It is the Eastern view that all religions, despite diverse beliefs and practices, are merely different paths leading to the same ultimate reality. As an ancient Japanese poem states, “there are many paths at the foot of the mountain, but the view of the moon is the same at the peak.”

For centuries Western thinkers approached the subject from the unique perspective of Judeo-Christian tradition. This approach revolved around two fundamental but related doctrinal concepts—a belief that there is a personal creator God separate and distinct from man, and that man’s highest activity is the worship, supplication and veneration of this god. If a set of beliefs did not manifest these doctrines, it was not regarded as a religion.

This doctrinal approach also reflected the way Western scholars analyzed religious thought and practice from the very beginning of civilized society until only relatively recently. For hundreds of years the terms “religion” and “Christianity” were virtually synonymous. Henry Fielding’s sarcasm in “By religion I mean Christianity, by Christianity I mean Protestantism, by Protestantism I mean the Church of England as established by law” aptly caught the prevailing belief of the times. In fact, England refused to treat Judaism as a proper religion for purposes of charity law until as late as 1837.

This deceptively simple standard by which religions were judged not only closed the doors to many religions but opened the doors to persecution—underscoring that “defining” religion is far more than an issue of academic concern. From it, uneven treatment, discrimination and even violence have flowed.