Side by side, dimension by dimension
The Big Chart
Founders, texts, the divine, the problem each tradition diagnoses and the cure it prescribes — the classic comparative chart, rebuilt and cross-referenced from Grokipedia, Wikipedia and ReligionFacts. Pick the traditions to compare.
14 traditions · 13 dimensions · how we source this →
| Dimension | Christianity2.65B adherents | Islam2.06B adherents | Hinduism1.20B adherents | Buddhism538M adherents | Sikhism29.0M adherents | Judaism15.0M adherents |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | c. 30 CE (1st century) · Roman Judea (Levant) — Jesus of Nazareth (as interpreted by his followers; Paul central to spread) | 7th century CE (first revelation c. 610; Hijra 622) · Mecca and Medina, Arabian Peninsula — Prophet Muhammad (regarded as final prophet, not originator — Islam sees itself as restoring Abraham's monotheism) | No founding date; Vedic roots c. 1500–500 BCE, classical synthesis by early centuries CE · Indian subcontinent (Indus-Ganges plain) — None — evolved from Vedic religion and indigenous Indian traditions | c. 6th–5th century BCE · Northeast India / Nepal borderlands (enlightenment at Bodh Gaya; first sermon at Sarnath) — Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha | c. 1500 CE (Guru Nanak, b. 1469); Khalsa founded 1699 · Punjab, Indian subcontinent — Guru Nanak, followed by nine successor Gurus; Guru Granth Sahib made eternal Guru | Traditionally c. 2000–1800 BCE (Abraham); scholars trace it evolving from Israelite Yahwism (1st millennium BCE), consolidating after 70 CE · Ancient Israel / Judah (Levant) — Traditionally Abraham (covenant) and Moses (Torah); critical scholarship sees gradual evolution (Grokipedia) |
| The divine | Monotheistic: one God in three co-equal persons — Father, Son (Jesus Christ), Holy Spirit (Trinity). | Strictly monotheistic: one indivisible God, Allah (tawhid); no partners or incarnations. | One Ultimate Reality (Brahman) manifested in many gods and goddesses (Vishnu, Shiva, Devi); spans monism, henotheism and polytheism by tradition. | Non-theistic: no creator God; liberation through one's own practice (Grokipedia); Mahayana venerates buddhas and bodhisattvas devotionally. | Strict monotheism: one formless, transcendent God — Ik Onkar / Waheguru; idolatry rejected. | Strict ethical monotheism: one God, YHWH, in covenant with the people Israel. |
| Primary texts | Bible (Old Testament + New Testament) | Quran; Hadith (sayings and practice of Muhammad) | Vedas & Upanishads (shruti); Bhagavad Gita; Epics (Mahabharata, Ramayana) & Puranas (smriti) | Tripitaka / Pali Canon; Mahayana sutras (e.g. Lotus Sutra, Heart Sutra); Tibetan canon (Kangyur) | Guru Granth Sahib (Adi Granth) — revered as the living Guru | Hebrew Bible (Tanakh, incl. Torah); Talmud |
| The problem | Humanity is estranged from God by sin and needs salvation. | Humans are forgetful and prone to stray from God's guidance (no original sin); life is a test of submission. | The soul (atman) is trapped in the karma-driven cycle of rebirth through ignorance of its true nature. | Dukkha — suffering/unsatisfactoriness arising from craving and attachment (Four Noble Truths). | Ego and self-centredness (haumai) separate the soul from God and bind it to rebirth. | Humans have free will inclined to both good and evil; the task is faithfulness to the covenant, not rescue from original sin. |
| The goal | Salvation by divine grace through faith in Jesus' atoning death and resurrection. | Submission to God's will and observance of the Five Pillars, seeking God's mercy and Paradise. | Moksha — liberation from samsara, via paths of devotion (bhakti), knowledge (jnana), action (karma) and meditation. | Nirvana — extinguishing craving and ending rebirth, via the Noble Eightfold Path. | Union with God through meditation on God's name (naam japna), honest work (kirat karna) and sharing with the needy (vand chakna). | Living the covenant — Torah study, mitzvot and ethical action; collective redemption in a messianic age. |
| Afterlife | Resurrection and eternal life with God (heaven) or separation from God (hell); final judgment. | Bodily resurrection and Day of Judgment leading to Paradise (Jannah) or Hell (Jahannam) based on faith and deeds. | Samsara — cycle of death and rebirth governed by karma, until liberation. | Rebirth in samsara driven by karma until nirvana ends the cycle. | Cycle of rebirth shaped by karma; union/merger with God ends the cycle. | Beliefs vary widely — from World to Come (olam ha-ba) and resurrection to little emphasis; focus is on this life. |
| Practices | Sunday worship, prayer, scripture reading, baptism, communion (Eucharist), sacraments | shahada (declaration of faith), salat (5 daily prayers), zakat (almsgiving), sawm (Ramadan fasting), hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) | puja (worship), yoga, meditation, pilgrimage, temple festivals, home shrines | meditation, ethical precepts, chanting/mantras, monasticism, merit-making, devotion (Mahayana/Vajrayana) | naam japna (meditation on God's name), gurdwara worship, langar (free communal kitchen), seva (service), Five Ks (kesh, kangha, kara, kirpan, kachera) | Sabbath (Shabbat), synagogue prayer, kashrut (dietary laws), circumcision, bar/bat mitzvah, Torah study |
