I am an atheist and Ex-Hindu. I used to watch Stephen Colbert (American and Catholic) on comedy central before his current more famous tv show. In one of episodes, he was talking about Hinduism, and said "Hindus worship the wrong gods" (google search would back me up on this), which I found fascinating -- This point of view about other religions. I admit that Hinduism seems to have a lot of issues, such as infamous cast system. I would like to know if this point of view was intended as a joke, or do people think that there is such a thing as "worshipping the wrong gods" I hope this is a right forum for this. Please edit my question, if necessary, to make the question suit the forum.

Does Christianity teach anything resembling soul transfer as in Hinduism's understanding of The Journey of the Atman ?

From what I've heard about the Mormon God, he doesn't actually seem to fit the description of "supreme being" and rather seems more like a polytheistic Greek or Hindu God. The following may be misconceptions, so I'm open to correction: 1. The Mormon God didn't create matter. The matter was pre-existing and he just shaped it into being. This would seem to indicate that matter is as fundamental and eternal as God himself, potentially even more so. 2. Mormons seem to literally be polytheists: as I understand it they believe that the father, the son and the spirit are three separate Gods. However if that's true then neither the son, the spirit, or the father could be a "supreme being" because a supreme being can have no equal by definition. It's impossible to have more than one supreme being. If there was more then one then they wouldn't be "supreme". Mormonism complicates things further by the doctrine of exaltation, which I understand to mean that we can leave behind our human natures and literally become Gods. Sounds like strict polytheism. 3. The Mormon God doesn't act as the ground and source of all existence, like the Christian (or Islamic, or Jewish) God does. He doesn't seem to be sustaining all of reality in existence from moment to moment by his creative energies, like the God of classical theism. Instead he seems to be hanging out in creation using his omnipotence like a really powerful human being would as if he were Jim Carrey in Bruce Almighty. Again, more like a Greek or Hindu God, who have very human/"created being" personalities. I might be totally wrong about that though. Most religions that I've investigated seem to have some concept of a supreme being/ultimate reality. For example in Hinduism you have the idea of Brahman, which is a Pantheistic Supreme being/Ultimate reality (the line gets a bit blurry in Hinduism) - all things have their source in Brahman. In Taoism you have the Tao, which is kind of like a force which permeates all creation and reality - all things have their source in the Tao. In the Classical Theism religions (Islam, Judaism, Christianity) you have the idea of God, who created all of reality and holds it in existence by his creative will from moment to moment - all things have their source in God. Whereas the pattern breaks when you look at Mormonism. "All things have their source in the Mormon God" doesn't seem to hold true. In this sense the Mormon God honestly seems like an inferior being to the usual conception of God in Christianity. (I don't mean that as an insult, I'm just describing the situation as it presents itself to me) So for my actual question: Is there something I'm missing? Perhaps Mormonism DOES have some fundamental "ultimate reality" concept and I just haven't come across it during my research. Perhaps Mormon philosophers and scholars have thought about the issue and devised some "ultimate reality" concept but it hasn't been spoken about publicly much if at all. For an alternate wording: Is there something which is "above" God in Mormonism? or is the Mormon God as supreme as it's going to get?

I have heard about the concept ot Trimurti in Hinduism Wiki . One for construction (Brahma), one for protection (Vishnu) and one for destruction (Shiva). And somehow I feel it is related to Trinity in Christianity. Are there any relations?

Islam and Christianity has same roots and also some names in Bible can also be heard in Quran. What about Christianity connection with Hinduism? Because so many pastors claiming that connection exists, but in evil way. Example: Hindu goddesses are considered as Satans etc.

I am from India and in various newspapers and in different electronic medias, **people are arguing that Jesus was a Hindu person. His religion was Hinduism**. He was born in Kerala state of country India in a Brahman family. Also,in one of stack exchange sites, it is said that Jesus was an incarnate of Hindu God "Shiva" So my simple question is that are these true stories or just rumors?

In Hinduism, there is a concept of past life karma . Meaning if someone is born into an unfortunate situation (in a slum, for example) it is because they are paying for sin from a past life. Does Christianity or the Bible give any insight into why it seems like some people are here on vacation and others full of strife and sorrow (and everything in between)? Also, did Jesus specifically address this (or did any of His disciples ask about this)?

I was thinking about donating to the [Best Podcast in the Universe](http://www.noagendashow.com/) but they always give out "Karma" for donors, and being a Catholic, I don't believe in Karma, but I do believe in Actual Grace and I do believe that Actual Grace is something God gives you to continue doing good things. Can it be in reward for doing good things and to perpetuate the doing of good? Are our good deeds tantamount to a prayer? **Note:** The *Catechism of the Catholic Church* says this about "actual grace": >Actual graces ... refer to God’s interventions, whether at the beginning of conversion or in the course of the work of sanctification. (paragraph 2000) --- Excellent answers are wholly Catholic, apostolic, etc... And should contain the word Distinguo or at the very least the phrase "It would seem that..." (meaning please don't disregard the premise offhandedly until you've defeated the premise with your artful and oh-so-scholastic rhetoric). They would also speak to a wholly superficial knowledge of Hinduism and Karma, which is all that I have; which I gleaned from playing Fallout and watching Dharma and Greg as an adolescent.

The Austrian Carmelite Paulinus a Sancto Bartholomaeo in his book _"Darstellung der Brahmanisch-Indischen Götterlehre, Religionsgebräuche und bürgerliche Verfassung "_ (1797) states that Epiphanius was the first writer to link the Brahmins of India with the children of Abraham and his concubine Keturah (Genesis 25:1-4; 1 Chronicles 1:32-33), an identification later appearing in the _Zohar_ (13th century), Guillaime Postel (16th century), and Manasseh ben Israel (17th century) (as well as Newton, Voltaire and others). I have been unable to locate his source in Epiphanius' (or in other patristic) writings. Does anyone know where Epiphanius says this?