nor is the a god in Buddhism - in a lot of way it's more a philosophy of life.

First - let's define major religions. Sikh too small? Ba'hai? Jain?

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Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.
Ernest Benn

Hinduism is pretty darn major, but Judaism is still tiny - and Islam may have bypassed Christian by now.

Major Religions of the World
Ranked by Number of Adherents
(Sizes shown are approximate estimates, and are here mainly for the purpose of ordering the groups, not providing a definitive number. This list is sociological/statistical in perspective.)
Christianity: 2.1 billion

Islam: 1.5 billion

Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 1.1 billion

Hinduism: 900 million

Chinese traditional religion: 394 million

Buddhism: 376 million

primal-indigenous: 300 million

African Traditional & Diasporic: 100 million

Sikhism: 23 million

Juche: 19 million

Spiritism: 15 million

Judaism: 14 million

Baha'i: 7 million

Jainism: 4.2 million

Shinto: 4 million

Cao Dai: 4 million

Zoroastrianism: 2.6 million

Tenrikyo: 2 million

Neo-Paganism: 1 million

Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand

Rastafarianism: 600 thousand

Scientology: 500 thousand


Introduction
The adherent counts presented in the list above are current estimates of the number of people who have at least a minimal level of self-identification as adherents of the religion. Levels of participation vary within all groups. These numbers tend toward the high end of reasonable worldwide estimates. Valid arguments can be made for different figures, but if the same criteria are used for all groups, the relative order should be the same. Further details and sources are available below and in the Adherents.com main database.
A major source for these estimates is the detailed country-by-country analysis done by David B. Barrett's religious statistics organization, whose data are published in the Encyclopedia Britannica (including annual updates and yearbooks) and also in the World Christian Encyclopedia (the latest edition of which - published in 2001 - has been consulted). Hundreds of additional sources providing more thorough and detailed research about individual religious groups have also been consulted.

This listing is not a comprehensive list of all religions, only the "major" ones (as defined below). There are distinct religions other than the ones listed above. But this list accounts for the religions of over 98% of the world's population. Below are listed some religions which are not in this listing (Mandeans, PL Kyodan, Ch'ondogyo, Vodoun, New Age, Seicho-No-Ie, Falun Dafa/Falun Gong, Taoism, Roma), along with explanations for why they do not qualify as "major world religions" on this list.

This world religions listing is derived from the statistics data in the Adherents.com database. The list was created by the same people who collected and organized this database, in consultation with university professors of comparative religions and scholars from different religions. We invite additional input. The Adherents.com collection of religious adherent statistics now has over 43,000 adherent statistic citations, for over 4,300 different faith groups, covering all countries of the world. This is not an absolutely exhaustive compilation of all such data, but it is by far the largest compilation available on the Internet. Various academic researchers and religious representatives regularly share documented adherent statistics with Adherents.com so that their information can be available in a centralized database.

Statistics and geography citations for religions not on this list, as well as subgroups within these religions (such as Catholics, Protestants, Karaites, Wiccans, Shiites, etc.) can be found in the main Adherents.com database.


Major Religions Ranked by Size

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Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.
Ernest Benn

Okay, let's go with Islam, Christianity and Judaism. There is a religious text involved with the 3, right?

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"I find no black men appealing, they look like giant monkeys." -LilithIshtar (some member of another forum I used to be part of)

Well, by "major," I thought he meant "Abramic."

There are the Abramic religions, which are basically the same, and then there are a lot of other religions. I'm not sure of the similarities behind a lot of those.

__________________

Let me tell you bout a girl I know, she like hip-hop and rock n' roll,
She walk slow down the avenue, I ain't met her but I get her when I do
Let me tell you bout a girl I know, she stay home cause she hate the club
I ain't met her but I get her when I do...

~Shwayze

It depends, what do we want to call the "major" religions? As has been said, christianity, islam, and judism all stem from the same background, but others are completely different. Like Hinduism.

I would also say that there are some very strong links between Hinduism and Buddhism and traditional chinese beliefs.

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Set your destination with your heart, get there with your mind.

"The wisest men follow their own direction." - Euripides

That is only one branch from a very large tree. Those three religions, while they do have a lot of followers, are linear representation of one evolving (or devolving) mindset.

__________________
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.
Ernest Benn

Does Buddhism endorse a caste system?

__________________

Let me tell you bout a girl I know, she like hip-hop and rock n' roll,
She walk slow down the avenue, I ain't met her but I get her when I do
Let me tell you bout a girl I know, she stay home cause she hate the club
I ain't met her but I get her when I do...

~Shwayze