What truths do all religions have in common?

[janesix]

What core truths, if any, so all religions have in common?

 

[Samantha Rinne]

It depends upon what you mean by religion. There are at least two "religions" today that are actually cults.

Psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton, who once taught at Harvard Medical School, wrote a paper titled Cult Formation in the early 1980s. He delineated three primary characteristics, which are the most common features shared by destructive cults.

1. A charismatic leader, who increasingly becomes an object of worship as the general principles that may have originally sustained the group lose power. That is a living leader, who has no meaningful accountability and becomes the single most defining element of the group and its source of power and authority.

2. A process [of indoctrination or education is in use that can be seen as] coercive persuasion or thought reform [commonly called "brainwashing"].

The culmination of this process can be seen by members of the group often doing things that are not in their own best interest, but consistently in the best interest of the group and its leader.

3. Economic, sexual, and other exploitation of group members by the leader and the ruling coterie.

In a cult, the leader is the core of the religion, not the truth. The cult never has any connection with real spirituality, it's about control.

In any real religion, the core values do connect with one another, but it's somewhat hard to explain. It's like Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. If you've never heard this expression, basically most people in Hollywood have costarred with Kevin Bacon, or known someone who did. Likewise, in any real religion, while you cannot make a list of core values shared by all religions, you sorta do... Hinduism has a concept of a Trinity, so does Christianity; Pagan religion has a reverence for nature, so does Taoism. That sort of thing. They have one or more concepts in common, but they chose to emphasize these in different ways because different people have different priorities.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

What core truths, if any, so all religions have in common?

No. No common core truths. Overlaps like clothes. Different people, different sizes. No one size fits all.

 

[Nakosis]

What core truths, if any, so all religions have in common?

A core truth is they all lack a means of verifying the truth they claim outside of personal experience.

5 reasons why anecdotes are totally worthless

 

[savagewind]

A core truth is they all lack a means of verifying the truth they claim outside of personal experience.

5 reasons why anecdotes are totally worthless

I took the cure and I feel better so that is the proof that the cure works. Not so.
The mind is in a sad state of disrepair. Most definitely so.

Not everyone's, of course. You know who you are. They don't.

I have an example. I am not trolling. It is from my personal experience.

Some seven million souls believe that the cure for all of Earth's troubles is the governing body of Jehovah's Witnesses. The reason is that the people who are being called to that religion are looking for a better way and when they find that better way they feel fulfilled and so they credit the religion for that feeling of faith, hope, and love. But, it is written, that God is not far off from us all and so faith, hope, and love are not far off from us all.

It is "true" that human beings can be easily misled. That is what all religions have it common. They take people away from their personal search for real meaning.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

A core truth is they all lack a means of verifying the truth they claim outside of personal experience.

5 reasons why anecdotes are totally worthless

Nudge. What about the rest of the religions?

 

[shunyadragon]

What core truths, if any, so all religions have in common?

All the religions share the reverence for human life, and the believers of most religions justify the taking of life to justify their own cause.

Over time most of the religions become corrupted prisoners of the culture they originated from, and prefer to live in the past.

What truths? No truths, but an evolving underlying spiritual progression of the human soul and mind.

 

[sun rise]

I like this page's list 15 Great Principles Shared By All Religions

 

[shunyadragon]

I like this page's list 15 Great Principles Shared By All Religions

and Love when the believers behave.

 

[LuisDantas]

What core truths, if any, so all religions have in common?

None. For one to find common ground among religions, it is necessary to at some point restrict what should be considered a religion.

 

[Nakosis]

Nudge. What about the rest of the religions?

I don't know, did you have a specific belief in mind? I've been involved in a few in my "search for truth".

Generally I see benefit in religion being about personal feelings. I'm not saying this is necessarily a bad thing. Just that the feelings which motivate you may be different than the feelings that motivate your neighbor.

 

[Nakosis]

It is "true" that human beings can be easily misled. That is what all religions have it common. They take people away from their personal search for real meaning.

Yes, at some point I decided to stop following others.

 

[SalixIncendium]

I like this page's list 15 Great Principles Shared By All Religions

While I'd like to think this is true, I'm not sure that all 15 are shared by all religions. Perhaps a few, but based on my experiences with adherents' behaviors, either the principles are not common to all religions or the adherents simply choose not to follow them.


