Is there such a thing as a religious thesaurus?

Question

It can be a book or a website (or something else)?

I need a resource that tells things like:
* A Muslim practices Islam
* Free Will Baptist is a Baptist organization (OK, so that's obvious, but you get the point... I hope)
* Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has also been known as The Church of God and Church of Christ.

Thank you!

sirimore: Thanks for your help. The first one was helpful. It will definitely be helpful in my project if I can't find anything else. The second link didn't work. I wonder if it's something different you meant to put in?

Desiree, what is wrong with you? I didn't even ask about Christianity but religions in general. Can't you answer anything without not answering and being rude?

That's basically what I need: a thesaurus. I don't want to know a lot about the religion. I just need synonymous terms and/or hierarchal terms (i.e., Baptist is above First Baptist).

I can use an encyclopedia if I have to, but I'd prefer something simpler like a thesaurus.

Answer 1

Try:

www.beliefnet.com

www.religioustolorance.org

or for texts:

www.sacred-texts.com

Answer 2

Not sure if this is helpful, but if you do a Google search and type in alt.religion a whole list of different religious sources will come up. Not sure if ARBN is specifically related to Buddhism and Nichiren or if this is the name used for all the different teachings.

Universal Day of Hope, if they have made an entry on line, is a vehicle that works jointly with the Victory Train London Mission and their aim is to link all religious denominations, henceforth they may be able to provide all kinds of useful information.

The Global University, based in North London (Wembley I think) although based on some Hinayana teaching, also provide information on universal Faiths and doctrines.

We find that the essence of most religions is Love, Unconditional love and compassion, patience, endurance arising from Faith to be the key element which is meant to protect the believers. Unfortunately All organised religions strive to accomplish their own 'survival' and is therefore based on a hierarchical framework.

Religions are the language to the soul and all religions are man made. Some even claim that religions are not real, but I can confirm that all religions arise from individual cultures and why we find so many divisions, no different to boundaries and countries, diet and habits. Eventually the world will discover the ONE Perfect Vehicle for what we describe to be the Latter Days of the Law when the minds of the people are so over taken by their human greed and riddled by the poison of ignorance. Seeing the wood for the trees becoming more and more difficult.

Takes me back to racism, all human beings originate from Ethiopia and in essence carry the black gene, hence it makes me laugh when humans judge one another by the colour of their skin. Religion is much the same in that we have good religions, strong teachings and those that create weak individuals. Science has only just come to terms over the fact that animals have feelings and as confirmed by me, for decades, are a Nation to be reckoned with as they are highly evolved in ways that the Human being is not.

To have Faith equals to Trust the insight of others. To believe is to live one's Faith based on conviction. In a religious debate about righteousness and judgement, very few can remain upright in the heat of the argument. As for 'killing' in the name of God or any other Sacred Being is the first and foremost biggest 'slander' interpreted by Mankind.

This is not meant to be a lecture or stepping aside from the question of a thesaurus. I do not think the world is ready for a thesaurus in the real sense of the word. All you can do, at this stage is gather information from individual sources.

I hope this brings some useful doors to open. There is the World Chronicle, which may have information that you seek to find. Heck, if you can't find it on line, where can you find it?

Answer 3

To me it sounds as if he has severe mental issues rather than the typical fanatic. It is obsessive and his thinking isn't quite connected like it might be otherwise. So I can understand not wanting to let it continue. My thoughts on it are rather a couple of choice really. 1. Just cut the ties without a word. I know it is rather rude but sometimes you got to do what you got to do. 2. Explain that you don't want to continue the relationship friend or otherwise. You could mention that seeking help for his issues might be something to think about. Though that might actually cause a few problems as well. It might sadly shift his focus so that u become the obsession at some point rather then religion. Or he might get mad and nothing further is said. 3. Some combination of the above.

Answer 4

A thesaurus is a book of synonyms or a brief description of concepts. To my knowledge, the only resource for the things you are looking for is an encyclopedia.

Answer 5

There are a couple of books by Josh McDowell (and co-authors) on these topics.

If you did a search on amazon.com with his name, you'd find the books (one was "Understanding non-Christian Religions" if I recall correctly).

Feel free to email me if you have specific questions.

Cordially,
John
http://www.GodSci.net

Answer 6

There are dictionaries of the Bible & Theology.
Why not try these terms on Wikipedia?

Answer 7

Christians don't believe in Thesauruses - they're a lie made up by scientists to cast doubt on Christian beliefs. All those fossils aren't real either.