Major Religions of the World

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Major Religions of the World
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• What does religion mean to you?
• something one believes in and follows devotedly
• usually has some form of higher power
• Why do you think religion causes so many
  conflicts and wars in the world when it is
  supposed to promote peace?
• What religion are you?
• Why do you practice that religion?

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Numbers

• Christianity 1.9 billion people
• Islam 1.1 billion
• Hinduism 800 million
• Buddhism 325 million
• Judaism 13 million

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Christianity

• Based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ
• Originated in Palestine in the 1st century AD
• Believe that Jesus was the son of God who came
  and died for peoples sins and then rose so that
  all people could be saved
• Believe in one God(monotheistic) who created the
  universe and all things in it
• Christianity originally developed as a part of
  Judaism

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Christian Way of Life

• Fellowship with God
• Our relationships with others
• Obedience to God's commands
• Discipline

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Ten Commandments
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Important Days

• Ash Wednesday-Lent
• Palm Sunday
• Maundy Thursday
• Good Friday
• Easter
• Ascension
• Pentecost
• Advent
• Christmas
• Epiphany

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Judaism

• Is a monotheistic religion
• Judaism is the oldest and smallest of the world's
  five great religions
• Being a part of a Jewish community and living
  one's life according to Jewish law and traditions
  is very important.
• The fundamental beliefs of Judaism are
• -There is a single, all-powerful God, who
  created the universe and everything in it.
• -God has a special relationship with the Jewish
  people due to covenant that God made with Moses
  on Mount Sinai, 3500 years ago.

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Rambams 13 Principles of Faith

1. G-d exists
2. G-d is one and unique
3. G-d is incorporeal
4. G-d is eternal
5. Prayer is to be directed to G-d alone and to no
   other
6. The words of the prophets are true
7. Moses prophecies are true, and Moses was the
   greatest of the prophets
8. The Written Torah (first 5 books of the Bible)
   and Oral Torah were given to Moses
9. There will be no other Torah
10. G-d knows the thoughts and deeds of men
11. G-d will reward the good and punish the wicked
12. The Messiah will come
13. The dead will be resurrected

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613 Mitzvot

• Judaism 101 List of the 613 Mitzvot

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• The Jewish place of worship is called a Synagogue
• The religious leader of a Jewish community is
  called a Rabbi
• Unlike leaders in many other faiths, a rabbi is
  not a priest and has no special religious status
• The Jewish holy day, or Sabbath(Shabbat), starts
  at sunset on Friday and continues until sunset on
  Saturday
• During the Sabbath, Jews do not work(drive, cook,
  etc)

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7 Holy Days

• Rosh Hashanah-Jewish New Year
• Yom Kippur-A day of fasting and praying which
  occurs 10 days after the first day of Rosh
  Hashanah. The holiest day in the year
• Sukkot-8 day festival of thanksgiving
• Hanukkah-The Feast of Lights is an 8 day Feast of
  Dedication. It recalls the war fought by the
  Maccabees in the cause of religious freedom 

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• Purim-The Feast of Lots recalls the defeat by
  Queen Esther of the plan to slaughter all of the
  Persian Jews, circa 400 BC
• Pesa(Passover)-The 8 day festival recalls the
  exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt
  circa 1300 BCE. A holiday meal, the Seder, is
  held at home
• Shavouth-Pentecost recalls God's revelation of
  the Torah to the Jewish people

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• Menorah-It is a symbol of the nation of Israel
  and a mission to be "a light unto the nations.

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• A Yarmulke is worn during prayer to shoe respect
  to G_d

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• The Star of David is the international symbol of
  Judaism
• Flag of Israel has it

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Kosher Foods

• Foods are kosher when they meet all criteria that
  Jewish law applies to food
• Characteristics that make a food non-kosher
• the mixture of meat and milk
• the use of cooking utensils which had previously
  been used for non-kosher food
• The type of animal it is

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• Leviticus 113 says that Jews may eat all animals
  that have cloven hooves and chew their cud
• Leviticus 114 explicitly prohibited the
  consumption of animals that do not have these
  characteristics designating them "unclean to
  you."
• Six mammals are specifically not allowed
• The camel
• The hyrax
• The hare
• The pig
• Whales and dolphins

