Christianity And Islam Research Paper

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Islam appealed to people in variety of societies and cultures, bringing important changes as a result of contact while often merging with the local beliefs. Islam sometimes spread to other countries because of military conquest. Muslims rarely forced people to convert to their religion, often preferring to tax the other religions instead. Islam spread through more conversions as people learned what it was through trade and missionary networks. The religion was simple as it had a set of beliefs about what to do and what not to do in order to to go to heaven and to avoid eternity in hell. First, Islam gained followers in the Middle East and North Africa, slowly to gain popularity in southern Europe. Christianity on the other hand believes that Jesus is God the Son who became a human being. People receive eternal life by believing in Jesus and following his teachings. Christianity had a major impact on the West, particularly in the arts, philosophy, and society. From 750 AD to the early 1400s, Islam was gaining territory in all parts of Europe by invading the countries in uncommon ways such as creating a cultural fusion and a pocket of Muslims that are inhabiting the area. Christianity then made it’s rise in the Americas in the late 1400s with the Spanish missionaries that forced conversion on the people. Both religions have changed over the time for the people who believe in it, but have stayed central to their beliefs.

The rise of Islam quickly created fear and hatred in Christian Europe, which identified itself as it’s rival. European crusades were called in the eleventh century to win back the Holy Land from the Muslims, though they were only partially successful. Hostility to Islam in Europe has remained a major theme to th...

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... created a significant Muslim minority, though there were a few forced conversions.

There was no Christianity in the Americas before the Age of Exploration which began in 1492 with the arrival of Christopher Columbus. In 1493, Ferdinand and Isabella sent out a second expedition to Latin America. These Christian Missionaries arrived from the Kingdom of Spain and much of this work was in the form forced conversion and enslavement as the Spanish conquest developed. The Spanish soldiers carried weapons into battle with the Aztec, Maya, and Inca peoples. They came with a desire to impose Christianity and Spanish rule on the continent and a hope for the riches that were believed to be there. There was a systematic attempt to spread Christianity through a permanent missions and they did so by converting people as well as attempting the spread their culture and influence.

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