Are All Religions Different Paths Up the Same Mountain?

Stephen Prothero, professor of religion at Boston University, doesn’t think so. In his book God Is Not One, Prothero points out, “The world’s religious rivals do converge when it comes to ethics—no religion tells you it is OK to have sex with your mother or to murder your brother—but they diverge sharply on doctrine, ritual, mythology, experience and law.” Why is there this divergence? Prothero answers that different religions attempt to solve different problems. In Judaism, the problem is exile, and the solution is to return to God. In Buddhism, the problem is suffering, and the solution is awakening. In Confucianism, the problem is chaos, and the solution is order. In Christianity, the problem is sin, and the solution is salvation. In Islam, the problem is pride, and the solution is submission. As Prothero puts it, “If practitioners of the world’s religions are mountain climbers, then they are ascending very different peaks and using very different tools.”