functions of monotheism in two religions, Judaism and Christianity. Only Judaism has been considered a truly monotheistic faith because Christianity at times has been said to offer some confusion in this regard and that it actually strays from the true definition of monotheistic. Judaism is considered to be the world's first monotheistic faith. One can take away from this that their way of thinking influenced more or less the

However, certain elements of traditional Christian theology are centered on Mary, and the degree of emphasis that those elements receive can be very telling about Mary's actual role in the religion. For example, the connection between female chastity and religious observance seems to have been established by God's choice of a Virgin to carry his son. God did not have to choose a virgin to bear his child, but

Papal authority is challenged by Protestants, who generally support a more personal relationship between the individual and the divine. However, all Christians share several fundamental philosophical beliefs in common, including monotheism; dualism; sin and salvation. These beliefs are expressed through the Christian worldview, concepts of afterlife, and commentary on the major metaphysical problem of human existence: sin. First, monotheism precludes anyone sympathetic to polytheistic worship from completely embracing Christianity, although Catholic

New Age Crystals, witchcraft, ESP, tarot cards, tai chi, yoga, and the I Ching, which are seemingly disparate tools, practices, and beliefs, come under one spiritual rubric: the New Age movement. The New Age amalgamates ancient philosophies and religious practices ranging from shamanism to Sufism and including everything in between. The New Age is almost an anything-goes spiritual path, as it has no one set of beliefs, no central text, no

This can be traced to the conservative view that Blacks have in fact no real history in comparison to the richness and significance of European history. "As astonishing as it seems most of the prestigious academics and universities in Europe and America have ridiculed the idea that blacks have any substantive history." This derogatory view has its roots as well in the colonial attitude that tended to see all Black

For a Catholic salvation without God or Christ is unthinkable. Admittedly, this is a comparison of two outwardly very different religious structures and cultures but it serves to illustrate the fact that important differences do occur and this can also be applied to other more homogenous religious groupings. While one may add dozens of similar examples of fundamental differences between religions, at the risk of over-simplification one could also assert