A Comparison of world religions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

A Comparison of world religions - Essay Example The Hindus do not eat meat. Shinto does not look at the emperor in the face. Native American people fear handling the dead (Hall et al., 2006). In Islam, pork is forbidden. The act of eating anything in Islam is a form of worship. It is this reason that makes Muslims selective in food. Muslims do not eat pork because the Quran prohibits them from doing so. They also do not drink alcohol because they say it intoxicates the brain as stipulated in the holy Quran. Intoxicating the body by eating ‘unlawful’ food is a sin (Naik, n.d). In Hindu, eating beef is taboo. The Hindus do not eat beef because they associate cows with God’s creation. In the past, Hindus used to sacrifice bulls for religious purposes. The beef would then be eaten. Things later changed among these religious groups. Individuals would be holier by avoiding beef. Nowadays a cow, to a Hindu, is a source of life. The cow is a sacred creature that must not be eaten. Consuming other products like milk, however, is accepted (Nigosian, 2007). They believe that there are severe consequences that come as a result of breaking a taboo. One would be jealousy of others, angry, anxious, and fearful of death. Hindus believe that if they inflict pain on others, including cows, the same pain will rebound on them (Hall et al., 2006). In Christianity, the taboos regarding the choices of food are different among the Protestants, Orthodox and Roman Catholics. Roman Catholics do not eat meat on Fridays during lent time. They fast during lent because they believe it improves spiritual discipline. Fasting is also believed to enable a Catholic overcome the physical world’s sensations and focus on spiritual growth. The Catholics believe that sacrifices are offerings to God. God, therefore, deserves to receive the best form of sacrifice. The Catholics choose meat because it is always associated with celebrations. Eating meat on Fridays is,