Free «Report on the Religious Life of Planet Earth» Essay Sample

Finally, I have landed on the Earth. What a wonderful planet! It has all: oxygen, water, living beings. Let us investigate if religion exists on Earth and if the people on this planet are religious.

I used a survey method of investigation to find out whether there is religion on Earth or not. And the creatures from the planet told me that there exist a large number of various beliefs and religions. From the immemorial times a person recognized the existence of the highest wisdom, worshipped it and looked for ways of the spiritual perfection achievement and the meaning of the life. But all nationalities went their own way, therefore on the planet there are different types of religions. There are quite a lot of them. All religions both differ from each other and have many common features.

Now on the Earth there are such types of religions as Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and Islam, and also Hinduism, Daoism, Confucianism, Sikhism and others. One of the main world religions can be called Christianity based on a Trinity, the son called Jesus Christ, who came to the world in an image of the person to rescue people and to give them an eternal life. Christianity calls people for love for God and all people are appealed to creation of good, humility and fight against the sins.

Christianity differs from the other world religions by the Divine. That means that this religion was created not by people as, for example, Hinduism, the God himself created it from the very beginning. Christianity, in turn, is divided into Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Protestantism. These types of religions, though they have a similar belief in Jesus Christ, have divergences in treatments of the Scriptus and the Legend. In Catholicism, for example, the head of the church is not Jesus Christ, as in Orthodox, but the Pope. Protestants in general are inclined to treat the Bible as they like.

One more world religion – Islam – is a little similar to Christianity. It also has the God – Allah who is the judge of all human acts. But these types of religions have an essential difference. In Christianity humility and freedom of choice are the main points, Islam dictates rigid rules and strict obedience. Both religions order to their followers to be kind, fair and to help other people.

Buddhism is also quite a widespread religion. Its prime target is an achievement of nirvana. From the above-mentioned beliefs it is distinguished by the fact that the person is on his own, nobody will rescue him and Buddha only specifies a way to rescue. Nevertheless, this religion also teaches people of love and good. The most ancient religion is Judaism which has arisen in Palestine among the Jewish tribes. It differs from Christianity and Islam that Jews consider themselves as the chosen people and reject the Christ, expecting Messiah.

Beside these main religions, there also exist other versions of religions on the planet. It is, for example, Hinduism combining various directions and principles, not having a uniform complete system. The Indian people also have Sikhism as a version of Hinduism combining features inherent in Moslem. The Chinese people have Daoism – the religion forming a kind relation to the world and compassion to the neighbor.

Having heard various stories about different religions on the Earth, it becomes clear that, in principle, all religions realize that our mortal life is not an ultimate goal and recognize the highest spiritual forces. Certainly, the concepts of moral and spirituality of all religions are different, but even in ancient paganism there was a certain reminder connected with a primary communication of the person with the God. The ancient speaker and writer Cicero explained the word “religion” as “awe” that is worshipping the highest forces (Johnston, 1996). It is interesting that on the planet there have been different types of churches since ancient times. In different corners of the earth it is possible to see Orthodox temples, Lutheran churches, Islamic mosques, Buddhist temples and Jewish synagogues. Travelling on different countries, it is possible to see sacred groves of kusoto, Lappish seidas, udmursky kualas and sacred barns where hants and muncie come to the god. The person has always aspired to the highest forces and the knowledge of his purpose on the earth, that is why there are so many religious beliefs on the planet.