2/18/24   1,012 words     4.5 minutes reading time

I want to start by saying that the following post on the beliefs of various religious systems is very cursory. Every religious system is nuanced and complex. I mean no disrespect to the followers of the religions or belief systems herein mentioned.  I am not qualified to present a full explanation of these systems nor the details of what they believe. My attempt is to demonstrate the basic differences among the belief systems on the singular point of how the world was created.

Buddhism – In a statement posted on the website BuddahSasana (budsas.org), the Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda Maha Theru explained the Buddhist perspective on the origins of the universe by first quoting Bertrand Russel who said “There is no reason to suppose that the world had a beginning at all. The idea that things must have a beginning is really due to the poverty of our thoughts”. The Venerable Master went on to say that Buddha viewed existence as a cycle of repeated births and deaths. The beginning and end of the world is a part of the cycle. Since we cannot offer concrete scientific explanation for the creation of things seeking the origins of the universe is a waste of energy and not important to spiritual growth.

Hinduism – The following is excerpted from an explanation of the Hindu belief regarding creation written in an educational document entitled the Heart of Hinduism on the website iskconeducationalservices.org.

 “With its cyclical notion of time, Hinduism teaches that the material world is created not once but repeatedly, time and time again. Additionally, this universe is considered to be one of many, all enclosed “like innumerable bubbles floating in space.” Within this universe, there are three main regions: the heavenly planets, the earthly realm and the lower worlds. Scripture goes into some detail as to the nature of these regions and their respective inhabitants.

Hinduism is therefore not predominantly earth-centred and puts much emphasis on other “planes of existence” – various material abodes and the spiritual realm itself. This

is reflected in Hindu stories and specifically through the concept of lila (divine pastime). These lilas take place in the spiritual world and are replicated at sacred locations on earth.

Brahma creates the material world, which is often called the “one-quarter creation,” expressing that it is far smaller than the spiritual world (the “three-quarters portion”). Most souls are liberated, just as in the state most people are free citizens rather than imprisoned.

There is no one simple account of creation, and there are many detailed and inter-related stories. Central is the narration of the sacrifice of the primal being (purusha), found in the Rig Veda. On the metaphysical level, the universe is created from sound (vak). Sound corresponds to ether, the subtlest of the five material elements. According to such Samkhya philosophy, the elements develop progressively from subtle to gross.

The atman, more subtle than any matter, generates his own successive material bodies. This world and its creatures are here to facilitate the soul’s self-centered desires, and ultimately to enable his return to the spiritual world.

One Account of Creation

Vishnu, as soul of the entire cosmos, produces countless universes from his breathing and the pores of his skin. He enters each universe, as the universal soul. From his navel springs a lotus flower, upon which is born Brahma. Brahma performs austerity and creates the world from sound, beginning with the Gayatri-mantra.”

Before he commenced creation, Brahma wanted to perform yajna (sacrifice) since the universe is created and maintained only through sacrifice. As yet, he had no ingredients. Therefore, the Supreme Lord agreed to become the necessary ingredients. Through that yajna, all species were created, as well as human society, with its places of residence, its languages, and so on. Brahma also created the various occupations and the corresponding system of four varnas. Thus the brahmanas represent the head of the Supreme Lord; the kshatriyas are his arms, the vaishyas his thighs and the shudras his legs (see Varnashrama Dharma).

Islam – Islamists have a generally similar view of creation as we Christians, that God (Allah) created the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them. They also believe the first man was Adam. Although Islam and Christianity are both Theistic religions and share some commonality on the beginning of the universe and mankind, there are some significant differences in the particulars of the creation story as told by the Qur’an versus the Bible. Nevertheless, for the purpose of this blog post these and other Theistic belief systems stand apart from polytheistic and atheistic belief systems in that they ascribe the creation of the universe and mankind to one God who continues to be the supreme authority,

Deist – Deists believe that there is one God Who created the universe, but then left the universe to develop on its own. This perspective leaves the door open for Deistic evolution, which essentially believes that God created all the basic materials and natural laws necessary for life but left the actual development of the universe up to nature. Once the basics were in place God backed away from any involvement in the universe, planet earth or mankind.

Atheist – As the name implies, atheists believe there is no God, nor are there gods. For most atheists the General Theory of Evolution is the explanation for the origin of mankind, and all species for that matter. They look to the Big Bang Theory as the explanation for the beginning of the universe. Interestingly, their view of the beginning of the universe is similar to the Theistic belief. Theists and atheists both believe the universe was created as a singular event, a big bang so to speak. The difference is that atheists can’t explain what caused the big bang, nor from where the original matter came. Their best explanation seems to be that the laws of physics were somehow different prior to the big bang than they are now.

The previous explanations are very general and serve only to give you a basic idea of some, not all, of the different answers to the existential question of “Where do we come from?”. We will cover the Christian view on the creation of the universe and origin of man in a subsequent post, soon to come.