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• Kosher animals are as follows
• Cows, goats, sheep, antelope, deer, giraffes,
  okapis and pronghorns
• Most fish(excluding shellfish, sharks, octupus,
  eels and squid)
• Chicken, duck, turkey
• Milk and cheese are kosher but cannot be eaten
  with meat or mixed with meat.
• Preparation
• the slaughter of animals is designed to minimize
  the painusually done by a slice across the
  throat
• this eliminates the practice of hunting for food
  unless it can be captured alive and ritually
  slaughtered.
• All blood and veins must be removed from
  meat(salting and broiling are common methods)

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Islam

• Islam is the world's second most followed
  religion
• It began around 1400 years ago in Arabia, but
  swiftly become a world faith, and now has around
  1.2 billion people
• "Islam" is an Arabic word which means
  surrendering oneself to the will of God
• One will achieve peace and security by doing so
• A person surrenders to the will of Allah by
  living and thinking in the way Allah has
  instructed.
• Islam is more than a system of beliefs. The faith
  provides a social and legal system and governs
  things like family life, law and order, ethics,
  dress, and cleanliness, as well as religious
  ritual and observanceIslamic Republic

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Where is Islam practiced?

• The countries with the largest Islamic
  populations are not in the Middle East as most
  would think
• The largest are Indonesia (170 million), Pakistan
  (136 million), Bangladesh (105 million), and
  India (103 million)
• Islam's three holiest places, the cities of
  Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem, are all in the
  Middle East

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• The present form of Islam began in Arabia in 622
  AD
• It is based on the ministry of a man named
  Muhammad and on the words that Allah gave to the
  world through him
• Muhammad did not found Islam. Islam was created
  by Allah at the beginning of time, and in fact
  Muslims regard Adam as the first Muslim
• Muhammad was the final messenger through whom
  Allah revealed the faith to the world
• There had been earlier messengers, among them
  Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus.

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5 Pillars of Islam

• 1. Shahada(witness) is the Muslim profession of
  faith
• - "I witness that there is no god but Allah, and
  that Muhammad is the prophet of Allah"
• Muslims say this when they wake up in the morning
  and just before they go to sleep at night

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• 2. Salat(daily prayer) is a prayer ritual
  performed 5 times a day by all Muslims over the
  age of 10
• Between first light and sunrise
• After the sun has passed the middle of the sky
• Between mid-afternoon and sunset
• Between sunset and the last light of the day
• Between darkness and dawn

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• 3. Sawm(fasting) is abstaining each day during
  Ramadan
• Sawm helps Muslims develop self-control, gain a
  better understanding of God's gifts and greater
  compassion towards the deprived.
• Ramadan is the holiest day for Islam. It marks
  when Muhammad had the Qur-an revealed to him
• Sawm is usually described as fasting, but it
  actually involves abstaining from all bodily
  pleasures between dawn and sunset
• Not only is food forbidden, but also things like
  smoking, chewing gum, negative thoughts and
  sexual activity

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• 4. Zakat(almsgiving) is giving alms to the poor
• This is a compulsory gift of 2.5 of one's
  savings each year
• Giving in this way is intended to free Muslims
  from the love of money
• It reminds them that everything they have really
  belongs to God.

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• 4. Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca that all
  physically/financially able Muslims should make
  at least once in their life
• Mecca is the most holy place for Muslims
• Takes place during days 8-13 of the 12th month of
  the Islamic Lunar calendar
• They circle the Kaaba seven times on three
  occasions, say prayers, drink from a holy spring,
  walk to Mount Arafat to pray, feast, cast stones
  at three pillars(to fight Satans temptations),
  shave hair, run seven times between some hills

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The KaabaKaaba - Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
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Other Info

• The Quran is the Islamic holy book
• The Qur'an is the actual word of God, and
  contains the fundamental beliefs of Islam
• Mecca, Medina and Jerusulem are holy cities
• According to tradition, the Qur'an was dictated
  to Muhammad
• Two major sects
• Sunni-920 million people(everywhere else)
• Shiite-120 million people(Iran)
• Comparing the Sunni and Shiite branches of Islam

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Islamic Law

• The Sharia outlines all of the laws(comes from
  the Koran)
• 5 Major Crimes
• theft, highway robbery, intoxication, adultery
  and falsely accusing another of adultery
• Sharia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Food Laws

• Very similar laws to the Jewish kosher foods
• No alcohol, pork, blood, no pork fat products,
  scavenger animals
• Food must be prepared similarly to the Jews
• Slice to the jugular
• Drain blood

