r3dl3g t1_j2dcopj wrote on December 31, 2022 at 12:14 PM

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are all directly related. Judaism is the oldest by a few thousand years, and arose in the Middle East with some influences from Zoroastrianism. The important part is that the Jews believe in the idea of a Messiah, who will come to Earth at some point and uplift humanity.

Christianity is an offshoot of Judaism that arose in the first few centuries of the common era. Christianity is based around the idea that Jesus Christ, a Jewish religious figure from the Second Temple era, fulfilled the idea of the Jewish Messiah, and was the son of god.

Islam rose a few hundred years after Christianity in Arabia, and centered on the conquest of Arabia by Muhammad. Within Islam, Muhammad is considered the final prophet, overriding the scriptural rules of both Judaism and Christianity.

Buddhism is a completely separate religion that arose in India, and is slightly older than Christianity, centered on the teachings and philosophies of Siddhartha Gautama, who was enlightened and thus became the Buddha.

tiredstars t1_j2dhkbi wrote on December 31, 2022 at 1:10 PM

The only half decent answer so far... Some more points that seem important.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all monotheistic religions. That means they insist people worship only one god - in fact, they deny the existence of any others (though this wasn't always the case for Judaism).

Islam, Christianity and Buddhism are "universal" religions - believers believe that the religion is for everyone, and that they have a duty to spread the religion. This is not the case for Judaism.

Jews follows a (complex) set of laws and rules (although how strictly they follow them varies a lot). Muslims follow five key rules, like charity and regular prayer, though they have some of the same taboos as Jews, like not eating pork. Christians don't place this same emphasis on specific rules or even on behaviour. Generally what's most important is belief - belief in God and in Jesus as saviour.

If you do or believe the right things, when you die your soul will go to heaven (though you might have to go through purgatory first).

Buddhists believe that the world we perceive is an illusion and that the goal of life is to free ourselves from this illusion - what they call "enlightenment". They believe souls are reincarnated over and over until they become free.

Buddhists generally believe in a range of gods, demigods and mystical beings, who can help or hinder people on earth or in achieving enlightenment. Buddhism is very "syncretic" meaning it mixes easily with other religions, like Hinduism, Taoism and Shintoism.