Comparison & Contrast Essay Essay

Christianity and Confucianism are two religions. Although they are not the same in the aspect of their gods, popularity level and roots, they do have similarities, such as their name, derivation and age. The names Christianity and Confucianism both start with a C. However, we can dive deeper into that. Christianity, the name, was born out of the word Christ, part of the name / title Jesus Christ, an important figure to Christianity and its beginning. According to the religion, Jesus was a real person who was a messenger from God. Confucianism has Confucious in it. Confucious was also a real man (philosopher) that had created Confucianism. Both of these religions are not very modern. Some religions, such as Baha’i or Caodaism, came from the 19th and 20th centuries. Christianity and Confucianism, on the other hand, were created around the time of 500 BCE and 33 CE, respectively. Although there is an approximate 500 year gap between their creation dates, Christianity and Confucianism are both old religions. Also, Christianity and Confucianism are both monotheistic religions. In Christianity, followers believe in God, a figure who oversaw everything. Confucianists believe in Ti’en, or heaven. On the contrary, Christianity and Confucianism have their differences, too. Christianity is a religion followed in many parts of the world, including North America, Europe and Asia. Confucianism, though, is mostly used in Asia, or Oriental Asia to be more specific (China, Vietnam, etc). Catholicism has been widely spread, and it has, evidently, been done successfully. Confucianism has remained practised in the same region, and minimally practised outside of Asia. Furthermore, Christianity is the most widely-followed religion in the world, with over 2 billion followers, whereas Confucianism has around 6. 2 million. The difference is huge, with around 325 times more Christians than Confucianists. Another contrast between Christianity and Confucianism is their roots. Even though they were both old religions, as mentioned before, the countries that they were created in were different. Christianity was founded in Israel, more specifically Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus (just south of Jerusalem). Confucianism was founded in China by Confucious, who resided in the province of Lu in China. Despite having different gods, numbers of followers and roots, Christianity and Confucianism are similar in their name, derivation and age. They are both interesting religions, and although they do not have the same number of religionists, Christianity and Confucianism are important parts of many people’s lives.