Once upon a time, there lived a man by the name of Jacob. He was a good man who always the followed rules but was not a great listener. Helping others and being kind to everyone was something Jacob loved doing. He owned a bakery and worked everyday to help his customers but finds himself having trouble when customers get angry.

Even though Jacob was a nice man, he didn't like the idea of having a religion and liked to judge people who had one. 

Religion sucks

One day, Jacob was starting to feel stressed at working at his bakery and decided to take a day off the next day. When coming back, he felt even more stressed than ever and felt sick. Jacob became ill and needed to take a break from work until he got well again.

Although, he was sick, his friends visited and so did his mother. They began to worry about Jacob but stayed by his side to show love. His best friend, Jack, said, "You'll get better, just keep resting." His other friend, Vilma, said "Yes, you got this Jacob." "Thank you so much guys, I wouldn't be able to do it without you all!" Jacob said back.

Jacob's mom, Vivian, started to pray for Jacob in order to wish that Jacob will get better quicker. "Mom, please, you know I don't believe in praying, that won't work." Jacob said in an annoyed tone. "Well sweetie, being Christian, praying is my way of talking to God. The Lord can help me and tell me what to do in a hard situation like this ("Four reasons")." Vivian said.

Jack wanted to know more about Jacob's mom and her beliefs 

"Can you tell me more about Christianity?" Jack asked.

 "Of course! Christianity began in the first century. It spread all over the world like the Roman Empire and later, it became the biggest religion in the world ("History"). We Christians believe that Jesus was messiah and is the Son of God, and believing in him, we would live forever ("Christianity: Basic"). Our God has three parts: the father that is God, Jesus Christ (the son) and the Holy Spirit ("Christianity")."

"Worshiping God gives me guidance and God helps me in order to help you." Vivian said.

"But mom, it won't work. It's a myth" said Jacob.

Vilma said to Jacob and Vivian,

"Well, I actually believe in Shinto. We believe that humans are all good and that they are evil spirits causing the evil in the world ("Shinto"). The main belief of Shinto is everything around us has a spirit we call "kami" ("Understanding"). We also worship to thank the kami for something good that happened ("Shinto Worship")." 

Jacob begins to get more annoyed

"I don't get it, why would in something that is not real like a god or spirit?" Jacob said

Jack says back, "Religion is not always praying to someone, in Buddhism, meditating and practicing the Eightfold Path will help you get nirvana! ("Buddhism")." 

Jacob asked, "What is nirvana?"

"Nirvana is when you're free from suffering, that means not wanting anything, not doing bad things, and not being thinking bad thoughts ("What is")." Jack replied. 

Jacob starts to think, how will these religions make me feel any better?

"What is the point of religions anyways?" Jacob asked everyone. 

Vivian answered, "Religion is important because it helps keep us on our best behavior, follow rules, get to have a second family who come from the same religion, gives good health, and most importantly, it gives a reason to be positive ("The Importance")." 

"Not only that Jacob, our religions have common stuff. Buddhism and Christianity teach to love everyone and live peacefully (Giordano)." Vivian said.

"Shinto was also created from Buddhism and Confucianism ("Shintoism"). Us three religions have some stuff in common. We may be different but share the same goal of spreading peace." Vilma added on