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A Comparison of Asian and Abrahamic Faiths

 

            The Abrahamic religions of the Middle East developed quite differently from the religions of Southeast and Central Asia, despite their relative proximity to each other. This is especially true in the cases of Buddhism, Jainism, Confucianism, Shinto, Taoism, and Hinduism, all of which are major theological ideologies, crucial to the development of Asian culture.
             The separation between Abrahamic and Asian faiths is evident from the very beginning, with their views of creationism. While Islam, Christianity, and Judaism have different timelines for the event, they all commonly accept that their respective God made everything in existence within a week, with Islam's Allah beginning on Saturday, and Christianity and Judaism's God beginning on Monday. Everything was created with a specific design, and was ultimately made to glorify the creator.
             This is where the divide begins. Asian faiths have different stories of creation between each faith. The most extreme example of separation between creationist tales is found in the Shinto faith. The tale states that there were three deities in the beginning: The Master of Heaven, the Producing Spirit, and the Producing Ancestor. These Gods gave life to six pairs of lesser deities, who in turn created the first humans, Izanami and Izanagi. These two beings attempted to give birth to more humans, but were prevented from doing so because the woman spoke first in the tale. This clear example of misogyny set a pathway to the patriarchal society of Japan, and also serves as an example of the divide between Abrahamic and Asian faiths. Although Izanami and Izanagi were made at the same time, it was quite evident that Izanagi (the male) was the dominant of the two. In the Christian creation story, Adam was made before Eve, but she was made from his rib, "because she was not serve under him or above him, but beside him. " Which leads to the next example of separation between Abrahamic and Asian religious systems.


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