Religions have been created throughout history to convey a specific belief. Both India and the Roman Empire proved this by creating many religions and philosophies such as Buddhism and Christianity. Although Buddhism and Christianity are both universalizing religions as they both allow people to correct themselves on the path of salvation and have patriarchal values, Buddhism differed from Christianity in that it did not have a hierarchical ranking system in its religious institutions. Furthermore, Buddhism differed from Christianity by never having high promotions in its country of origin despite many efforts. After looking into both religions, Christianity and Buddhism have much in common. Both, Christianity and Buddhism, allowed one to …show more content…
Christianity was promoted in its place of origin and was supported highly in the Roman Empire through its political and social viewpoints unlike Buddhism, which had support by Ashoka, the emperor of India at that time, but never became the main religion. This is most likely due to the fact that Buddhism never incorporated popular ideas of their country of origin, such as having an easily obtainable and peaceful afterlife and a religious head in that afterlife. Buddhism, in its in religious institutions, did not have a hierarchical system, whereas Christianity had popes ranked higher than bishops and priests. Every Buddhist have an equal chance of nirvana. Obviously, this was a result of Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, opposing the idea of the caste system, a hierarchal system. He abandoned that idea in his teachings because of his strong dislike of it and his wanting to give a chance of enlightenment to everybody in one lifetime. However, Christianity needed a hierarchal system to have somebody, such as a priest or pope, connect with the higher being to prove the existence of heaven and to convert other people with similar beliefs. Because nirvana, the liberation from rebirth, was harder to achieve then heaven, the final resting place, Christianity spread farther and quicker than Buddhism.Christianity appealed more because of God, the higher being in heaven, whereas Buddhism never mentioned such being in nirvana. People viewed God as a person who would help them reach heaven and care for their souls. Christianity was more social and political because of its popular viewpoints. Buddhism did not care about social and political aspects but more towards a person's way of life and his