Confucianism as a Notion in Religion - Essay Example

Confucius believes that the basis of a unified, stable, and enduring social order is not based on nature spirits, like God, but on the rituals that lie in the Zhou religion. He further asserts that these rituals do not entail making sacrifices to ask for god’s blessings, but are ceremonies performed by humankind, who entails cultured and civilized patterns of behavior created through the generation of man’s wisdom Adogame & Shankar 146).

This notion contradicts the beliefs of other religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which beliefs in making sacrifices to please their God, who is a supreme natural being. It is possible to syncretize these religions with Confucianism since they also provide moral guidelines on how believers should conduct themselves, in society. However, the Jewish beliefs (Judaism) are more difficult to syncretize with Confucianism teachings than religions. This is because Judaism brings God down to humankind while Confucianism brings the ideas of Chinese philosophy down to the people (Adogame & Shankar 146).

While Confucianism teaches that people should respect their ancestors, the Jewish belief is that there is no considerable relationship between people and ancestors and that there is a single God, who created them and the universe. They also believe that every Jew has a personal relationship with God, but not the ancestors. Another contradiction is that Confucianism teaches that good moral behaviors are self-inculcated while Jews believe that good morals are God-given virtues, which depends on an individual’s belief and trust in Him (Adogame & Shankar 19).