God: World Perspective - Part 1

 In this 21st century of autonomous cars, robots, virtual realities etc., people are not getting time to think about the creator who created this whole universe. This beautiful world today has more gods than I think more species of animals in it. That is the state of the people in this present time. People worship every type of god’s from different kinds of animals to different kind of evil rituals to the so called Guru’s or Preachers. People even worship themselves like looking into the mirror after coming from Gym and saying that wow this body is worth worshiping or this face is beautiful than angels in heaven etc. I am not telling we should get away from fitness or day to day heath activities but those things should be given a place in life for just keeping us healthy and not for showing off or making a role model for ourselves. Today we just worship whatever makes us happy and not focusing on the real creator of the world who is the true God.

In today’s world we have people who believe God exist and some are of the perspective that God does not exist. People who believe that God does not exist are phrased as “Atheist”. Atheism is usually defined incorrectly as a belief system. Atheism is not a disbelief in gods or a denial of gods; it is a lack of belief in gods. Older dictionaries define atheism as "a belief that there is no God". Then there are some people who believe that there is God and such people follow certain religions that are currently in the world. There are 1000’s of religions in the world and some of the most famous are Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism etc. And there are sub religions or sub casts for many of them, such as for Christianity there are many denominations like Orthodox, Catholic, Protestants, Restorationists and others, for Hinduism there are denominations like Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism and Smartism, for Islam there are denominations like Sunni, Shia, Sufism and others etc. etc. and the list goes on, for Buddhism there are 3 major denominations which are Mahayana, Theravada, and Vajrayana. So many people who follow at least one of the religion are having to worship in different ways which leads to the question that, is there really 1000’s of god’s or saints who are to be worshiped.

We will now go little deep in to some of the major religions to analyze the above question of is there really 1000’s of god’s or is there only one True GOD.

Christianity

First we will take the case of Christianity which is considered as the world’s largest religion. The Christian share of the world's population has stood at around 33% for the last hundred years, which says that one in three persons on earth are Christians. Christianity can be mainly divided into 4 kinds of churches:

1. Catholicism
2.  Protestantism
3.  Orthodoxy
4.  Nondenominational

 1.  Catholics - Catholicism consists of the Catholic Church itself, as well as a number of independent churches and movements that self-identify as Catholic. They all claim continuity (based upon Apostolic Succession) with the early Church. These churches are based on documented liturgical worship and set of principles set by Church over the centuries. The church teaches that it is the one true church founded by Jesus Christ, that its bishops are the successors of Christ's apostles, and that the Pope is the sole successor to Saint Peter, who was given primacy among the apostles. The Church maintains that the doctrine on faith and morals that it presents as definitive is infallible. The Latin Church, the autonomous Eastern Catholic Churches and religious communities such as the Jesuits, Mendicant orders and enclosed monastic orders reflect the variety of theological emphases within the Church. The Catholic Church is composed of 23 Churches:

The Western or Latin Church

22 Eastern Catholic Churches

a.       The Latin Church

The Latin Church (not to be confused with the Roman Rite, which is one of the Latin liturgical rites, not a particular Church) is the largest and most widely known of the 23 major Churches that together make up the Catholic Church.

b.      Eastern Catholic Churches

All of the following are Particular Churches of the Catholic Church. They are all in communion with the Bishop of Rome and acknowledge his claim of universal jurisdiction and authority. They have some minor distinct theological emphases and expressions (for instance, in the case of those that are of Greek/Byzantine tradition, concerning some non-doctrinal aspects of the Latin view of Purgatory). The Eastern Catholic churches and the Latin Church (which together compose the worldwide Catholic Church) share the same doctrine and sacraments, and thus the same faith.

