Christianity vs Confucianism

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Comparison chart

Christianity versus Confucianism comparison chart
	Christianity	Confucianism

Use of statues and pictures	In Catholic & Orthodox Churches.	Permitted.
Founder	The Lord Jesus Christ.	Kong Qiu (Confucius)
Place of origin	Roman province of Judea.	China
Belief of God	One God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Trinity.	Depending on the religion held, usually Buddhist. Confucianism is not strictly a religion but rather advises a schema of social order.
Literal Meaning	Follower Of Christ.	Disciple of Confucius.
Scriptures	The Holy Bible	Analects of Confucius and Mencius; I Ching; Doctrine of Mean, etc.
Clergy	Priests, bishops, ministers, monks, and nuns.	Bureaucrats.
Practices	Prayer, sacraments (some branches), worship in church, reading of the Bible, acts of charity, communion.	Visit to temples to pay homage to Ti'en (while it can refer to God or Heaven, it traditionally refers to social power), Confucius, and ancestors; To practice ('Jing zuo, ') or 'Quiet Sitting', a neo-Confucian seeking of self-cultivation.
Life after death	Eternity in Heaven or Hell, in some cases temporal Purgatory.	Ancestors and heritage is important, but not worshiped.
View of the Buddha	Christians believe that the Buddha was a false teacher, and do not adhere to anything he taught.	Buddha is followed by many Confucians.
Followers	Christian (followers of Christ)	Confucianists
Place of worship	Church, chapel, cathedral, basilica, home bible study, personal dwellings.	Temples.
Original Language(s)	Aramaic, Greek, and Latin.	Mandarin or Cantonese
Human Nature	Man has inherited "original sin" from Adam. Mankind then is inherently evil and is in need of forgiveness of sin. By knowing right and wrong Christians choose their actions. Humans are a fallen, broken race in need of salvation and repair by God.	Humans should respect those who are superior to them.
Geographical distribution and predominance	As the largest religion in the world, Christianity has adherents are all over the world. As a % of local population, Christians are in a majority in Europe, North and South America, and Australia and New Zealand.	Asia.
View of other Dharmic religions	N/A.	Confucianists usually follow Buddhism, which is a Dharmic religion.
Goal of religion	To love God and obey his commandments while creating a relationship with Jesus Christ and spreading the Gospel so that others may also be saved.	To have a structured society.
Holy Days	Christmas (celebration of the birth of Jesus), Good Friday (death of Jesus), Sunday (day of rest), Easter (resurrection of Jesus), Lent (Catholicism), saints' feast days.	Chinese New Year, Teacher Day, Ancestor Day.
Holy days/Official Holidays	The Lord's Day; Advent, Christmas; New Year, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, every day is dedicated to a Saint.	Chinese New Year, Teacher Day, Ancestor Day.
Belief	The Ante-Nicene Creed sums up Christian belief in the Holy Trinity.	Confucianism is sometimes mistakenly seen as a religion but it is really a philosophy of China, and of Asia as a whole. It stresses human conduct over belief in God.
Goal of Philosophy	Objective reality. Worship of God who created life, the universe, and is eternal. Christianity has its own philosophy, found in the Bible. That philosophy is Salvation from sin, through the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.	Social Harmony.
Branches	Roman Catholics, independent Catholics, Protestants (Anglicans, Lutherans etc.), Orthodox (Greek orthodox, Russian orthodox).	Han Confucianism; Neo Confucianism; Contemporary Confucianism; Japanese Confucianism; Korean Confucianism; Vietnamese Confucianism; Boston Confucianism.
Views on other religions	Christianity is the only True Faith.	Confucianists see no contradiction in following more than one religion.
Promised Holy one.	Second Coming of Christ	Coming of the Superior Man or Perfect Gentleman.
Offshoot religions	Rastafarianism, Universalism, Deism, Masonry and Mormonism.	Cao Dai.
Names of God	God, Gud, Gott, Deo, Dios. Jehovah, YHWH, Eli Elohim, (depending on language Christians are of every language and culture around the world)	Ti'en, really referring to power; Shang Ti is the "Supreme Deity" that really refers to the position of the Emperor in a social order.
Concept of Deity	1 God, in 3 Divine Persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.	Most believe in One God, but this is not necessary since Confucianism is not a religion but a belief system about social ordering.
Use of statues, images	some denominations regard It as forbidden and Idolatry. Anglicans and Lutherans allow pictures but forbid venerating them. Catholics encourage pictures and statues and venerate them. Orthodox encourage pictures and venerate them.	Permitted.
Concept of God	One God, Who Is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.	One God.
Original Languages	Aramaic, Common (Koine) Greek, Hebrew.	Mandarin or Cantonese
Virtue(s) in which religion is based upon	Love and justice.	Respect
Views on the afterlife	Eternity in Heaven or Hell; some believe in temporal suffering in Purgatory, before admittance into Heaven.	To be worshipped by one's descendants and their families.
View of other Oriental religions	N/A.	Usually follows other Oriental religions, especially Taoism.