The Claim That All Religions Are Basically the Same is False
Hinduism and Christianity have core differences regarding who we are and where we are going. Are all people equal, or are we consigned to a system of higher and lower castes and worse? When we die, do we live on in a spiritual realm or are we forced to return to earth for additional cycles of life? These differences are central, not trivial.
Some people like to say that all religions are basically the same – that, at their core, when you look past their rituals, they all teach basically the same things.
For example, Brazilian author Paulo Coelho wrote, “All religions lead to the same God.”
Mohandas K. Gandhi said, “All religions are true and equal” and “The essence of all religions is one; only their approaches are different.”
Indian philosopher Bhagwan Das wrote a whole book entitled The Essential Unity of All Religions, where he tried to rewrite the central tenets of all of the major religions to fit his concept of one, unified religion.
These claims are wishful thinking.
The caste system in India fostered discrimination
I recently had a conversation with the Rev. Dr. Z. Devasagayaraj (Fr. Raj). He is the Executive Secretary of the Office for Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes in the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India. Fr. Raj talked about the challenges faced by Dalits in India today. Dalits are the marginalized people in India who were once dismissively called the “untouchables.” They still face obstacles and discrimination because they are not a member of a caste.
I was puzzled. I said to him: I thought the caste system was abolished in India.
No, he replied. Discrimination against Dalits is now prohibited by law, but the caste system is still recognized.
I asked him why.
He replied that when they abolished untouchability, they thought that to abolish the caste system would essentially mean abolishing the Hindu religion.
I did some research and learned why this is true.
Traditionally, there were 4 main castes in India:
the priests and scholars (Brahmins);
the rulers and warriors (Kshatriyas);
the traders, merchants, and farmers (Vaishyas); and
the laborers, farm workers, and servants (Shudras).
The first two castes were the elites; the second two castes were the common people.
There were many other people who fell outside of these 4 castes, and they were marginalized, ostracized, and often oppressed. Over time, those who did not belong to a caste were declared “untouchable” and subjected to a rigid system of segregation. They were excluded from many public spaces, and when they encountered members of the castes above them, they were often treated in cruel and humiliating ways.
The caste system lives on in India today
After India gained its independence from the British Empire in 1947, it adopted a constitution in 1950 that banned the practice of “untouchability” and prohibited discrimination based on caste. Moreover, it provided affirmative action programs to address the huge economic and social inequities the caste system had fostered. But it did not abolish castes. In fact, there are more than 1,000 castes and subcastes in India. These castes represent only around 31% of the population of India, and they are sometimes collectively called the “general caste” or “forward caste.”
Who is left out? The Indian Constitution of 1950 recognized 3 broad groups that do not have traditional caste status and are economically and socially disadvantaged due to historic and ongoing discrimination:
the “Scheduled Castes,” which includes the Dalits;
the “Scheduled Tribes,” which includes people descended from the earliest inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent; and
After 76 years of supposed equality, the caste system remains entrenched in everyday Indian society. Its strict social order continues to govern the everyday life of the Indian people, and discrimination continues.
Beena Pallical, the director of the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, explains: “Everything you do, from who you choose your partner to be, to where you’re working, to who your friends are, all is based on caste.”
The discrimination takes surprising turns. For example, Dalits who are Christians are denied access to the affirmative action programs mandated for Dalits under the Constitution.
How do people perpetuate caste-based discrimination?
Unlike race in America, you can’t see at a glance what caste a person belongs to. How does the caste system remain so ingrained?
Here is how Fr. Raj explained it to me. People may ask where you were born. They may ask where your family comes from. They may ask what street you live on or used to live on. Since class lines have been enforced rigidly for so long, where your family has lived often signals what group you belong to (for example, Dalits were required to live in separate settlements outside the villages). People might even call a relative near where you came from, to see what that relative can find out about you.
The caste system remains a central reality in India. The Pew Research Center found that even today, “Indians conduct their social lives largely within caste hierarchies.” For example, “A majority of Indians say that their close friends are mostly members of their own caste.... And most people say it is very important to stop both men and women in their community from marrying into other castes.”
The drive to stay divided and to continue to treat unequally the people who are “lower” than you on the traditional social hierarchy has been so strong in India that discrimination is still endemic.
Hinduism’s role in caste discrimination
In India, 80% of the population is Hindu, so Hinduism has a major influence on Indian society.
The idea of discrimination based on caste violates the basic teachings of Christianity, Judaism, and Buddhism. Is it as intertwined with the Hindu religion as Fr. Raj suggested? My research indicates that it is.
The caste system existed prior to the advent of Hinduism, but the concept of caste is found in several ancient texts that undergird Hinduism. It is referenced in the early Hindu text known as the Veda and is discussed in several places in the ancient Hindu legal text known as the Manusmriti.
The caste system was later exploited by British colonial overlords in ways that reinforced social disparities, but it did not begin with them. Similarly, it is found in some Muslim and Christian communities, but it did not begin with them.
