How does our society's majority's conception of God compare with beliefs about supernatural beings in other religious systems?

The
majority of people in the United States identify as Christian, with a minority of Americans
identifying as Jewish or Muslim. Together, these three connected belief systems account for much
of how faith is understood in this country. (That is not to say we don't have many other faiths,
such as Hinduism and Native American religions practiced in this country, but that these three
connected belief systems, and overwhelmingly Christianity, together comprise the majority faith
system).

Worldwide, after Christianity and Islam, the other major religious
systems are Hinduism and Buddhism, along with Chinese traditional religions, such as Taoism, and
primal religions.

If we compare the "religions of the book,"
(Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) with religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism, we can perceive
some striking differences. First, religions of the book understand time as linear and
teleological. This means that history is progressing (and progressing is a
key word: things will get...