I set out to fairly and equitably describe how every major religion answers the 3 Big Questions that plague human existence:
- Where did we come from?
- What are we?
- Where are we going?
This is not a thorough list, and intentionally omits two classes of doctrine:
- Their theology doesn’t answer at least 2 of the above Questions
- The theology is theologically consistent with a broader religion already covered below.
Monotheism — 1 identifiable God
While the essence of God may vary, 1 God is by far the most constricting religious theology
- Henotheism involves worshiping a single god without denying other gods’ existence, so it formally fits under polytheism.
Judaism (founded by Abraham, c. 2000 BC)
Where did we come from?
- G*d created us in His image, and the Jews are G*d’s chosen people.
What are we?
- As Jews, we are tasked with obeying G*d’s commandments and laws. G*d’s chosen people are waiting for the coming Messiah to save us from our sins.
Where are we going?
- This is not clear and not strongly emphasized, except that everyone dies and there is an afterlife known as Sheol.
Christianity (founded by Jesus’ followers, c. 30 AD)
Where did we come from?
- God created us in his image for a close relationship with him. God is a Holy Trinity comprised of three persons, but is only one God.
What are we?
- We are fallen sinners who need God’s love and have lost our original creation’s purpose of being in communion with God because of that sin.
Where are we going?
- We are judged by God the Father, and either go to heaven if our sins have been purified by Jesus’ blood, or hell if we have to pay for our sins ourselves.
Islam (founded by Muhammad, c. 609 AD)
Where did we come from?
- We were created by God to fulfill God’s will of being known by someone apart from himself. God is singular, and there is nobody but God.
What are we?
- We are made and purposed to worship God, and it is a higher purpose than any other. Worship is honoring the Five Pillars of Islam and can also include establishing Islamic governmental authority or practicing jihad.
Where are we going?
- As soon as we die, Hazrat Izraeel (the angel of death) extracts the person’s soul. The Angels of Mercy take a Muslim’s soul, and the Angels of Punishment take a non-believer’s soul. They go to the world of Barzakh until the day of judgment, and the soul is still linked to the body. Judgment is not specified, outside of followers of Islam having any chance of being spared hell and making it into paradise.
Seventh-Day Adventists (an offshoot of the Millerites, founded mostly by Ellen G. White in 1863)
Where did we come from?
- We were created by God, who consists of a Holy Trinity.
What are we?
- We are tasked with fulfilling God’s commands, which include not eating meat and honoring the Sabbath Day.
Where are we going?
- Jesus has already come back in 1844 and is carrying out an “investigative judgment” right now, at the end of which he will come a third time. When he does, everyone will either go to heaven or will cease to exist.
Nation of Islam (founded by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930)
Where did we come from?
- We were created by God. God came in the form of Wallace Fard Muhammad. The earth is 76 million years old, and the moon was once a part of it.
What are we?
- 10% of the world is deceiving another 85% of it. A 5% minority of righteous teachers fight the 10% for that 85%. The black man is a nation of its own, and they were enslaved and sent to America to fulfill Biblical prophecy as God’s chosen people.
Where are we going?
- The need to understand an afterlife is both from the need for survival we have inside of us and a failure to connect with the Supreme Singular Deity.
Unification Church (founded by Sun Myung Moon in 1954)
Where did we come from?
- God created us, who is a dualistic father-mother entity.
What are we?
- As outlined in the Exposition of the Divine Principle, we have fallen from a perfect state and need redemption through the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, who is manifest in Sun Myung Moon and his wife, Hak Ja Han.
Where are we going?
- We must pay our indemnity (cancel our sins we’ve done with other good things). When we’ve atoned, we will bring about the Kingdom of God. All travesties, including the Holocaust and World Wars, may have been nothing more than indemnity. Just because you have died does not mean you are exempt from paying it.
Polytheism — 2+ identifiable gods
Some pantheons only have a couple of gods, but most have many
Greco-Roman Religion (founded alongside Ancient Greece in the 8th century BC, possibly evolved from Mycenaean)
Where did we come from?
- Four divine beings came into existence: Chaos, The Abyss, Earth (Gaea) and Love (Eros). They forcibly tore Earth from her consort Heaven (Uranus) for her to give birth. To effect the separation, Uranus’ testicles were severed by his son Cronus (Zeus’ father) and thrown into the sea, where Aphrodite rose.
What are we?
- Our most significant religious purpose is to believe the gods and perform the proper sacrifices and rituals. This can gain favor and merit from the gods and others. Our lives are ultimately subject to the gods and to Fate.
