Western Traditions:

    The God of the Western, monotheistic religions is understood to be the omnipotent, omniscient, eternal and transcendent creator but also in relationship with humans demanding justice, obedience to God’s will and selfless love toward others.

• Judaism - "God" ("the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob") - initially a family deity, then the god of a particular people (all descended from one ancient family), eventually recognized as the One True God of all.
• Christianity - "God" ("the Father, Son and Holy Spirit") - the God of the Jews as revealed through Jesus the Christ (himself, a Jew).
• Islam - "Allah" (the Arabic word for "God") is the same God which the Jews and Christians worship.
• Baha'i - "God" - the same God as Jews, Christians and Muslims.
• Zoroastrianism - Often misunderstood as a dualistic faith, the Zoroastrian God, known as "Ahura Mazda" ("Wise Lord" in Persian), is much like that of the other Middle Eastern faiths (Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Baha'i). Evil is basically an absence of the goodness of the lord and thus has no absolute existence in and of itself. Evil has come to be identified as an evil spirit called "Angra Mainyu" or Ariman, but this was not part of the original teaching of the faith.

    The eastern religions vary in focus, understanding Ultimate Reality to be either one or many, personal gods and goddesses or a non-personal energy or force creating, maintaining and transforming the cosmos in an ongoing, eternal and repeating process. Often these views will be found side by side in a single tradition differing between popular and philosophical understanding of the same tradition.

• Hinduism - "Brahman/Atman" "Brahman" being the non-personal and transcendent Ultimate Reality; "Atman" being that Reality as it manifests itself in (or as) the soul of a human being (thus the immanent form of divinity).

• Buddhism - "Nirvana" is more of an ultimate state of being in which one's individual identity is totally merged in union with all (thus "Nirvana" is often understood as non-being and literally means "blown-out" as a candle flame is extinguished). "Nirvana" is the ultimate goal of the Buddhist. It is a state of inner bliss, of no desire and thus of no suffering achieved through years of meditation rather than through devotion and ritual.

• Jainism - Jains believe in a duality of spirit and matter. Every soul is a potential god. There is no external, "creator" god. Every soul is eternally separate and unique from and yet of the same quality and substance as every other soul. The ultimate goal of the Jain is much like that of the Buddhist - to achieve an eternal state of bliss (a "Nirvana") by freeing the soul from this realm of matter. Having achieved this state one becomes a Jaina - an enlightened being, a god; but this is a god that does not relate to souls that remain embodied. Thus there is no devotion to or supplication of such gods.

• Sikhism - believes in one "God" who is very much like that of the Judeo/Christian/Muslim concept of God: personal, eternal, invisible, ineffable but revealing Himself through all creation and especially in the human heart. Sikhs refer to God as "Waheguru" ("Wonderful Guru") or "Sat Nam" ("True Name").

• Taoism - the "Tao" (literally, "Way" or "path") is not a personal god but is the source of all that is. In it lies the secret of harmony in all things in life. To follow the "Tao" is to know an inner harmony which enables the Taoist to live a well balanced life of ease, going with the flow of nature and the "way" of the world.
• Confucianism - more a way of life, a code of moral and social behavior than a religion to worship a god, many Confucianists also follow some other religion (e.g., Buddhism or Taoism) by which they may balance life in this world with a devotion to some ultimate vision which lies beyond this world. Confucianists might also venerate Confucius himself. There is also the concept of "Tien" - Heaven. The Emperor links heaven and earth. Tien is manifest in the Emperor who thus rules with "the mandate of heaven."
• Shinto - literally, "the way (tao) of the gods (shen)", this indigenous Japanese tradition is a nature religion, recognizing the sacredness of all aspects of nature. As such, Shinto venerates thousands of nature deities known collectively as "Kami". The foremost of these is the Sun goddess, "Amaterasu". As with Confucianism, most Shinto will also be Buddhists, the two religions not being in conflict, but rather, balancing each other, serving different purposes.