Religions’ Comparisons
Click on the following to see the webpage with information on differences in Bibles: http://bessel.org/bibles.htm
Much of the information in this chart comes from sources that I believe are reliable, such as encyclopedias, almanacs, books, and people who I believe to be reliable who have sent me emails. I have sometimes included information on this chart when I believe, but do not know know, if it is accurate. I am always willing to add any comments that are sent to me, since I am not an expert on this subject.
If anyone wants to send me email, especially if any of the information on this chart is not correct or if you know of additional information that should be included, please send me email by clicking on my name:
Paul M. Bessel
The following is taken from an email message that was sent to me: A major problem with a chart of this type is that it literally creates “walls” between certain religions. This is ok for Western religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, even Zoroastrianism) where the idea that one may only have one religion is prevalent, but it is totally artificial among the Eastern religions (Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Shinto). Among these it is common for people to practice more than one religion, i.e., a person may subscribe to Taoist cosmology, Confucian ethics, and Buddhist meditation without seeing any contradiction. The exceptions to this kind of tolerant multi-faith existence in the East are the Pure Land and Nichiren sects of Buddhism, which are rather exclusive and (in the case of Nichiren) surprisingly Triumphalist. Otherwise, a laissai-faire attitude towards religion is the Eastern way of spirituality.
Table of (a) religions, (b) their name(s) of Deity, (c) their Volume(s) of Sacred Law, and (d) other information, details, and links.
| Religion | Name(s) of Deity Volume(s) of Sacred Law Other Information, Details, Links |
|---|---|
| Baha’i Faith | GodThe Book of Certitude The al-Kitab al-Aqdas of Bahaismhttp://www.bahai.org/ about 8 million worldwide, most in Asia and Africa, almost 1 million in North America |
| Buddhism Mahayana (largest group) Theravada (Hinayana) (2nd largest group) Tantrayana (Lamaism) (smallest group, by far) |
Vairocana -or- Dainichi (Shingon) Amitabha or Amida (Pure Land) Dharmakaya (Hinayana) Kwannon (feminine, Japan only)Hinayana (Theraveda) = Tripitaka (also know as the Pali Canon) Mahayana = Sutras (Many Sutras; no sense listing) Vajrayana (Tantrayana) = Tantras http://www.buddhanet.net/ Mahayana Sects: over 350 million worldwide, most in Asia, more than 2 million in North America |
| Christianity (Christian) African Methodist Episcopal Amish Anabaptist Anglican Assemblies of God Baptist (Southern, National, National Missionary, Progressive National) Calvinist Catholic (Roman Catholic) Christian Science Church of Christ Church of God Congregationalist Disciples of Christ Episcopalian Friends (Quaker) Jehovah’s Witnesses Latter Day Saints (Mormon) Lutheran Mennonite Methodist Moravian Mormon (Latter Day Saints) Nazarene Orthodox (Eastern, Greek, Russian, Coptic, Ethiopic, Romanian, other) Pentecostal Presbyterian Protestantism Quaker (Friends) Rastafarian Roman Catholicism Salvation Army Seventh Day Adventist Shaker Swedenborgian Unification Church Unitarian-Universalist Wesleyan |
GodBible (Old Testament and New Testament – see below for more details about which books are included in the Christian Bible, for different Christian religions) (for LDS) also the Book of Mormon (for Catholics) The New American Biblehttp://www.internetdynamics.com/pub/vc/christianity.html http://www.vatican.va/ http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/gthursby/rel/xprotest.htm http://pcusa.org/ http://www.sbcnet.org/resource.htm http://www.uua.org
almost 2 billion worldwide, most in Europe and Latin America, over 250 million in North America |
| Confucianism | Shang Ti, “Heavenly Ruler”Analects
http://www.enteract.com/~geenius/kongfuzi/ over 6 million worldwide, almost all in Asia |
| Deism | Providencehttp://www.deism.com/ |
| Ethical Culture | http://www.aeu.org/ |
| Gnosticism | http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/nhsearch.html |
| Hinduism Main Hindu Sects (“The Six Darshana”): Nyaya Vaisheshika Sankhya Yoga Vedanta Purva-Mimansa Other Hindu Sects: Shaktism Brahmo Samaj Arya Samaj RamakrishnaVaishnavites (largest group) Shaivites (minority group) |
