Hinduism

Hinduism, in my opinion, is one of the most unique religions in the world. It is one of the top five religions of the world, the others being Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Buddhism. I feel like Hinduism is just kind of bunched together with all of these other religions when it is so unique among them. Aside from being the oldest of them, it has many aspects that stand out. I'm not saying the others are very similar, all have their own uniqueness, but sometimes I feel like people just don't bother, whether they honestly don't have the time or just don't care, I don't know. But, here's some interesting things about Hinduism.

The word "Hinduism" is derived from the name India, the land the religion was founded in. It refers to a wide variety of religious traditions and philosophies that have developed in India over thousands of years.

As I mentioned before, Hinduism is the oldest religion still practiced on this planet. It has been practiced across Asia for over 5000 years, but has no identifiable beginning in history. For comparison, Judaism has been dated to been founded around 2500 BC by the patriarch Abraham.

Unlike the other "Big 5" religions, Hinduism doesn't claim one founder. Jesus Christ, Abraham, the Prophet Muhammad, and Siddharta Gautama (the Buddha) were all considered the sole founders of their respective religions. In as few words as possible, Hinduism is the culmination of the teachings of several individuals called "Avatars", or an incarnation of a divine being.

Hinduism is pluralistic and accepts that all beings (even animals) have divinity. All beings are considered a manifestation of God, and that man has the spiritual capacity to respect and honor that divine aspect in all living things. Thus, Hinduism is very accepting of other beliefs, and accepting of there being multiple paths to Ultimate Truth (God).Thus, Hinduism asserts that it is not only harmful, but inherently flawed to insist that one’s own path towards God is the only true and meaningful path. Based on this firm pluralistic belief, Hinduism has never sanctioned proselytization, or converting others to a specific faith. Further, over their vast history, Hindus have never invaded another land in the name of religion.

This is a very watered down representation of Hinduism, and I encourage people to do research if interested in learning more. I'm not saying Hinduism is the right thing to believe, again I leave that to you to decide. I'm not a theologian in any respect, I'm just a teacher trying to educate the world. I hope you learned something.