Dwight Whylie
Jamaica Observer

THERE are five main faiths which have crossed geographical boundaries and become world religions, while others have remained in individual countries, closely related regions, or have attracted small followings in many places. In my view the five with significant followings in most parts of the world are Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Judaism. Each has many variations, and in some cases, new religions evolve incorporating elements of two or more of these or other faiths. An example is Sikhism, which blends Hindu and Muslim beliefs.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam are monotheistic. There is a creator of all things and concepts of good, evil and free will. Human beings are free to choose between good and evil, and face judgement by God, who, in the afterlife, rewards good thoughts and actions, and punishes evil thoughts and actions. All believe that the essence of the individual is a soul which has one physical lifetime before facing a final judgement. All three in their several variations, spell out rituals, codes and practices which will lead to favour with the Almighty, and define the ideas and deeds which lead to damnation. And all have a strong concept of sin as an intrinsic part of the human soul, which therefore needs God's intervention -- in spite of free will -- for salvation to be achieved. Christianity gives its believers a saviour, who if asked, will take unto himself the sins of the supplicant and cleanse his or her soul.

Over the centuries, rulers and politicians have greatly influenced these rituals, codes, practices and ideas. For example, the Anglican Church broke away from the Roman Catholic Church because Henry VIII of England wanted a divorce which the Pope refused to grant. And Islam, under the influence of charismatic leaders, combining politics and religion, has grown many branches. Sunni and Shia are the two main ones. Judaism, Christianity and Islam revere prophets who are seen as messengers of God, but not divine. They have many in common, notably Noah, Abraham and Moses. Islam also reveres Jesus as a prophet, but not as the Son of God as Christians do. And Judaism does not accept Jesus as the Messiah. All three have beliefs in angels, to which Christianity adds saints.

Hinduism recognises a supreme being, Brahman, the God above all gods, but accepts a multitude of other gods as aspects of an all-embracing Brahman. The core of Hindu belief is that all creatures are in a process of spiritual evolution through unlimited cycles of time. Each soul, through successive lifetimes, works to climb the scale of merit until it achieves freedom from the limitations of physical life and is united with Brahman. The normal harmonious physical life is lived in four stages: initiation and learning, marriage and duty to family and community, detachment from these obligations in order to serve humanity more widely, and finally preparation for the end of this life and for the next incarnation. The balance sheet of good and evil is known as karma. Each life adds or subtracts from this merit scale, and a life well lived means rewards in the next incarnation. All life is part of this process, because a human life badly lived may lead to a soul being downgraded to an animal or plant life in the next incarnation, but may rise again in subsequent lives. Intrinsic in this belief is a reverence for all living things.

Buddhism is governed by four Noble Truths. The first is the sorrow and suffering of all life -- birth, aging and death. The second identifies this suffering as coming from the craving for the pleasures of life. The third teaches that suffering can only end with the end of craving, and the fourth lays out an eightfold path to end craving. The eight steps on this path are: Right Views, Right Resolve, Right Speech, Right Conduct, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration. This path repudiates malice, ill will, lust and hurt to living things, and leads to peace, knowledge, enlightenment and Nirvana, a state of bliss. The concepts of Karma and reincarnation are part of Buddhist belief, but there is no worship of a God figure.

Hinduism and Buddhism -- like Judaism, Christianity and Islam, have branched into many forms, influenced by great thinkers, politics and the cultures of many lands. But their core beliefs remain common to all the variations.

My layman's attempt to cast these great religious movements into terse paragraphs leaves much untold, and perhaps unintentionally distorted. However I hope this give us enough to see some remarkable common threads. All see creation as an integrated whole governed by principles which suggest a supreme creating intelligence. Some of those add supporting casts of lesser gods, angels and saints. Buddhism sees it as all pervasive but leaves it to humanity to find its way to salvation without direct divine intervention. All have prophets, messengers and messiahs who bring special insights into the universal principles and purposes of that supreme intelligence. Noah, Moses, Abraham, Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha), Jesus Christ, Mohammed. And all speak of love, honour, caring, peace, service and codes for the good life.

THOSE common threads give me hope that an ecumenical movement can genuinely be woven into the consciousness of all peoples, to dispel the prejudice and hostility which have triggered wars, crusades, jihads and justifications for discrimination and slavery through time and all over the world. Research into the human genome has established without doubt that the superficial differences between so-called races are just that -- superficial. Most are adaptations by local populations to local environments lived in over many generations. Modern travel and communication -- and "racial" mixing -- are creating a de-facto ecumenism. In spite of the surge of violence between religions, cultures and countries, and the dark deeds of political monsters, tyrants and terrorists, I believe I may live to see Arab and Jew, Christian and Muslim, Sikh and Hindu and any combination of traditional belligerents, embrace their common humanity and make peace.

What do you believe? It is worth thinking about. Without getting into doctrine and detail, I believe in a supreme creating intelligence which infuses all existence and is omniscient and omni-present; which is the essence of love in its most universal sense; and of which all souls are an integral part and therefore able to communicate directly (call it prayer if you will). I also believe in karma and reincarnation leading eventually to either a totally spiritual life or alternatively to oblivion. I also believe in prophets, teachers and messengers, and can therefore find threads of truth in so many belief systems.

Why lie?