Brahman, Vishnu, Shiva, sometimes Krishna; many othersVedas; Gitas
http://home-2.worldonline.nl/~waterput/ about 750 million worldwide, almost all in Asia, more than 1 million in North America |
| Islam (Moslem) Sunni (largest group, by far) Shia (Shi’ ite) Sufi |
AllahKoran; Qur’an; Quran; (other books?) Hadith 3 different English translations of the Koran (Yusuf Ali, Pickthal and Shakir)http://www.hti.umich.edu/relig/koran/ http://etext.virginia.edu/koran.html http://www.islamic-foundation.org/ http://www.al-islam.org/ http://www.arches.uga.edu/~godlas/ more than 1 billion worldwide, great majority in Asia, over 4 million in North America |
| Jainism Shvetambara (“Earth-clad”) “Digambara” (“Sky-Clad”) |
Deity: None; Gods are held to exist but are remote finite beingshttp://metalab.unc.edu/jainism/ http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/mahavira.html http://www.yja.org/4 million worldwide, almost all in Asia, 5 thousand in North America |
| Judaism (Jewish, Hebrew) Orthodox Conservative Reform Reconstructionist Humanist Hasidic Karaite Ashkenazi Sephardi |
God (Substitute) Jewish Names of God: Adonai; Adonay; Eloheinu; Elohim; Ha-Shem; El (pronounced “Ale”); Yahweh, YHVH; YHVH Tzva’ot; El Shaddai; G-dBible (other names for the Bible or parts of it, or other books): Tanach, Tanakh, Torah, Pentateuch, Talmud, Midrash
http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH00lf0 about 15 million worldwide, most in North America and Asia, about 6 million in North America |
| Mandeism | one God, called “Hayyi” which in Aramaic means “the Living” or life itselfhttp://home.sol.no/~noetic/mandse.htm |
| Paganism | there are said to be Nordic groups, Greek groups, Celtic groups, etc.http://realmoflore.silvermoonrising.com/paganqus.htm http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/paganism.txt |
| Scientology | http://www.scientology.org/scnhome.html |
| Shinto | All Japanese Deities are called “Kami” Another name for Shinto: “Kami-no-Michi,” Way of the Gods” Izanagi, sky-father creator deity Izanami, earth-mother creator deity Amaterasu, Goddess of the Sun (VERY important) Hachiman, God of WarKoji-kihttp://www.shinto.org/ http://www.silcom.com/~origin/sbcr/sbcr131 almost 3 million worldwide, almost all in Asia, 54 thousand in North America |
| Sikhism | “True Name” Hari (default, seldom uttered) Maya (feminine, “illusion” impliedGranth; Adi Granth http://www.rpi.edu/~anandh/NISHKAM/sikhism.html over 22 million worldwide, almost all in Asia, almost 500 thousand in North America |
| Taoism | Shang Ti, “Heavenly Ruler”I-Ching and Tao-Te-Ching
http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/gthursby/taoism/ From an email message: Frankly I think at least “Tao Te Ching” (Theoretically written by Lao Tsu — spelling optional at Lao Tze, etc.) is better than “I Ching” which essentially is a book of divination albeit with “Taoist” world view… with I recall off the top of my head annotations allegedly penned by Confucius (Gung-Fu-Tze and another bunch of optional transliterated spellings.) Email message: I’m certainly no authority on this, but you may (if you are already sure about this, forgive me) want to consider changing “I Ching” to “Tao Te Ching”. The Tao Te Ching is set of 81 chapters written by Lao Tzu, and I believe that it would be more clearly the Taoist VSL then the “I Ching”. I think that “I Ching” is more commonly associated with a technique of divination. (I believe) almost 400 million worldwide, almost all in Asia, about 750 thousand in North America |
| Wicca | http://www.blast.net/norm3vog/faq.html |
| Zoroastrianism Parsee |
Good: Ahura-Mazda, Ormazd Evil: Ahriman Good Spirit: Spenta Mainyu Evil Spirit: Angra MainyuZend-Avesta; Gathas http://www.avesta.org/avesta.html 272 thousand worldwide, almost all in Asia |
Names of Deity
The following are said to be various names used by different religions for Deity, according to an email message that was sent to me by a Mason, Rod Larson:
| Aba, Abba (father in Hebrew) Abai Abba (see Aba, and also New Testament, God, Mark xiv. 36.) Abai Adon (Hebrew – Lord) Adonai, Adonay (Hebrew – my Lord – emphatic form of Adon which means lord or master. Used as a proper name that refers to God only) Agaayun Agni Ahura Mazda (Zoroastrian) Akua Ala (Earth and fertility goddess of the Ibo people of Nigeria. Also, goddess of the underworld. Daughter of the great god Chuku) Allah (Islam – God) Amaterasu (Japanese – Sun goddess and principle deity) Amma (Latin, or Creator god of the Dogon people of Mali) Amut Arnam Asdulaz Asdulza Asila |
