DIFFERENT FORMS OF WORSHIP IN DIFFERENT RELIGIONS
It is well understood among all people, even among the non-religious, that the many forms of religious worship varies from religion to religion and from one geographical location to another. It is so well understood, in fact, that almost any adult that lives in a culture that has television is able to make a good guess about what religion is worshiping just by looking at a video or still image of people engaged in worship. Jewish worship is distinguishable from Christian worship, and both are easily distinguishable from Islamic worship because each religion has been successful in creating a distinctive religious identity through worship.

Images of Christian Jewish and Islamic worship are best known because they are the most common religions in the world. But even lesser known religions like Hindu, Buddism are distinctive enough that most people can distinguish between them.

The differences in worship forms observed in the Abrahamic  religious groups are significant, but differences in the forms of worship exists within subgroups of each religion. All  Catholics do not worship in the same way and Catholic worship is very different from Protestant worship. And there are difference in form within Judaism. Each religion has its own style of worship, and the freedom to choose a personal style exists with each religious subgroup. They all share the common features of prayer, scripture reading, teaching by a religious leader, and music, but each congregation puts its own personal stamp on worship.

The curious thing about the various styles of worship is that they all claim to believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And they share belief in some of the same scriptures: Jews and Christians claim the Old Testament, and Muslims claim that the Quran is based in part on the Law of Moses and Gospel of Jesus.

Despite these common features, worship styles of the three Abrahamic religions differ greatly. This fact raises this question: How can religions that believe in the same God, and follow some of the same teachings attributed to that God, develop worship practices that are so distinct from each other?

The answer to this question has three parts:

God summarized this situation when he said that because the hearts of religious people are far from God, their worship is based on human rules. He also puts worship in the class of traditions which he hates.