Where are we going?
- A select few will go to Elysium (paradise) at the western end of the earth. Some very awful sinners will go to Tartarus (hell). Most will go to Hades, but only if they have had a proper burial.
Epicureanism (founded by Epicurus, c. 307 BC)
Where did we come from?
- We are all made of atoms, which are eternal. There is nothing but those physical atoms, including the soul. The gods exist, but don’t take notice of us.
What are we?
- See the above question. The greatest principles to live by are peace of mind, happiness, and pleasure.
Where are we going?
- There is no afterlife outside our atoms that continue on for eternity.
Shinto (founded before Japan’s written history, between 660 BC — c. 700 AD)
Where did we come from?
- Kami formed us, which is a powerful creating and harmonizing power as well as a truthful way. Kami transcends description with words, but devoted followers of Shinto can understand kami.
What are we?
- No one person is alone. They are connected to both their ancestors in a long lineage, along with their offspring and future legacy. By praying to the gods and performing kami rituals, we can be safe and prosperous.
Where are we going?
- When anyone dies, their kami passes on to be a spirit deity and to join a large collective of the Divine.
Mayan Religion (founded c. 250 AD)
Where did we come from?
- The world and its five world trees were created after the sky collapsed and a massive flood occurred.
What are we?
- We have multiple souls, defined in quasi-material terms (e.g., shadow, breath, blood, and bone). Ailments and illnesses come from losing one of those souls.
Where are we going?
- There might be an underworld or afterlife, but it varies from region to region.
Jehovah’s Witnesses (an offshoot of Millerites, founded by Charles Taze Russell in 1879)
Where did we come from?
- God made us, as well as making Jesus (another lesser god) and everything else.
What are we?
- We must follow the commands that the Watchtower Society indicates and interprets from the only correct Bible translation: the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.
Where are we going?
- 144,000 elect Witnesses will go to heaven and have spirit bodies. Other Witnesses will live on a restored paradise on earth. Non-Witnesses will cease to exist.
Mormonism/Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (founded by Joseph Smith in 1830)
Where did we come from?
- We are spirit beings born from Heavenly Parents, though we shouldn’t worship our Heavenly Mother. We were given free will to glorify the Father because Jesus, one of the Father’s sons, fought with Lucifer in heaven for us.
What are we?
- We are given free will to worship the Father or reject him. To live in the best way is to work to become perfected in Christ through His grace. The hope is to one day return to live eternally with God, Christ, and our families.
Where are we going?
- There is a Celestial Kingdom where those who follow God will go and will see the fullness of God. The Terrestrial Kingdom is where the presence of the Son is, but not of the Father, and is where all who had been deceived by the craftiness of men will go to. Everyone else who doesn’t receive the gospel of Christ or Jesus’ testimony will go to the Telestial Kingdom or Perdition.
Ásatrú/Germanic Neopaganism (founded in the 19th century)
Where did we come from?
- We are in Midgard, one of nine realms, that all came from the World Tree Yggdrasil.
What are we?
- We are made of Wyrds from the three Norns that have spun Being, Becoming, and Obligation into us from the World Tree’s roots.
Where are we going?
- This is varied and not definitive, but it can be anything from variations of paradise or damnation or even living out life like normal after death.
Wicca (founded by Gerald Gardner in 1954)
Where did we come from?
- Traditionally, we are from a goddess connected to the moon, stars, and the Earth and a horned god connected to the sun, forests, and animals.
What are we?
- We are beings. It is good to adhere to the ethical code of “harm nobody, do what you will,”
Where are we going?
- We probably reincarnate and go to the Otherworld or Summerland while waiting for reincarnation.
Pantheism
Believes in a God made of energy or a cosmic force that incorporates itself into everything
Hinduism (founded c. 2000 BC)
Where did we come from?
- We all possess an Atman or soul. This Atman is eternal and is inseparable and indistinguishable from the supreme spirit, Brahman.
What are we?
- We are all splinters of Brahman, tasked with four purposes in life:
- Dharma (finding a vocation or career and paying the five debts)
- Artha (finding worldly success)
- Kama (finding romantic and sexual pleasure)
- Moksha (enlightenment).
Where are we going?
- We will all eventually find liberation from the cycle of rebirth and go back to the nothing that is Brahman.
Jainism (founded in the 7th century BC)
Where did we come from?
- The universe and everything in it is eternal, neither having been created and never able to be destroyed.
What are we?
