The majority of people I encounter seem convinced that religions share no common thread. They appear so
fundamentally different and irreconcilable in their eyes.

I like to think otherwise. One of the things I've noticed all traditions share is the golden rule - an underlying sense of love and compassion. So here's a list of all the interpretations I could find.

Hinduism: "This is the sum of duty: do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you." Mahabharata 5:1517

Native American: "Respect for all life is the foundation." The Great Law of Peace

Buddhism: "Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful." Udana-Varga 5:18

Sikhism: "Don't create hatred with anyone as God is within everyone." Guru Arjan Devji

Janism: "A man should wander about treating all creatures as he himself would be treated." Sutrakritanga 1.11.33

Confucianism: "Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you." Analects 15:23

Taoism: "I am good to the man who is good to me; likewise, I am also good to the bad man." Tao Te Ching

Judaism: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Leviticus 19:18

Christianity: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Luke 6:13

Islam: "No one of you is a believer until you desire for another that which you desire for yourself." The Sunnah

Sufism: "You must see in the heart of another the temple of God." Hazrat Inayay Khan

Baha'ism: "Blessed is he who prefereth his brother before himself." Baha'u'llah

So why is it that all religions share the golden rule?

Yeah I think all religeons are guidelines that acheive the same end. Some better than others. Pick which one suits you best, or go about it your own way, you can't lose.

There are a shit loada similarities between one religeon and the next. People are just too uptight about other religeons to notice.

They have a lot in common because they steal from one another so much.

You've got to remember though, that not all those religions you posted above have a "bible" or a "god" who layed out the golden rule for them. Some of those are just what one person said at one time.

They have a lot in common because they steal from one another so much.

Hinduism is considered the oldest religion on earth by many. Are you saying that every subsequent faith stole the idea from Hinduism despite great gaps in time, physical location, and cultural contact? I find that hard to believe.

Hinduism is considered the oldest religion on earth by many. Are you saying that every subsequent faith stole the idea from Hinduism despite great gaps in time, physical location, and cultural contact? I find that hard to believe.

Buddha was originally a Hindu, this explains the Golden Rule and the religions/philosophies of the east. Judaism also stole from Hinduism, Christianity stole from Judaism, so on and so on in the west. The Golden Rule is like a meme, so as you can see, I was not insinuating they all stole it from Hinduism, I'm saying they stole from one another, so some would steal from religions that stole from Hinduism, etc.

They have a lot in common because they steal from one another so much.

How do you know that these are not all gifts from God to many nations?

The American Indians were completely cut off from all of that and many of their faiths seem to follow this underlying sense of goodness. Perhaps even moreso than others. Also noteworthy is their apparent powerful sense of freedom, which is totally awesome. Too bad the goatfucking invaders had to completely obliterate them and their culture in one long drawn out act of obscene genocide, mirite?

How do you know that these are not all gifts from God to many nations?

How do you not know that there aren't pink unicorns and fairies populating the Andromeda galaxy?

How do you not know that there aren't pink unicorns and fairies populating the Andromeda galaxy?

Like you? ;)

The reason so many religions have some mention of it is because if people followed it, think about how our world would look. There would be major differences.

Why is it that so many religions have it? A few possibilities:

1 - Some higher power revealed it to the oldest religion (which is arguably Hinduism) and all later faiths just took it, one way or another.

2 - A human person came up with it, wrote it into a holy book of one of the earlier religions, and all later faiths took it.

3 - Either the same God, different aspects of the same God, or different gods revealed it to each faith.

4 - Human people from different parts of the world came up with it on their own and wrote it into their holy books.

In my opinion, it's a mix of 2 and 4.

How do you know that these are not all gifts from God to many nations?

Because it can easily be explained without the necessity of God via the magic of plagiarism and people coming up with similar ideas on their own, duh.

Because it can easily be explained without the necessity of God via the magic of plagiarism and people coming up with similar ideas on their own, duh.

As can any idea, philosophy, religion (including Christianity), etc....

After all, there is nothing new under the sun...

How do you not know that there aren't pink unicorns and fairies populating the Andromeda galaxy?

Do you have an obsession with pink unicorns?
Just wondering.
Seriously, let the pink unicorn argument go. That argument has little strength.

Do you have an obsession with pink unicorns?
Just wondering.
Seriously, let the pink unicorn argument go. That argument has little strength.

It has just as much strength as:

How do you know that these are not all gifts from God to many nations?

The only place God has is creating the universe and possibly then creating life, because these are the hardest questions we have to answer. Anything beyond that is nonsense.