British historian Michael Wood, in his 2008 video series The Story of India, says that “the old order of Indian society . . . was founded on the caste system, into which all Hindus are born, marry and die. The caste system divides people by birth from high to low. It fixes their jobs and their place in society.” And in Episode 2 of that series, he proceeds to show how people are still locked into the roles and professions assigned to them by the caste system.
A survey by the Pew Research Center found that “even though not all religions in India theologically recognize a caste system, nearly all Indians (98%) identify as a member of a caste, regardless of their religious background.”
Hinduism has many sects or branches and does not have a single, tightly defined core set of doctrines the way some other religions do. However, the concept of a stratified society as a principle for organizing social life is seen by many as a key component of Hinduism.
One of the most fundamental Hindu teachings is reincarnation (samsara). Across a wide range of branches of Hinduism there is a common belief that following the dharma, or right way of living, can lead to your being reincarnated in a higher caste in a future life because of your good actions (karma) in this life ( (and, alternatively, to a lower caste, or even a lower life form, if you have filled your life with bad karma). Thus, the distinctions of caste and status help explain the life to which you are assigned when you are reincarnated.
Furthermore, one of the forms of dharma (or righteous living) is fulfilling the duties of your caste. This means that one of the ways to be reincarnated into a happier next life is to be a dutiful member of your caste in this life. This further intensifies the importance of knowing and following the dictates of your caste.
In these ways, the caste system is integrally stitched into Hinduism’s teaching on reincarnation, and therefore into Hinduism as a religion.
Christianity and the caste system
Major elements of this complex of Hindu beliefs are diametrically opposed to Christian teaching.
Christianity rejects the idea that humans are consigned to long cycles of repeated reincarnations. There is only one rebirth: the spiritual regeneration or renewal of the inner person that Jesus describes as being “born from above” (or “born again”) by water and the spirit (John 3:3-8).
The New Testament letter to the Hebrews says that “it is appointed to humans to die once, and after this [comes] judgment” (Heb. 9:27).
Anyone who claims that the religions are all alike is ignoring this fundamental disagreement about what happens when we die. Christianity teaches that we do not keep coming back to earth for a long series of lives, perhaps now as a laborer, another time as a dog, another time as a farmer or entrepreneur, and someday as a Brahmin. We live one life, well or poorly, and our eternal state is determined by how well we have responded to what we have been given (Rom. 2:13-16).
Similarly, Christianity rejects any sort of caste system. The whole idea that some groups of people are superior to or inferior to others is inimical to Christianity.
In the Bible, at the beginning of human existence God creates all people in his image and likeness (Gen. 1:27), thereby endowing every person with equal and infinite dignity. Furthermore, all people have one mother (Gen. 3:20). The separation of peoples only arises because of sin (Gen. 4:1-16; 11:1-9). Thus, the caste system stands in opposition to core Judeo-Christian principles.
Jesus models and teaches the importance of breaking down barriers between groups when he approaches the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4), when he tells the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), and when he offers to go to the home of the Roman (Gentile) centurion to heal his servant (Matt. 8:5-13).
The apostle Paul talks about how he took a stand to oppose divisions in the church (Gal. 2:11-14). He then declares, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is not male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). He is saying that all people should be treated as equals. If he had lived in India, he might have said, “There is no Brahmin or Dalit.”
Paul teaches that all people are equally valuable members of the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-27) and that the way of love is not boastful and does not arrogantly inflate itself (literally, “is not puffed up”) (1 Cor. 13:4).
Anyone who claims that the religions are all alike can only do so by ignoring these fundamental teachings that distinguish Christianity so thoroughly from Hinduism.
The struggle against the caste system is difficult
Sadly, the caste system is so endemic to Indian society that even many Christians see themselves as part of the caste system even though it violates the central Christian belief in the equal human dignity of all persons. The Pew Research Center found that almost all Christians identify with a caste “even though Christianity does not traditionally have a caste system,” including 22% who consider themselves part of the historically favored “general caste,” and 33% who identify themselves as Dalits.
The Catholic Church in India has not always been a leader in the fight against caste discrimination, but Dalit Catholics are encouraged by recent changes. In 2022, Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Anthony Poola as the first Dalit cardinal. This year, India’s Catholic bishops elected him leader of their conference. He has renewed calls for national and state governments to end the mistreatment of Dalits. Dalits are hopeful that he will guide the Indian Church to go further than its past efforts.
Meanwhile, people like Fr. Raj also continue to speak out for the equal dignity of every person.
The struggle for equality would be easier if Hinduism renounced the caste system, but it is obviously deeply ingrained. Perhaps the Catholic Church’s new steps to put its commitment to human dignity into action can be an example.
The caste system and reincarnation are clear examples that those who claim that all religions are basically the same are wrong.
People in Western Europe and America are blessed by this particular difference, even though the historically Christian societies they live in may now be “post-Christian” in many ways.
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