For over twenty centuries, followers of the god of Abraham have exerted an increasing influence on world events, to the point that now — and for quite some time — all aspects of human existence are not only affected, but also controlled by them. Currently, this influential group includes: 2.1 billion Christians, 1.3 billion followers of Islam and fourteen million of Judaism. Stated another way, 54% of the worlds faithful are followers of the God of Abraham. When that 54% is added to the 14 % of the world population that is non-religious, that only leaves a remaining 30% to include the rest of religious people in the world. The largest remaining major religion is Hinduism, with only a 14% share, followed by Buddhism comprising a tiny 6%. At the end of this essay you can see a chart I prepared that illustrates the ratio of people in various religions to the world population. After reviewing these numbers, it should come as no big surprise the influence God, Jehovah, Yahweh, Allah, etc, has on the world.
These three so-called religions are actually three sects of the same religion, that I feel could quite adequately be referred to as JudChristlam. To further illustrate this, consider that the differences that exist between Judaism, Christianity and Islam are no greater than the differences exist between the various sects within each of them. For example, how similar are the rituals and religious practices of Irish Catholics to those of the Amish? Quakers compared to Evangelical Christians? Shiites to Sunni Muslims?, Hasidic to Liberal Jews? One would certainly notice many differences between any of them that seem quite striking. But, when compared to Buddhism for example the three look very similar — almost identical. A brief comparison between JudChristlam and Buddhism is illustrated in the table below:
| Judaism | Christianity | Islam | Buddhism | |
| God | Yaweh/Elohim | Christ, Jehovah | Allah | None |
| Devil | No(Adversary) | Devil, Satan | Satan | None |
| This Life | Now, plus test | Test | Test | This is it |
| Afterlife | Eden/Gehenna | Heaven/Hell | Heaven/Hell | None |
| Redemption | Prayer | Confession/repentance | Pray 5 times a day | Enlightenment
here and now |
I am not stating that the differences within JudChristlam are not important. They are very important and I think have been responsible for more human suffering than any other factor in recorded history. Because to one degree or another, most members of faiths that have sprung forth from Abraham are indoctrinated from birth to believe: that there is one God; That men are modeled in the image of that God; that all of existence is a struggle between good and evil — both clearly defined; that the sect that a person happens to be born in is the chosen group — the group whose interpretation of God’s word is the one correct interpretation, and that all other interpretations (and interpreters) are somehow connected to the forces of evil. One might argue:
“But a majority of Christians, Muslims and Jews are not radical religionists and do not have these black and white views”.
My response would probably be:
“Yes, but the minority who have been successfully brainwashed to the point that they think any act is justified by their belief system, do have these views and their influence on the world is far greater than their number, as illustrated daily by current events”.
Indoctrination into this type of thinking I feel is the primary source of bigotry, hate and war — from the Crusades and before to the world-situation now. In our country, influential evangelical Christians, have since the early 70s have exerted increasing influence on our politicians, media and country, with their agenda of making America a one-religion country — meaning of course evangelical Christianity. And they have been quite successful, as evidenced by their influence in the various elections. Even though this people are not blowing themselves up yet(some of their members have used bombs at abortion clinics thought) I find their actions to be the logical, moral and ethical equivalent to the radical sects of Islam that have committed acts of terrorism around the world in the name of the same God. The US is not the only place in the world that fundimentalists, have been increasing their numbers. Fundamentalism appears to be advancing steadily in virtually every corner of the world. Sections of Latin America have been radically transformed by the growth of Protestant groups in recent decades. South Korea and Taiwan have become centers of neotraditionalist Confucianism. Expanding rapidly in Japan are the so-called new religions, several of which are essentially Buddhist counterparts to Protestant fundamentalism. And the spread of fundamentalism throughout the Islamic world is well known.
It is time now to briefly discuss the title of this essay “The God of Abraham Versus Spirituality”. The term spirituality is of course interpreted depending on ones orientation. For me it defies any definition beyond awareness of the sense of connectedness and respect for all things. I don’t think spirituality is something one can achieve through indoctrination. It won’t come from following some dogma — being led as a sheep, but by choosing to be spiritual — to feel connected an show respect for all things, with ones own free will. I will even go as far as to say that the level of ones spirituality has a negative relationship with the level of ones indoctrination — the more one rejects his or her indoctrination, the more spiritual he or she becomes. I believe that for the human race to become spiritual, the God of Abraham would have to take his place with the dinosaurs. I am not however optimistic about this happening. It is more likely that due to the effective brain-washing and religious abuse of children all over the world, the cycle that has been in motion for thirty-five hundred years, will continue until after our relatively brief stay, the human race joins the dinosaurs in their oblivion.
Chart on religious ratios:
| One out of every | 2.5 | Humans | is | Christian | with a total number of: | 2,100,000,000 | in the world | ||
| One out of every | 3.9 | Humans | is | Muslim | with a total number of: | 1,300,000,000 | in the world | ||
| One out of every | 5.7 | Humans | is | Secular/Non-religious | with a total number of: | 1,100,000,000 | in the world | ||
| One out of every | 6.9 | Humans | is | Hindu | with a total number of: | 900,000,000 | in the world | ||
| One out of every | 16.6 | Humans | is a | Buddhist | with a total number of: | 376,000,000 | in the world | ||
| One out of every | 20.9 | Humans | is | Primal-indigenous | with a total number of: | 300,000,000 | in the world | ||
| One out of every | 62 | Humans | is | African Traditional | with a total number of: | 100,000,000 | in the world | ||
| One out of every | 272 | Humans | is a | Sik | with a total number of: | 23,000,000 | in the world | ||
| One out of every | 330 | Humans | is | Juche: | with a total number of: | 19,000,000 | in the world | ||
| One out of every | 418 | Humans | follows | Spiritism | with a total number of: | 15,000,000 | in the world | ||
| One out of every | 448 | Humans | ia | Jewish | with a total number of: | 14,000,000 | in the world | ||
| One out of every | 896 | Humans | follows | Baha’I | with a total number of: | 7,000,000 | in the world | ||
| One out of every | 1493 | Humans | follows | Jainism | with a total number of: | 4,200,000 | in the world | ||
| One out of every | 1568 | Humans | follows | Shinto | with a total number of: | 4,000,000 | in the world | ||
| One out of every | 1,568 | Humans | follows | Cao Dai | with a total number of: | 4,000,000 | in the world | ||
| One out of every | 2,412 | Humans | follows | Zoroastrianism | with a total number of: | 2,600,000 | in the world | ||
| One out of every | 3,236 | Humans | follows | T\enrikyo | with a total number of: | 2,000,000 | in the world | ||
| One out of every | 6,273 | Humans | is a | neo-pagen | with a total number of: | 1,000,000 | in the world | ||
| One out of every | 7,842 | Humans | is | Unitarian-Universlaim | with a total number of: | 800,000 | in the world | ||
| One out of every | 10,456 | Humans | is | Rastafarian | with a total number of: | 600,000 | in the world | ||
| One out of every | 12,547 | Humans | is a | Scientologist | with a total number of: | 500,000 | in the world | ||
| And one out of every | 1.8 | Humans | is | JudChristLamish | with a total number of: | 3,414,000,000 | in the world | ||
worldtake 