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This Is What The End of the World Looks Like According to the Biggest Religions
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Wars, pandemics, climate change, and unusual astronomical phenomena: these have been part of human existence in one form or another for millennia. Yet when we live through them for the first time ourselves, they confront us with the fragility of life. We start to think about not only the fragility of our own lives, but institutions we depend on like the government and corporations.
The major religions of the world have different pictures of what the future and possible end of the world will be like. Understanding this can clue us in to why religious people react in some ways to world events that others might find unexpected or irrational. We’ve summarized major religions’ teaching on this matter in alphabetical order by the name of the religion.
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- Eastern religions tend to expect the world to go through long, gradual cycles of decline and renewal
- Western monotheistic religions teach of a coming apocalypse and final judgment after which people will go into an eternal state.
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How Do These Views Impact Society?
Views of eschatology (the future end of the world and what follows) can have a significant impact on how large numbers of people engage with political and social issues. It’s important to remember that people filter their religious views through their worldviews, which are shaped not only by the religious communities, but by life experiences and other people of different backgrounds. So we can’t stereotype every member of a religion. But we can speak about some general observable trends characteristic of many people.
Apocalyptic Views
Believing in a coming world-ending war often creates urgency to persuade others of one’s beliefs so they can be saved before it is too late. It makes some people think it is pointless to try to achieve peace in the Middle East or work on environmental problems in a world that will ultimately be destroyed anyway. Some are hyper-vigilant of things they think fulfill apocalyptic prophecies or may be the beginning of persecution of their faith. These views can also cause people to focus on improving their own behavior and trying to live out the ethics of their faith with more integrity in an expectation of imminent judgment.
Cyclic views
Religions that expect a process of long, slow, gradual change and/or cycles of rebirth can make some people feel more unperturbed by world problems. Feeling there is near-infinite time for things to work out, some individuals may feel that their efforts to improve the world can have lasting effect, while others may be unmotivated to work on social problems that may just resolve themselves eventually. Instead, they may focus more on improving their own circumstances.
See next more specifics about how each of the worlds’ major religions views these issues.
1. Bahá’í
- Followers: 7 million
- Origin: Persia (Iran), 19th century CE
- Teachings: The world will move progressively toward greater peace, harmony, and social justice. It will reach a point of spiritual rebirth as one united global society.
2. Buddhism
- Followers: 520 millon
- Origin: Nepal, 5th-6th century CE
- Teachings: The universe goes through cycles of birth, death, and rebirth. Those who become enlightened may escape rebirths and reach a state of Nirvana. Some schools of Buddhism teach that future Buddhas will come to increase enlightenment.
3. Christianity
- Followers: 2.5 billion
- Origin: Judea (Israel/Palestine), 1st century CE
- Teachings: Jesus Christ will return visibly and dramatically to Earth from the sky. All people who have ever lived will be resurrected and face a final judgment before being sentenced to an eternity in a paradise called Heaven or tormented in a fiery Hell. Some Christians believe the Second Coming of Christ will be preceded by an apocalyptic global war called Armageddon, centered in Israel. After this, the world and the universe will be re-created in a perfected state.
4. Confucianism
- Followers: 6-7 million
- Origin: China, 5-6th century BCE
- Teachings: Confucianism is not very concerned about the end of the world but instead how to live ethically and in harmony with others in this world. It is a conservative philosophy intended to urge everyone in society fulfill their proper roles.
5. Hinduism
- Followers: 1.2 billion
- Origin: India, around 2000 BCE
- Teachings: The universe goes through cycles of creation, destruction, and re-creation. At present it is in a declining phase. The god Vishnu will one day become a being named Kalki who will descend from the sky riding a white horse. He will end the current age and start a new, more righteous one.
6. Islam
- Followers: 1.9 billon
- Origin: Arabia, 7th century CE
- Teachings: After a series of signs, that will include a cataclysmic war in the Middle East, several supernatural figures will appear on Earth, including Jesus, the Madhi (an Islamic Messiah-figure), and a false messiah. On the final Day of Judgment God will judge each person based on the deeds of their life and sentence them to paradise or hell.
7. Jainism
- Followers: 4.5 million
- Origin: India, 7th century BCE
- Teachings: Jainism, like other religions originating in the Indian subcontinent, teaches that the universe will go through a gradual decline and renewal. However, the focus of Jain teachings is on living according to ethical principles in this life to achieve individual liberation from a world of suffering.
8. Judaism
- Followers: 14 million
- Origin: Canaan (Israel/Palestine), around 2000 BCE
- Teachings: Judaism teaches that God will send a messiah to reign in Israel and rule the nations in a reign of peace and righteousness. Teachings about the resurrection and afterlife are unclear, but religiously observant Jews believe in both.
9. Shinto
- Followers: 3 million
- Origin: Japan, around the 8th century BCE
- Teachings: Shinto focuses mainly on how to align one’s life with nature and the spirits by performing certain rituals and maintaining ceremonial purity. It does not focus on the future of the world as a whole.
10. Sikhism
- Followers: 30 million
- Origin: Punjab (India/Pakistan), 15th century CE
- Teachings: Sikh teachings forecast a gradual decline in the world’s morality until a final renewal of the creation. It does not delve into many specifics, but focuses instead on living righteously in this world.
11. Taoism
- Followers: 12-20 million
- Origin: China, around the 4th century BCE
- Teachings: The central teaching of this religion is that the whole universe follows a law or principle called the Tao. People can be happier and more effective in life if they align themselves harmoniously with the way of the Tao rather than trying to struggle against it. Taoists believe that the universe will continue going the way it goes, flowing with the Tao. They do not have a detailed picture of what the end of the world, if any, would be like.
12. Zoroastrianism
- Followers: 100,000
- Origin: Persia (Iran), about 1,000 BCE
- Teachings: Followers of Zoroastrianism are also called Parsis. They think the world will experience a final conflict between good an evil in which good will win. A savior will come to judge all people and transform the world into a utopia.
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