                                                               i.      Albanian Byzantine Catholic Church

                                                             ii.      Armenian Catholic Church

                                                            iii.      Belarusian Catholic Church

                                                           iv.      Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church

                                                             v.      Chaldean Catholic Church

                                                           vi.      Coptic Catholic Church

                                                          vii.      Byzantine Church of Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro

                                                        viii.      Ethiopian Catholic Church

                                                           ix.      Greek Byzantine Catholic Church

                                                             x.      Hungarian Byzantine Catholic Church

                                                           xi.      Italo-Albanian Catholic Church ; a.k.a. Italo-Greek Catholic Church

                                                          xii.      Macedonian Catholic Church

                                                        xiii.      Maronite Catholic Church

                                                        xiv.      Melkite Catholic Church

                                                         xv.      Romanian Catholic Church

                                                        xvi.      Russian Catholic Church

                                                      xvii.      Ruthenian Catholic Church ; usually called the "Byzantine Catholic Church" in the United States

                                                     xviii.      Slovak Greek Catholic Church

                                                        xix.      Syriac Catholic Church

                                                         xx.      Syro-Malabar Catholic Church

                                                        xxi.      Syro-Malankara Catholic Church

                                                      xxii.      Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

2. Protestantism - These are the churches "which repudiated the papal authority, and separated or were severed from the Roman communion in the Reformation of the 16th century and of any of the bodies of Christians descended from them." Three fundamental principles of traditional Protestantism are the following:

a.       Scripture alone - The belief in the Bible as the supreme source of authority for the church. The early churches of the Reformation believed in a critical, yet serious, reading of scripture and holding the Bible as a source of authority higher than that of church tradition. The reformers rejected some of the traditions of the Western Church because they did not find justification for them in the Bible.

b.      Justification by faith alone - The belief that believers are justified, or pardoned for sin, solely on condition of faith in Christ rather than a combination of faith and good works. For Protestants, good works are a necessary consequence rather than cause of justification.

c.       Universal priesthood of believers - The universal priesthood of believers implies the right and duty of the Christian laity not only to read the Bible in the vernacular, but also to take part in the government and all the public affairs of the Church. It is opposed to the hierarchical system which puts the essence and authority of the Church in an exclusive priesthood, and makes ordained priests the necessary mediators between God and the people.

            3. Orthodoxy - Eastern Orthodoxy comprises those churches in communion with the Patriarchal Sees of the East, such as the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. Like the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church also traces its heritage to the foundation of Christianity through Apostolic succession and has an episcopal structure, though the autonomy of its component parts is emphasized, and most of them are national churches. A number of conflicts with Western Christianity over questions of doctrine and authority culminated in the Great Schism. Eastern Orthodox Christian theology is the theology particular to the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is characterized by:

a.       Trinity

b.      Sin, salvation and the incarnation

c.       Resurrection of Christ

d.      Bible

e.      Holy tradition and the patristic consensus

f.        Territorial expansion and doctrinal integrity

g.       Theotokos and saints

      4. Nondenominational - Non-denominational Christian institutions are those not formally aligned with an established religious denomination, but are historically Protestant, or that remain otherwise officially autonomous. This, however, does not preclude an identifiable standard among such congregations. Nondenominational church congregations may establish a functional denomination by means of mutual recognition of or accountability to other congregations and leaders with commonly held doctrine, policy and worship without formalizing external direction or oversight in such matters. Some nondenominational churches explicitly reject the idea of a formalized denominational structure as a matter of principle, holding that each congregation is better off being autonomous.

Islam

Islam is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion articulated by the Qur'an, an Islamic holy book considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of God (Allāh), and for the vast majority of adherents, also by the teachings and normative example (called the Sunnah and composed of hadith) of Muhammad (c. 570–8 June 632 CE), considered by them to be the last prophet of God. An adherent of Islam is called a Muslim. Most Muslims are of two denominations:

1.       Sunni

2.       Shia

1.       Sunni - Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam; its adherents are referred to in Arabic as ahl as-sunnah wa l-jamāʻah, "people of the tradition of Muhammad and the consensus of the Ummah" or ahl as-sunnah for short. In English, its theological study or doctrine is called Sunnism, while adherents are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis, and Sunnites. Sunni Islam is the world's second largest religious body (after Christianity) and the largest religious denomination for any religion in the world. Some Islamic scholars faced questions that they felt were not explicitly answered in the Quran and Sunnah, especially questions with regard to philosophical conundra such as the nature of God, the existence of human free will, or the eternal existence of the Quran. Various schools of theology and philosophy developed to answer these questions, each claiming to be true to the Quran and the Muslim tradition (sunnah). Among Sunni Muslims, various schools of thought in theology began to be born out of the sciences of kalam in opposition to the textualists who stood by affirming texts without delving into philosophical speculation as they saw it as an innovation in Islam.

