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Jews believe that the messiah is yet to come. Christians believe Jesus was the messiah. Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet (but not the messiah) and that Muhammad was a "better" prophet. They all believe in a single creator-god and an eternal afterlife, however there's a lot of different groups that believe different things about how this works. Protestants e.g. believe that you go to heaven as long as you believe in Jesus. Catholics believe that you go hell unless you confess and atone for all your sins. There's dozens of sub-religions and cults in all religions who are more or less extreme than others.

Buddhism is more a philosophy than a religion but they believe that you're reborn over and over.

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.

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Religions are belief systems that either reproduce themselves or die out. Like genes there will be a process that ensures or fails to ensure survival.

1. Judaism reproduces itself primarily by attachment to the Jewish race, hence the confusion as to whether the term might refer to a religion or a race. This confusion does not apply to the other two.

2. Christianity primarily reproduces and multiplies itself by conversion (preaching) and also by passing down the generations.

3. Islam reproduces itself by forcible conquest and then passing down the generations.

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In Judaism, Islam and Buddhism the main character points the way towards eternal reward. In Christianity the main character point to himself as the only way towards eternal reward.

Deacon

Great question!

Judaism is the mother of Christianity, Islam, and Catholicism. Their 'bibles' tell almost identical stories and base their entire faith around a messiah who is the son of a single God.

Buddism, on the other hand, arose around the same time as Islam, but is extremely different to the other religions. Buddism doesn't have a central text, and is built around philosophies rather than idols.

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