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Hinduism

• Hinduism includes a very wide range of beliefs
  and practices, so there aren't many things that
  are common to all Hindu groups
• Hinduism has no founder, no single book of faith,
  no creed, and no single source of authority(such
  as Jesus)
• Hinduism is very individualistic but a big part
  of a persons everyday life
• There are 750 million Hindus in the world, mostly
  in India

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• For many Hindus, religion is a matter of practice
  rather than of beliefs. It's more what you do
  than what you believe.
• Behind Hindu practice is the belief that every
  soul is trapped in a cycle of birth-death-rebirth(
  reincarnation). Every Hindu wants to escape from
  this cycle.
• Hindus aim to live in a way that will cause each
  of their lives to be better than the life before.
• Whether one is reborn into a better life, a worse
  life, or even to live as an animal, depends on
  Karma, which is the value of a soul's good and
  bad deeds.

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• Dharma is a cosmic natural law that forms the
  basis for Hindu philosophies, beliefs and
  practices and holds everything together
• People that live in harmony with Dharma proceed
  more quickly toward Moksha
• Hindus ultimate aim is escape from the life cycle
  altogether and achieve the ultimate
  liberationMoksha
• Hindus believe the universe doesn't have a
  beginning and an end. It's a cyclical pattern, so
  once it ends, it begins again.
• One attains Moksha when one has "overcome
  ignorance" and no longer desires anything at
  all(and yes, that includes the desire for Moksha)
  

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Hindu Beliefs

• All good things in life are gifts from God
• Finding out what your lifes calling is as Dharma
  suggest/requires is a very important goal
• Being a fair and decent person is very important
• Wealth, power and material belongings are good
  goals as long as they dont become all important
• Moksha is the ultimate goal

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Four Stages of Life

• Ages 12-24 you get educated and trained
• Ages 24-48 you get married, raise a family, make
  money, get involved in many things
• Ages 48-72 you become a mentor to a young person
  and start isolating themselves from the outside
  world
• At age 72 you end ties to the outside world and
  get rid of your worldly possessions. Prayer and
  devotion become very important.
• Mostly aimed at men and is not followed as much
  as it used to be

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Hindu Gods

• One would think Hinduism is polytheistic. Most
  Hindus would say they worship one God.
• There is only one ultimate God, Brahman, but
  shows itself in many forms
• The gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, for example,
  are different aspects of Brahman
• Brahma reflects God's divine work of creating the
  universe
• Vishnu reflects God's work in keeping the
  universe in existence
• Shiva reflects God's work in destroying it

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Buddhism
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• Founded in India around 500 BC by Siddhartha
  Guatama
• Became Buddha, the Enlightened One, when he was
  29
• He was trying to find the true meaning of life
  and eventually, through four trance-like stages
  of meditation, he was enlightened to the Buddhist
  was of life
• His main teachings was to eliminate human wants
  as they are the cause of suffering in the world

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• Buddhism has no unique creed, no single authority
  and no single sacred book
• Buddhism focuses on each individual seeking to
  attain enlightenment
• Key beliefs and values are contained in "The Four
  Noble Truths
• 1. Life means suffering
• 2. The origin of suffering is attachment to
  worldly things
• 3. The end to suffering is attainable through
  eliminating physical wants/needs
• Eventually can achieve Nirvana(no wind)
• Nirvana means freedom from all worries and
  troubles

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• 4. The path to the end suffering and achieve
  Nirvana is to follow the Eight Fold Path

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Eight Fold Path

• 1. Right View
• To see and view things as they really are
• Attained true wisdom
• 2. Right Intention
• Think and do the right things at all times
• 3. Right Speech
• Do not lie, curse, slander, or gossip
• 4. Right Action
• Do not harm yourself or others, do not steal, and
  no sexual misconduct

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• 5. Right Livelihood
• No jobs dealing in weapons, in living beings
  (including raising animals for slaughter as well
  as slave trade and prostitution), working in meat
  production and butchery, and selling alcohol and
  drugs
• 6. Right Effort
• Give 100 effort in what you do
• 7. Right Mindfulness
• Having the power to control our thought process
  and see the truth behind things
• 8. Right Concentration
• Ability to have deep concentration and ability to
  focus on wholesome thoughts and actions

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Assignment

• Try to follow Buddhists Eight Fold Path for 48
  hours.
• Blog your results. Did you make it through? If
  so, was it tough? If not, what made it
  challenging?