Banara Bao Bari Bathala Bhagawan (India – literally means God) Bog (Polish – God) Boh Bozymy Brahma (Hindu – 1st member of the Trinity. Creator of the universe) |
Cernunos Chaacs (Mayan – rain god) Chiuta Christ Chukwu (African – translation of God) |
Deews Deo (Latin) Deus (Latin, or Portuguese – God) Dev, Deva (Sanskrit, Hindu) Devel Dieu (French) Dio Dios (Spanish – God) Dioz Dok Droue Dumnezeu |
Efozu El (pronounced “ale,” Hebrew) El Shaddai (Hebrew) Eloha (Hebrew) Elohai (Hebrew) Elohaynu (Hebrew) Elohim (Hebrew) |
| F’sahg Foy |
G-d Gad Gaddel Gado Gaia, Gaea (Greek – term relating to God of absolute unity with the Earth) Ganga Gatt Gedepo God Godd (Middle English) The Goddess (Wicca) Godh (Icelandic) Godimli Gosped Gospod (Russian) Got (Middle High German) Gud (Swedish, Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian – God) Gupti Guth (Gothic) |
Hananim HaShem (“the name,” in Hebrew) Hera (Greek – Mother/God of the universe) Hyel |
Ibmel Igziabiheif Imana (Creator god of the Rwandans) Indra (Sanskrit, Hindu – Warrior; most important god of Rig-Veda) Ishtar, Ishwar (Babylonian, Persian) Isor Isten |
Jahweh Jee Jehovah (Lord God. Translation of Yahweh) Jesus Jincouac Jove (Latin) Jumala (Finland – God) Juno Jupiter |
| Kalou Kami (Japanese – Innumerable deities which may be interpreted as gods) Khong Khuda Kot Krishna (Sanskrit, Hindu) Kunzi Kwoth (Sudan – Supreme being worshipped by Nuer, Nilotic people of Sudan) Kyala (Creator god of the Nyakyasa of south-west Tanzania) |
Leza (Chief god of the Zimbabwean Bantu tribes) Lord Lubah |
Maadaru Manitou (American Indian – Native Alaskan – Eskimo. A fearsom epagan winter-Earth spirit, sometimes interpreted as evil, capable of manifesting itself powerfully) Mawu (Sky god of the Ewe people of Togo) Maxam Mulungu (East-African-Shambaa in modern Northeast Tanzania – translation of “God” – Creator god of Yao of Malawi) Muneto |
Naibata The Name (Jewish) Nan Nawen Ngai (Vietnamese – God) Ngewo (Creator god of the Mende of Sierra Leone) Nialic Nkulu Kumba Nom (Latin) Norin Nun Nyambe (God of the Koko of Nigeria) Nyasaye (God of the Maragoli people of Kenya) Nzua Nzzapa |
Oco Odin (Norse, Danish) Oghene Olorun (Supreme god of the Yoruba people. Considered too remote for worship. Son of Olokun) Oqmasi Ormazd, Ormuzd (Zoroastrian, Ancient Persian – Supreme god; originally Ahura Mazda) Othin (Teutonic) Owo Owuso |
| Pai Paz Perendia (Albanian – God) Prajow |
Ra (Egyptian) Rabi Ramwa Rongo Rua Ruata Rum |
Shango (Trinidad – Cult of African origin worshipping spirits of the dead. Thunder-god of the Yoruba of West Aftica) Shangti Shashe Shen Shido Shiva, Siva (Sanskrit – Hindu – 3rd member of the Trinity. Destruction and Reproduction) Sibu Sikwembu Siyeh Soko |
Tanara Tane Tataa Tengri (Mongolian for “Father Sky” and represents a pre-Buddhist, shamanistic name for God – unofficial Deity of the Mongol Empire and much of China during the Mongol occupation, and the name continues in use today among shamans in middle Asia) Tentei Tetragammaton (not a name for Deity, but a way of referring to the letters that make up the name of Deity in Hebrew) Tev Theos (Greek – Literally meaning God) Thixo Torym Tsuku Tswashe Tumpa |
Ualare Unguluve |
| Vishnu (Sanskrit – Hindu – with Brahma & Siva forms a trinity – 2nd member of the Trinity. The Preserver) | Wain Waqa Were Wod (Middle German) Wodin, Wodan, Woden, Votan, Wotan (Teutonic) |
Xwede | Yah (Hebrew – short for of Yahweh – Meaning God) Yahweh (Hebrew – God – Translation of the unspoken, unnamed God of the Children of Israel. Often written as the tetragrammaton) YHWH Yala Yamba YHVH YHVH Tzva’ot Ywa |
Zambe Zeus (Greek) Zikhle Zin (a Songhay water spirit) |
California Grand Lodge’s List of VSLs and Religions
The Holy Bible of Christianity
The al-Kitab al-Aqdas of Bahaism
The Tripitaka of Buddhism
The Analects of Confucianism
The Vedas of Hinduism
The Koran of Islam
The Tanach of Judaism
The Koji-ki of Shintoism
The Adi Granth of Sikhism
The Tao-te Ching of Taoism
The Zend Avesta of Zoroastrianism
The Liber Al vel Legis of the Gnostic Catholic Church