Islam and Christianity

Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are three directly associated religions. The two largest religions in the world are Christianity and Islam. They all believe in Abraham and certain other patriarchs mentioned in the Bible as their spiritual ancestors. In their many points of similarity, there is no guarantee that their followers can get along. Most of the religiously provoked conflicts, mass crimes against humankind and genocides in the 20th century have been between Christians and Muslims.

It is quite difficult to compare Christianity, and other religions of the Western World to any other religion, because there is such a wide range of beliefs and practices among diverse areas of Christianity, such as, Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox churches, the Anglican Communion and the thousands of Protestant faith groups. Christianity consists of a number of different religions which share little more than the Bible and the name of their religion.

Within the religions themselves, Christianity and Islam, here is a comparison of these two largely practiced religions. Both religions were founded in the CE- (Common Era), Christianity circa 30 CE, and Islam 622 CE. Christianity means “Believer in Christ” and Islam means “Submission to the will of God.” The founder of Christianity is Jesus Christ and religious historians credit Muhammad as the founder of Islam but Muslims generally regard Islam as dating back to the time of creation. The internal divisions in Christianity are Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Protestant, and others, and in Islam there is Shiite, Sunni, and Sufi. (Mystical tradition)

I will now compare and contrast the beliefs of Christianity as well as Islam. In Christianity, most believe in the Trinity; three persons in Godhead: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Jesus is generally considered the Son of God, worshiped as God; part of the Trinity. Christians believe that Jesus was born a virgin birth; Islam believes the same of Allah. In the Islamic religion God (Allah) is one and indivisible. They believe in a strict monotheism. “Allah” means God in Arabic. Allah is very highly respected as the second-last prophet. They believe Allah was neither killed nor crucified, nor suffered death. Muslims believe that he ascended alive into heaven. In Christianity, Jesus Christ was executed by the Roman Army circa 30 CE. Both religions believe that God ascended into heaven.

Religion and politics are linked in a different way in the West from the ways of connection in the Muslim world. In general, religion is the foundation that plays an important role in any society by teaching and providing learning experiences that develop moral behavior among individuals and in the community. On the other hand, government, and political institutions preserve order, control and run the systems of justice, law, transportation facilities, public safety social and healthcare services, education, and taxation. In modern societies public (governmental) and private non-governmental organizations (NGO's) also control healthcare and public welfare services.

Islam with a fairly complete Shariah, or system of laws, has tried to integrate the two under the authority of religious scholars. Yet, power is mainly rooted in the Quran and in Sunni