Thursday, December 31, 2009

7 Points of Commonality Between Religions?

Jacqueline Leo, a Director at the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, asserts that Islam, Christianity, and Judaism share seven common beliefs:

The Seven Shared Beliefs

1. Monotheism--belief in one God. Christians believe in the Holy Trinity (The Father, Son and Holy Spirit), but the three are one according to the New Testament.
2. Divine revelation--truths are revealed through the word of God. 3. Daily Prayer--Muslims must pray five times a day; Jews are supposed to thank God every day for the gifts he bestows; and Christians who follow Catholicism are to pray seven times a day, while most simply say nightly prayers.
4. Muslims, Christians and Jews all participate in religious fasts. Christians have Lent, a 40 day period of denial leading up to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus; Jews fast during Yom Kippur; and Muslims fast during the month of Ramadan.
5. Prophetic Tradition--all three religions believe in "messengers of God." Jews and Christians believe in Moses among others in the Old Testament; Muslims acknowledge many prophets of Allah cited in the Qur'an, the most important being Muhammad. All three honor Abraham as great prophet. Abraham believed in the one and only God. So if all three religions believe in Abraham, they would logically believe in the same God.
6. All three believe in almsgiving and charity.
7. All three believe in holy sites: Jerusalem for Jews and Christians, Mecca and Medina for Muslims.


Do you agree that these religions share these points? Do you think others do? Is it significant that these concepts are shared? What conclusions, if any, could you draw from this?

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