Do you know that Christianity and Islam have the same roots? Both were originated from Judaism. Strictly speaking, Islam is said to be a blend of Judaism and Christianity, for Islam introduced “Ten Commandments” and the idea of “The Last Judgment” from Judaism but denied the Jew’s sense of racial superiority as Christianity did. Muhammad who established Islam took over the idea of equality that Christ preached in Gospel. In this way, some similarities can be found between these two religions through their history, but they have many different poins in the course of development. 
These two religions have survived for thousands of years in some ways. In Christianity, “church” has a significant role in encouraging people to keep Christian spirit by attending church services. Meanwhile, in Islam, “mosque” has the same role as Christian church. Muslim routinely worships God there or everywhere five times a day.
Both Christian and Muslim believers pilgrimage to sacred places as an annual event. Christian pilgrims visit Rome, Jerusalem and Santiago de Compostela whereas Muslim counterparts visit Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem. This practice also strengthens religious devotions of the believers.
Embodiment of God such as an idol and an icon is also dispensable for Christians not only for mission but also for passing on its legacy to the next generations. On the other hand, the practice was strictly prohibited in owe of God in Islam. For this reason, Islamic art such as “miniature” and “arabesque” have developed without a description of God.
Christianity and Islam were born as an individual enlightenment or inspiration. Both are monotheistic religion that the only one God is allowed to believe in. Christ is considered the same as God in Christianity but a human in Islam. For Muslims, both Christ and Muhammad are not Gods but Prophets and Muhammad is the last and the greatest one among the three Prophets including Moses and Christ. Therefore, for Muslims, God equals Allah and keep in mind here that Allah is not the name of God but God itself in Arabic. Moreover, Bibles of these religions are called and written in different ways, so Cathlic one is “The New Testament” written in Greek and Muslim one is “Quran” written in Arabic.
Christianity is mainly spread all over Europe and America whereas Islam is through Middle East, Africa, China, Pakistan, and Indonesia. Both were spread by missionary work, holy battle or conquest. In Islam, many Muslim traders played an important role in spreading the religion to other places along with spices. The word “Jihad” means a holy battle, but it was actually an invasion to expand a territory. Similarly, in Christianity, crusades are considered a holy battle to recapture the sacred place, but it was also the invasion which was made to seize food and property. In the 15th century, conquistadors such as Cortes and Pizarro also invaded the native civilization in South America for the same reason. They converted Native Americans into new religion by force. In this way, Christianity and Islam spread out all over the world
while many lives were sacrificed.
These two religions have survived for thousands of years in some ways. In Christianity, “church” has a significant role in encouraging people to keep Christian spirit by attending church services. Meanwhile, in Islam, “mosque” has the same role as Christian church. Muslim routinely worships God there or everywhere five times a day.
Both Christian and Muslim believers pilgrimage to sacred places as an annual event. Christian pilgrims visit Rome, Jerusalem and Santiago de Compostela whereas Muslim counterparts visit Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem. This practice also strengthens religious devotions of the believers.
Embodiment of God such as an idol and an icon is also dispensable for Christians not only for mission but also for passing on its legacy to the next generations. On the other hand, the practice was strictly prohibited in owe of God in Islam. For this reason, Islamic art such as “miniature” and “arabesque” have developed without a description of God.
Religious taboos and marriage styles notably vary between Christianity and Islam. For instance, divorce and abortion are not basically allowed in Christianity. On the other hand, using the left hand at meals, smoking, drinking and eating pork and dog meat are refused as an unholy act. How about marriage styles? In Christianity, only monogamy is acceptable while polygamy is common in Islam. However, passing on their property to more than two wives have made Muslim families become smaller and weaker, so it has become difficult for them to maintain the tradition. For this reason, polygamy has been limited to the rich men who can afford it. In addition, arranged marriage is still popular in Islam, which represents the limited freedom of Muslim women and also their low status.
The most remarkable difference between Christianity and Islam can be found in politics. Christianity has the separation between divine (religion) and secular (state/politics,) but Islam doesn’t, except for Turkey. It is because, in Islam, religious law called “Sharia” has controlled not only their daily lives but their social system and national governance. Therefore, in Islam, there is no clergyman or minister and so the religious leader is the same as the head of the government.
In this way, Christianity and Islam which have the same roots have developed in different ways. The history in which they have shared Jerusalem as a holy place still causes troubles today between Jewish and Muslim refugees. Some Christian countries such as the U.S. and England publicly support Israel, so the condition between Christian and Muslim has become more strained than ever since World Trade Center attack in 1991. Muslims call it “Jihad” and justify their deed as a holy action. Even suicide bombing is considered virtue in Islam. In response, Christian believes that imposing armed sanction is right. To study cultural diversities in development between Christianity and Islam are very interesting, but it is deplorable that many lives were sacrificed over the long history of religion.