- We are part of a cycle of rebirth that needs a release from (moksa). Our karma is defined by our actions on four levels:
- Vedniya (happiness)
- Nam (body)
- Gotra (status)
- Longevity (ayushya)
Where are we going?
- Once one has attained moksa, they will be free of having to repeat the cycle of life and will have removed all karma and be in ultimate bliss in the highest level of heaven.
Taoism (founded c. 550 BC)
Where did we come from?
- We are a part of the Tao, which pervades all. The Tao consists of a yin and yang, and the opposites make up a unity.
What are we?
- As part of the Tao, we are continually changing and a piece of qi (indefinite potential). We are to worship the Jade Emperor as well as other deities, but many of these deities can be promoted or demoted for their actions.
Where are we going?
- When we die, we will revert to the state of non-being that we came from.
Buddhism (founded by Siddhārtha Gautama in the 5th century BC)
Where did we come from?
- We are in a continuous cycle of birth and death called Samsara.
What are we?
- We are learning to remove dukkha (suffering, anxiety, discontent) by following the Noble Eightfold Path.
Where are we going?
- We will be reborn constantly until dukkha has been wholly removed inside ourselves.
Stoicism (founded by Zeno in early 3rd century BC)
Where did we come from?
- Everything is material and comes from the Logos that exists throughout the universe.
What are we?
- We are all our bodies, but are part of a higher universal body that is affected by our decisions.
Where are we going?
- When we die, the soul dissolves. The universe started and will end with fire.
Druze (founded by Al-Darazi in the 11th century)
Where did we come from?
- We came from the Divine Intelligence, which has no defined attributes but only an essence.
What are we?
- We are to live a good life in expectation of the reappearance of al-Hakim, who will bring in a new age for true Druze believers.
Where are we going?
- Our right actions are weighed, and we will be reincarnated to a hopefully higher existence. Heaven is the escape from reincarnation as a purely spiritual existence, and hell is the distance from God across multiple lifetimes.
Unitarian Universalism (founded by Unitarians in 1825, merged with Universalists in 1961)
Where did we come from?
- There is no certainty where we came from, but it is from goodness.
What are we?
- We are living to support each other’s spiritual journeys by adhering to the Seven Principles and Purposes and being inspired by the Six Sources.
Where are we going?
- When we are unhappy, we are in hell and when we are happy, we are in heaven. There is no period of time except for now.
Panentheism
A combination of monotheism/polytheism and pantheism, where God is an energy or cosmic force but with separations of exclusively spiritual and physical things
Zoroastrianism (founded by Zarathustra in the 6th century BC)
Where did we come from?
- Ahura Mazda brought us out from himself.
What are we?
- We are incarnations of Ahura Mazda, fighting unhappiness and chaos caused by Ahriman.
Where are we going?
- Ahura Mazda will eventually destroy Ahriman and time will stop, where we will then all reunite with Ahura Mazda.
Confucianism (founded by Confucius, c. 6th-5th century BC)
Where did we come from?
- The question will be answered in time, and there is no clear answer to it. Transcendence will give answers that cannot be recreated in words.
What are we?
- We are all part of the Tian, which flows through everything and is everything. Wise men aspire and become one with the Tian. All people are intrinsically good and desire oneness with one another.
Where are we going?
- The afterlife is beyond human comprehension. People should live with no expectation of rewards or punishment in the afterlife, and for goodness with others in this life.
Sikhism (founded by Guru Nanak, c. 1500)
Where did we come from?
- We are all of God, the one, and only God.
What are we?
- Realization of truth is higher than all else. Higher still is truthful living. This is the way to enlightenment.
Where are we going?
- We all reincarnate into souls based on the actions we have made in this life. Demonic ego-centered souls may go to Narak and experience great agonies and pain. Souls who achieve grace by focusing on the Enlightener in meditation will exist eternally as an entity of radiant light and become one with God.
Bahá’í Faith (founded by Siyyid Ali-Muhammad in 1844)
Where did we come from?
- All religious views are correct in some way about our origins.
What are we?
- We have developed through degrees and stages on a path to a higher existence. God is perfect and immeasurable, and is impersonal to us. We come from God and will return someday to God, but cannot understand God.
Where are we going?
- Death is a reunion with God. The soul lives forever, while the body will die.
Spiritism/Spiritualism (founded by Allan Kardec, c. 1857)
Where did we come from?
- We came from the Supreme Intelligence, the First Cause of all things.
What are we?