a.       Maturidi - Founded by Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (died 944). Maturidiyyah was a minority tradition until it was accepted by the Turkish tribes of Central Asia (previously they had been Ash'ari and followers of the Shafi'i school, it was only later on migration into Anatolia that they became Hanafi and followers of the Maturidi creed).

b.      Ash'ari - Founded by Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari (873–935). This theological school of Aqeedah was embraced by many Muslim scholars and developed in parts of the Islamic world throughout history, Imam al-Ghazali wrote on the creed discussing it and agreeing upon some of its principles.  Ash'ari theology stresses divine revelation over human reason. Contrary to the Mu'tazilites, they say that ethics cannot be derived from human reason, but that God's commands, as revealed in the Quran and the Sunnah (the practices of Muhammad and his companions as recorded in the traditions, or hadith), are the sole source of all morality and ethics.

c.       Athari - Athari, or "textualism", is derived from the Arabic word athar, literally meaning "remnant", and also referring to "narrations". Their disciples are called the Atharis or al-Atharia. The Atharis are considered to be one of three Sunni schools of Aqidah. The Athari methodology of textual or literal interpretation is to avoid delving into any extensive theological speculation. They believe in God and his attributes in the exact fashion that they were mentioned in the Quran, the Sunnah, and by the Sahabah. They do not attempt to further interpret the aforementioned texts by giving an altered meaning like the Tashbih (simile or likening), nor through tahrif (distortion), nor ta`weel (allegory or metaphor), nor ta'teel (denial). They avoid entering into deep rational philosophical discussions of matters relating to Islamic beliefs that are not supported by the Quran, the Sunnah or the understanding of the Sahabah with specific wording; rather, their discussion and presentation of beliefs revolves entirely around textual evidences found in these three main sources, while remaining cautious to avoid taking the path of non-Atharis either. The Atharis believe this to be the methodology adhered to by the first three generations of Muslims (i.e. the Salaf), therefore making it the school of Sunni Aqeedah that they believe is adhering to the truth and keeping to the balanced middle path of Islam.

2.       Shia - The Shia, or the Shiites, represent the second largest denomination of Islam. Adherents of Shia Islam are called Shias or the Shi'a as a collective or Shi'i individually. Shi'a is the short form of the historic phrase Shīʻatu ʻAlī meaning "followers", "faction" or "party" of Muhammad's son-in-law and cousin Ali, whom the Shia believe to be Muhammad's successor in the Caliphate. Twelver Shia (Ithnā'ashariyyah) is the largest branch of Shia Islam, and the term Shia Muslim is often taken to refer to Twelvers by default. The Shia Islamic faith is vast and inclusive of many different groups. Shia theological beliefs and religious practises, such as prayers, slightly differ from the Sunnis'. While all Muslims pray five times daily, Shias have the option of always combining Dhuhr with Asr and Maghrib with Isha', as there are three distinct times mentioned in the Quran. The Sunnis tend to combine only under certain circumstances. Shia Islam embodies a completely independent system of religious interpretation and political authority in the Muslim world. The original Shia identity referred to the followers of Imam Ali, and Shia theology was formulated in the 2nd century AH, or after Hijra (8th century CE). The first Shia governments and societies were established by the end of the 3rd century AH/9th century CE. The 4th century AH /10th century CE has been referred to by Louis Massignon as "the Shiite Ismaili century in the history of Islam". Shia Muslims believe that just as a prophet is appointed by God alone, only God has the prerogative to appoint the successor to his prophet. They believe God chose Ali to be Muhammad's successor, infallible, the first caliph (khalifa, head of state) of Islam. Muhammad, before his death, designated Ali as his successor.

I will be looking into Hinduism and Buddhism in my next part. The ultimate goal of this multi-part blog is to research and give evidence on who the real God is.