Good And Evil Across Religions

Where there is light, there is certainly always a shadow. That is not a famous quote by anyone, but rather, me. I say that to say that no matter where one is at any point in time, there will always be good, as well as evil. While it may seem that one outflanks the other at times, the balance of the two is equal in my opinion. The real question is why? Not only why good is perceived as good, and vice versa with evil, but why it is important to understand the way good and evil are perceived across religions. It is compelling to me because of the simple fact that, while most religions are obviously different, this one topic seem to remain consistent throughout the all the religions. In my studies of world religions, I have found it particularly

It is obvious, but it must be said, Mississippi is not the wealthiest of states. It may seem irrelevant, but one thing we have here in Mississippi and enough of it to go around is compassion. We are a caring state and largely because we are such a religious culture here in the south. As a culture we may have nothing, but we still go out of our way to help those that have significantly less than us. While this may be directly focusing on the south, it isn’t too far of a stretch to say that as a country that we try our best to look as good of a “evil-less” country as possible. Religion is big here in the states and is one of the things that this country was founded on. Views on good and evil here while may not be extreme, are very looked down on publicly varying on many factors such as location, and factors such as race. One religion I have noticed that is practiced around me that I do not practice is Islam. Here in America it is easy to stigmatize those that practice the Islamic faith just because in the past terroristic behavior and political violence (Fine, 2015). To be fair, every religion has in some way been associated to some type of terroristic behavior, and just because one practices that certain religion does not mean that the whole religion itself should be scrutinized for those actions alone. In my personal experience, some of the most genuine people I have ever met was those that practiced the Islamic faith. Our definitions of good and evil are based on our perceptions and experience. In the Qur’an, it clearly states that, “but it is possible that you dislike a thing in which is good for you, and that you love a thing which is bad for you. But God knows, and you know not. (Baqara 2:216). While it seems so different the way that the Islamic faith and the Christian faith perceive good and evil are strikingly similar. Which brings me to my final