- We are comprised of body and soul, with both being real, ascribable things. Spirits are in constant relation with mankind and affect nature and morality incessantly as well. Many other planets in the universe are inhabited like ours.
Where are we going?
- Spirits travel through a corporeal hierarchy. Souls retain their individuality after leaving the body.
Christian Science (founded by Mary Baker Eddy in 1879)
Where did we come from?
- We are from God, the Father-Mother, who is Principle, Mind, Spirit, Life, Truth, and Love. There is nothing physical, we and all that we interact with are all spiritual.
What are we?
- We are born of God, and it is crucial to accept Jesus as a part of our spiritual development as containing the essence of God but not divinity.
Where are we going?
- We can make choices today that ultimately define the path we take, whether towards God or away from God. Since everything is spiritual, there is no “place” where we go, but we can influence what the afterlife is for us with our choices.
Rastafarianism (founded in 1930, but originated from movement in the 1920s)
Where did we come from?
- The one God creator Jah created everything. Jah came to earth as Jesus, who is a black man also known as Haile Selassie. His death was a hoax, and he lives in protection here on earth to this day.
What are we?
- True Rastas are ever living, or immortal, both spiritually and physically. Believe in “I and I” instead of “you and I,” which symbolizes the oneness between mankind and God and all humans’ equality.
Where are we going?
- There is no afterlife, but Zion (Africa) is a heaven on earth.
Caodaism (founded by Ngo Van Chieu in 1926)
Where did we come from?
- There was nothing before the universe but the monad, the Tao. We are all formed from that Tao spirit divided among creation, which includes the dualistic gods Cao Đài (Highest Lord) and Diêu Trì Kim Mẫu (Holy Mother).
What are we?
- All religions are one, and we are to grow into higher beings across our reincarnated lives.
Where are we going?
- We are reincarnating into higher beings over our lives, and will eventually reincarnate back into the Tao as we find God inside ourselves.
Eckankar (founded in 1965 by John Paul Twitchell)
Where did we come from?
- The Divine Spirit, called ECK created the universe from the Divine Sound Current. The sound waves were trapped within matter, and we are in a constant cycle of regeneration and rebirth until we can return to God through repeating the Divine Names and listening to the Divine Sound.
What are we?
- See the above.
Where are we going?
- We will all eventually return to the Divine Spirit with enough time.
Atheism/Agnosticism — no certainty/god
Ranges from no god (a-theism) to a certain god with no certainty about its form (a-gnosis)
Atheism/Futurism — i.e., no god (founded by Leucippus in the early 5th century BC)
Where did we come from?
- We evolved from lower specimens, which came in turn from even lower ones. This evolution happened via natural selection all the way back to single-celled organisms.
What are we?
- We are comprised of bodies that are capable of tremendous things that science is now unveiling for us to know.
Where are we going? (expanded by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in 1909)
- There is no life after death. The only hope for humanity is in furthering our understanding and building better technology.
Gnosticism (founded around the 2nd century AD)
Where did we come from?
- The spiritual world was created by an unknowable God, and the physical world was created by an intermediary, a demiurge, who may have been anything from imperfect to evil.
What are we?
- We are both spiritual beings, and we will be able to travel back into the spiritual world by understanding special knowledge (gnosis).
Where are we going?
- Those who attain true gnosis will be able to travel to the spiritual world.
Deism — i.e., unknowable higher power (founded in the late 17th century)
Where did we come from?
- We came from God in some way, but there is no way to tell. This God is uninterested in our personal affairs.
What are we?
- We are reasoning beings, and reason and logic is the way to achieve enlightenment.
Where are we going?
- We may get punishment or reward in an unknown afterlife, or we may receive that punishment and reward during our stay on this earth.
Scientology (founded by L. Ron Hubbard in 1954)
Where did we come from?
- Before Earth and before MEST (Matter, Energy, Space and Time) the preclear was summoned before a council, frowned upon and sent to a different place. The idea was to reduce them downscale to get a more obedient colonist.
What are we?
- We are thetans trapped in meat bodies by Xenu, sent here and killed with hydrogen bombs. Thetans adhere to humans, causing spiritual harm. To escape, we need to practice exteriorization to become Operating Thetans (OT).
Where are we going?
- During auditing, we will recall past lives, which is similar to being born again into another body.
Agnosticism (uncertain founding)
Where did we come from?
- We don’t know, and we can’t be certain.
What are we?
- We’re human beings, but that’s all we can know.
Where are we going?
- We’ll obviously die, but can’t know anything beyond that.