What underlies both of these arguments are two different beliefs as to how we should create religious tolerance in the world. Both Prothero and Sivananda want to see people of different (or no) religions respect each other and live peacefully together - they just have very different ideas about how that is possible!

1. Which argument do you agree with more? I know that we haven't studied the religions in-depth yet, so you may change your mind by the end of the course! But do you think that you will find the religions of the world to be very different from each other, or do you think that they will be very similar?

2. If we also want people of different religions to respect each other and live peacefully together (I'm assuming we all want that in this world!) which do you think is more powerful to emphasize? The similarities between religions or the differences?