From the link:

15 Great Principles Shared by All Religions

1. The Golden Rule / Law of Reciprocity – The cornerstone of religious understanding. “Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.” – Christianity
2. Honor Thy Father and Mother – Knowing them is the key to knowing ourselves. The day will come when we shall wish we had known them better.
3. Speak the Truth – “Sincerity is the way of heaven, and to think how to be sincere is the way of a man.” – Confucius
4. It’s More Blessed to Give than to Receive – Generosity, charity and kindness will open an individual to an unbounded reservoir of riches.
5. Heaven is Within – “Even as the scent dwells within the flower, so God within thine own heart forever abides.” – Sikhism
6. Love Thy Neighbor / Conquer With Love / All You Need is Love– Acts of faith, prayer and deep meditation provide us with the strength that allows love for our fellow man to become an abiding part of our lives. Love is a unifying force.
7. Blessed Are the Peacemakers – When people live in the awareness that there is a close kinship between all individuals and nations, peace is the natural result.
8. You Reap What You Sow – This is the great mystery of human life. Aware or unaware, all are ruled by this inevitable law of nature.
9. Man Does Not Live by Bread Alone – The blessings of life are deeper than what can be appreciated by the senses.
10. Do No Harm – If someone tries to hurt another, it means that she is perceiving that person as something separate and foreign from herself.
11. Forgiveness – The most beautiful thing a man can do is to forgive wrong. – Judaism
12. Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged – This principle is an expression of the underlying truth that mankind is one great family, and that we all spring from a common source.
13. Be Slow to Anger – Anger clouds the mind in the very moments that clarity and objectivity are needed most. “He who holds back rising anger like a rolling chariot, him I call a real driver; others only hold the reins.” – Buddha
14. There is But One God / God is Love – Nature, Being, The Absolute. Whatever name man chooses, there is but one God. All people and all things are of one essence.
15. Follow the Spirit of the Scriptures, Not the Words – “Study the words, no doubt, but look behind them to the thought they indicate; And having found it, throw the words away, as chaff when you have sifted out the grain.” – Hinduism

The common truth that I find is, although some religions are more tolerant of others' religious beliefs than others, all think their religion is on at least some level more correct than others.

 

[outlawState]

Follow the Spirit of the Scriptures, Not the Words – “Study the words, no doubt, but look behind them to the thought they indicate; And having found it, throw the words away, as chaff when you have sifted out the grain.” – Hinduism

Well I can't really speak for other religions, but this is definitely not any principle of Christianity and I should imagine it goes for Judaism too.

Pro 30:5
“Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

Pro 30:6
Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.

The trouble with "core" principles is in identifying what is a core principle. I think that there are many shared principles but many such are "rules for life" and are necessarily core. Core principles would mean to me "judgement of the dead" and the possibility of "resurrection."

Although they are shared with Islam, I am pretty sure Islam borrowed them from Christianity.

 

[arthra]

If you explore the Parliament of World Religions site at
Articles | parliamentofreligions.org
I think you'll find areas where the major religions are working together rather well... The next Parliament is in Toronto this coming November.

One of the areas of concern is climate:
Climate Action | parliamentofreligions.org

Another is Womens' dignity:
Parliament Women's Task Force | parliamentofreligions.org

Another is countering war, hate and violence:
Countering War, Hate & Violence | parliamentofreligions.org

Another is Faith against hate:
Faiths Against Hate | parliamentofreligions.org

The vision of the Parliament follows:

The vision of the Parliament of the World's Religions is of a just, peaceful and sustainable world in which:

• Religious and spiritual communities live in harmony and contribute to a better world from their riches of wisdom and compassion.
• Religious and cultural fears and hatreds are replaced with understanding and respect.
• People everywhere come to know and care for their neighbors.
• The richness of human and religious diversity is woven into the fabric of communal, civil, societal and global life.
• The world's most powerful and influential institutions move beyond narrow self-interest to realize common good.
• The Earth and all life are cherished, protected, healed and restored.
• All people commit to living out their highest values and aspirations.

 

[sojourner]

It is "true" that human beings can be easily misled. That is what all religions have it common. They take people away from their personal search for real meaning

That’s a really unfair and unfounded generalization. Religions seek to find meaning — not diminish it. Some bad apples seek to control, and some seekers come away disappointed, but that’s not, by and large, what religions “do.”

 

[KT Shamim]

What core truths, if any, so all religions have in common?

Moral values you would find are very common. Don't lie cheat steal etc
Though moral values quite uncommon in followers

And fasting also prevalent in all major religions

 

[YeshuaRedeemed]

All religions adhere to the no harm law which is liberty within the constraint of not causing harm to anyone.

 

[Twilight Hue]

What core truths, if any, so all religions have in common?

That there's some kind of a problem that needs fixing.

 

[GoodbyeDave]

I like this page's list 15 Great Principles Shared By All Religions

Most of these are moral maxims which would be accepted by many atheists. Most polytheists do not consider morality to be a matter of religion: such rules are natural, and following them is just what it takes to be fully human.

Those that are not moral rules are not universal.
14. There is but one god. Well, that's rejected by a third of the world's population.
15. Follow the spitit of the scriptures … What scriptures? Lots of us don't have any.

That there's some kind of a problem that needs fixing.

Well, Buddhists and Christians may think there's some fundamental flaw in our existence or nature, but lots of us don't.

The only thing that all religions have in common is that they all share the concept of god (even if with differences as to how many there are) and the practice of worship. Religion is about the relations between the human and the divine.