| Law & ethics | Ten Commandments; love of God and neighbor; canon law (Catholic/Orthodox) | Sharia, derived from Quran and Hadith | Dharma (duty, cosmic order); four aims of life (purusharthas) | Five Precepts; Noble Eightfold Path; vinaya (monastic code) | Rehat Maryada (Sikh code of conduct); three pillars of naam/kirat/vand | Halakha (Jewish law): 613 mitzvot interpreted via Talmud |
| Worship | Church (cathedral, chapel) | Mosque (Friday congregational prayer) | Mandir (Hindu temple); home shrines central | Temple, monastery, stupa/pagoda | Gurdwara | Synagogue |
| Clergy | Priests, pastors, ministers; Pope heads Roman Catholicism | No formal priesthood; imams lead prayer, ulama (scholars) interpret law | Brahmin priests, gurus, swamis; no central hierarchy | Monastic sangha — monks and nuns; lamas in Tibetan Buddhism | No priesthood — granthis read scripture; equality emphasized | Rabbis (teachers/legal scholars); cantors |
| Holidays | Easter, Christmas, Lent, Pentecost | Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, Ramadan (month), Mawlid (in many communities) | Diwali, Holi, Navaratri, Maha Shivaratri, Janmashtami | Vesak (Buddha's birth/enlightenment/death), Magha Puja, Vassa (rains retreat), Losar (Tibetan) | Vaisakhi (Khalsa founding), Guru Nanak Gurpurab, Bandi Chhor Divas, Hola Mohalla | Passover (Pesach), Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Hanukkah |
| Symbol | Cross | No official symbol (Grokipedia); shahada calligraphy; star and crescent used culturally | Om (ॐ) | Dharma wheel (dharmachakra); lotus | Khanda; Ik Onkar | Star of David; menorah |
| Branches | 3 major branches — Roman Catholic (>1.3B), Protestant, Eastern Orthodox (Grokipedia); ~45,000 denominations worldwide (World Christian Encyclopedia estimate) | Sunni 85–90% of ~2B Muslims, Shia 10–15% (Grokipedia); Sufism as mystical current within both | 4 major traditions: Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism, Smartism (Wikipedia); Grokipedia has no Hinduism article (404) | 3 major vehicles: Theravada (SE Asia), Mahayana (East Asia — Zen, Pure Land, Nichiren), Vajrayana (Tibet) | Largely unified around the Khalsa ideal; smaller sects (Namdhari, Nirankari, Nihang orders) | Main movements: Orthodox, Conservative, Reform (plus Reconstructionist, Haredi/Hasidic streams); Jewish-identity criteria differ across them (Grokipedia) |
| The arc | Emerged from Second Temple Judaism in 1st-century Roman Judea and spread through the Roman Empire despite persecution, becoming its state religion by the 4th century. Split with the East–West Schism (1054) and the Protestant Reformation (16th century), then spread globally via European colonization and missions. Today the world's largest religion (~2.6B), with its center of gravity shifting to the Global South while Europe secularizes.ReligionFacts — Big Religion Chart · Grokipedia · Wikipedia | Founded in 7th-century Arabia through Muhammad's revelations; within a century of his death (632) Arab-Islamic empires stretched from Iberia to the Indus. Flourished through medieval caliphates and later Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal empires, developing rich legal and intellectual traditions. Today the second-largest and fastest-growing major religion (~2B), majority in 53 countries, with 62% of Muslims in Asia-Pacific.ReligionFacts — Big Religion Chart · Grokipedia · Wikipedia | Vedic religion (from c. 1500 BCE) blended with indigenous Indian traditions into the classical 'Hindu synthesis' of epics, temples and philosophy. Medieval bhakti movements and thinkers like Adi Shankara (8th–9th c.) reshaped devotion and Vedanta; colonial-era reform movements modernized the tradition. Today the world's third-largest religion (~1.2B), dominant in India and Nepal with a global diaspora.ReligionFacts — Big Religion Chart · Wikipedia | Founded in the Axial Age by the Buddha, spread across Asia via Ashoka's patronage (3rd c. BCE) and the Silk Road, diversifying into Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana. It declined in its Indian homeland by the medieval period while flourishing in Sri Lanka, East and Southeast Asia and Tibet. Today ~320–500M adherents (counts vary), with growing Western presence but a net decline 2010–2020 (Pew via Grokipedia).ReligionFacts — Big Religion Chart · Grokipedia · Wikipedia | Founded by Guru Nanak in 16th-century Punjab amid Hindu–Muslim tension, teaching devotion to one God and social equality. Ten Gurus shaped the faith, with persecution under the Mughals forging the martial Khalsa (1699) and later a Sikh empire under Ranjit Singh (early 19th c.). Today ~25–26M Sikhs, concentrated in Punjab with a large global diaspora.ReligionFacts — Big Religion Chart · Grokipedia · Wikipedia | Emerged from the religion of ancient Israel, transformed by the Babylonian exile and canonization of the Torah, then reinvented as rabbinic Judaism after the Second Temple's destruction (70 CE). Survived a 2,000-year diaspora across Europe and the Middle East despite recurrent persecution culminating in the Holocaust. Today ~15M adherents, concentrated in Israel (founded 1948) and the United States.ReligionFacts — Big Religion Chart · Grokipedia · Wikipedia |
One-line cells flatten living traditions — every row hides centuries of internal argument (whether Confucianism is a religion at all is itself disputed, and the chart says so). Population figures and their competing estimates live on the numbers page; the full history is on the timeline.