Thus, the adoption of Christianity by these and other European nations created new forms of government and new ways of living a just and moral life.
In contrast, those that practice Judaism, as compared to Christians, tend to be socially and economically liberal and strongly support individual liberties with regard to many societal issues. However, Judaism also reflects "Enlightenment beliefs about the value and sanctity of each individual conscience," meaning that semi-Christian beliefs and practices were adopted by many Jews in Europe as a result of the spread of Enlightenment ideals during the middle years of the 18th century (Parratt, 212).
As compared to Christianity, Islam has played practically no role in the development of Western civilization (except perhaps for the many religious wars between Christianized nations and Islamic nations in the past one thousand years or so), yet in today's modern world, Islam has taken a foothold in many European nations and in the United States. Islam "is the third of the major Semitic, monotheistic religions, along with Judaism and Christianity" and those that adhere to Islam are known as Muslims. The word Islam can be defined as "the peace of one who submits wholly to God (i.e., Allah)," yet the main difference between Judaism, Christianity and Islam is that Muslims follow the teachings of the prophet Muhammad, while almost all Christians follow the teachings of Jesus Christ (Gilsenan, 178).
Yet Islam is also similar to Judaism and...
The core beliefs of Islam "are the oneness and unity of Allah and the prophethood of Muhammad," similar in nature to the Christian adherence to Jesus Christ and the Holy Bible, particularly the New Testament. However, Muslims also believe in the sacred writings of Judaism and Christianity which in their faith "culminate in the teachings of the Quran" (Gilsenan, 219). Thus, all three of these religions share many more similarities than differences, for they all came about from the same general geographic area in the Middle East and all share in the belief of one God, whether the God of the Israelites, God as the father of Jesus Christ or the God known as Allah.
Bibliography
Baker, Liva. World Faiths: A Story of Religion. Israel: Abelard & Schuman, 1965.
Eliade, Mircea. The HarperCollins Concise Guide to World Religions. San Francisco:
HarperCollins, 1991.
Gilsenan, Michael. Recognizing Islam: Religion and Society in the Modern Arab World.
New York: Pantheon Books, 1982.
Hunt, Stephen J. Religion in Western Society. New York: Palgrave-Macmillan, 1980.
Kisch, H.S. Religion of the Civilized World and Judaism. London: George Routledge & Sons, 1975.
Parratt, John, Ed. An Introduction to Third-World Theologies. UK: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
