Unveiling the Divide

Hinduism and Buddhism Beliefs Versus Christianity

Hinduism and Buddhism present profound theological differences from Orthodox Christianity, with distinctive approaches to fundamental questions of existence, salvation, and human nature.

While Hinduism encompasses a vast plurality of gods and goddesses within the impersonal Brahman, Christianity affirms a personal God who deeply cares for individuals. A key distinction is that Hinduism knows no binding orthodoxy, but rather focuses on orthopraxis—common cultic practices—whereas Christianity insists on the reality of specific doctrinal knowledge. Unlike Buddhism and Hinduism, which often regard religious knowledge as merely symbolic, Christian belief emphasizes the concrete reality of divine revelation.

In terms of salvation, Hinduism views it as a process of liberation from the cycle of rebirth, which must be achieved individually through successive lives. In stark contrast, Christianity presents salvation as a free gift from God, achieved through Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection, which can be accepted rather than earned.

This fundamental difference is perhaps most starkly illustrated in their views of human personality: for Buddhism, individual personality is an illusion and considered “the fall of man”, while for Christianity, personality is the very purpose of God’s cosmic design—“love desires personality”