different (major) religions and beliefs

2. 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?

4.  Christianity: 1.9 billion people
 Islam: 1.1 billion
 Hinduism: 800 million
 Buddhism: 325 million
 Judaism: 13 million

6.  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 people’s 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

7.  Fellowship with God
 Our relationships with others
 Obedience to God's commands
 Discipline

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

11.  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.

12. 1. God exists
2. God is one and unique
3. God is incorporeal
4. God is eternal
5. Prayer is to be directed to God 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. God knows the thoughts and deeds of men
11. God will reward the good and punish the wicked
12. The Messiah will come
13. The dead will be resurrected

13.  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)

14.  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

15.  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

16.  Menorah - It is a
symbol of the nation of
Israel and a mission to
be "a light unto the
nations.
 A Yarmulke is worn
during prayer to show
respect to God

17.  The Star of David is the international symbol of
Judaism
 Flag of Israel has it

18.  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

19.  Leviticus 11:3 says that Jews may eat all animals that
have cloven hooves and chew their cud
 Leviticus 11:4 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

20.  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 pain—usually
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)

21.  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
observance—Islamic Republic

22.  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

23.  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.

26. 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

27.  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

28. 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

29. 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.

30. 5. 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 Satan’s temptations), shave
hair, run seven times between some hills

34.  The Qur’an is the Islamic holy book
 The Qur'an is the actual word of God, and contains
the fundamental beliefs of Islam
 Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem 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)

35.  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

36.  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

37.  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
person’s everyday life
 There are 750 million Hindus in the world, mostly in
India

38.  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.

39.  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 liberation—Moksha
 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)

40.  All good things in life are gifts from God
 Finding out what your life’s 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 don’t become all important
 Moksha is the ultimate goal

41. 1. Ages 12-24 you get educated and trained
2. Ages 24-48 you get married, raise a family, make
money, get involved in many things
3. Ages 48-72 you become a mentor to a young
person and start isolating themselves from the
outside world
4. 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

42.  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

44.  Founded in India around 500 BC by Siddharta
Gautama
 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

45.  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
4. The path to the end suffering and achieve Nirvana is to
follow the Eight Fold Path

46.  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

47.  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