text: do you think that the essences of all the major religions are the same? there seems to be an underlying thread including the golden rule, respect for others, good deeds, humility, selflessness, and warnings about selfish greed.  i'm sure there are some fringe religions which have teachings totally at odds with these principles, but among christianity, islam, hinduism, buddhism, sikhism, and judaism, these teachings are held. wow, i must comment on petermaxey's assertion that "charity" is a unique characteristic of christianity.  that is so far from the truth, and i can't for the life of me figure out what made petermaxey think this was the case.  i believe that that ideal, of selfless service and willingness to suffer for others without regard to what their particular religion is, is one of the greatest teachings of any religion, and thankfully, it is a universal ideal.  it is taught most wonderfully in mahayana buddhism, with the example of the bodhisattva who endures rebirth and suffering until all come to enlightenment.  this is a huge part of my own religion, hinduism, and i know it to be a teaching of judaism as well, because i once believed in judaism.  you will find this most wonderful teaching even among those who have no religion.  yes, christianity has it, but thank god, they are not the only ones.  i noticed that on one of the questions here at ya, christians were most often saying that they would not suffer hell if by doing so, they could save other folks.  now, i cannot condemn someone for saying this, because that would indeed be a horrendous sacrifice, but then on the other hand, isn't that level of selfless suffering for others precisely what would mark a person as having reached the highest level of true love and selflessness?  i answered that question that i hope that i would be willing to suffer hell, if by doing so, i could save others from that torment.  i don't know if i am so brave, but i hope i would be.    ok, as you can see from my response to petermaxey, i do believe that religions do have a common thread.  and this goal to become selfless, altruistic, compassionate beings is one of those threads.  some religions may exemplify this more than others, but in the end, we are all humans, and as human beings, we all have this same essence of our being, and it is that that we wish to realize.    ok, to answer a question that you asked me on one of my questions, i have been a hindu for about 3 and a half to 4 years.  i converted because i studied religion, and my soul was drawn to hinduism because of its excellent path of devotion.  i have always wanted to just be a loyal and devoted servant and friend of god.  and i had explored other religions but i kept coming back to hinduism because through it, i was able to express my feeling of devotion to god, and to further it, in a way that was very natural to me.  i love the worship practices, of offering flowers, fruit, and incense, etc.  those are the most natural outer expressions of the feeling of devotion and love of god that i have on the inside.  i love the scriptures of hinduism.  the upanishads, the bhagavad gita, the ramayana, the puranas.  in all these, i have found some of the purest teachings of religion.  they just strike me as true and magnificent.  hindus differ on many things, and one of those things is whether someone can convert to hinduism.  obviously, i believe you can convert!  and most hindus i have met also believe that one can convert, and welcome me as a full hindu.  there will be those i am sure who will not agree, but to me, that is not that important.  i practice hinduism, go to a hindu temple, read the hindu scriptures, and i feel like a hindu.  but it doesn't matter what you call me so much, or whether all hindus accept me as a hindu.  what matters is that through my religious devotional practices, i become the best human i can be and strengthen my relationship to god.   does god consider me a "hindu"?  i don't know!  maybe to god, there is no "jew or gentile, no greek, or hindu"!  maybe we are all just people.  and the soul, and god do not care what my "religion" is.  they care whether i am fulfilling my soul's purpose.