Table of Contents
Part I 1
Chapter 1 What is Religion?: What does it involve? Could you be religious without realizing it? 3
Chapter 2 One Idea and One Word: Setting out the main idea of each of the most significant world religions 10
Chapter 3 Who was First?: A brief explanation of the chronological order in which these world religions emerged 14
Chapter 4 Basic Ideas: This sets out the basic ideas you need to understand in order to compare the major world religions, presented in the way religions usually do not 17
Chapter 5 The Influence of Greek Ideas: Ancient ideas that live with us now 44
Chapter 6 Proof and Belief: How the meaning of these words has changed 49
Chapter 7 A Slice of Ideas: Cross religion issues: forgiveness, Heaven and Hell, reincarnation and karma, aspects of God, evil, the present, translation, teleology and many others, and how different religions deal with them 53
Chapter 8 Secularism and Non Believers 76
Part II Non God Religions 89
Chapter 9 Jainism 91
Chapter 10 Buddhism 108
Chapter 11 A Note on Chinese Religions 141
Chapter 12 Confucianism 144
Chapter 13 Taoism 159
Chapter 14 Shintoism 175
Part III God Religions 181
Chapter 15 Zoroastrianism 183
Chapter 16 Judaism 191
Chapter 17 Hinduism 213
Chapter 18 Christianity 238
Chapter 19 Islam 287
Chapter 20 Sikhism 324
Chapter 21 The Baha'i Faith 335
Further Reading 339
Afterword 341
