flame teen handout week 15 2/10/2018 comparative...
TRANSCRIPT
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FLAME TEEN HANDOUT
Week 15 – 2/10/2018
Comparative Religion
The panel tonight talked about
their faith. Take a moment to
think about the questions that
they answered and discuss them
as a class.
How is your faith important to you?
How do you live out your faith in your
daily life?
What is one element that you value from
your faith? Why?
How can we support each other on our
faith journeys? Did anything surprise you?
What questions do you still have?
Before you start… What do you know about the religion and beliefs of Islam?
What do you know about the religion and beliefs of Judaism?
Have you ever visited a mosque or synagogue? Describe
what you experienced. What was similar to our Church?
Were there any differences?
Do you have friends or family who are not Christian? What
faith, if any, do they follow? What do you know about these
faiths?
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Check out
Genesis 17!
Look at
Romans 4!
What the heck is an Abrahamic religion??
Abrahamic religions, emphasizing and tracing their common origin to the tribal patriarch Abraham or recognizing a spiritual tradition identified with him.
All the major Abrahamic religions claim a direct lineage to Abraham:
Abraham is recorded in the Torah as the ancestor of the Israelites through his son Isaac, born to Sarah through a promise made in Genesis.
The sacred text of Christianity is the Christian Bible, the first part of which, the Old Testament, is derived from the Jewish Bible, leading to similar ancestry claims as above, although most Christians are gentiles who consider themselves as grafted into the family tree under the New Covenant.
It is the Islamic tradition that Muhammad, as an Arab, is descended from Abraham's son Ishmael. Jewish tradition also equates the descendants of Ishmael, Ishmaelites, with Arabs, as the descendants of Isaac by Jacob, who was also later known as Israel, are the Israelites.
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Five Pillars of Islam
1. Profession of faith. The first of Islam’s five pillars is
the ultimate profession of their faith: “There is no god but
Allah, and Mohammad is the prophet of Allah.” This
statement is repeated at least five times each day by the
muezzin in the minaret of every mosque around the world
as an invitation to prayer.
Just as it is impossible to exaggerate the importance of
the Quran for a devout Muslim, so it would be hard to
exaggerate how central this first pillar of belief is. The
belief in the One, transcendent God is the pole around
which the whole religion orbits. There is no other like God,
no modifier. God, simply, is God.
2. Prayer is carried out five times a day: at dawn, noon,
midafternoon, sunset, and after the fall of darkness or at
bedtime. The actual prayers are accompanied by ritual
cleansing, hand gestures, body bows and prostrations,
and prescribed rubrics that apply whether praying alone or
with others.
The practice of regular prayer throughout the day gives to
time nothing more or less than graciousness. The practice
turns time inside out. What in my early years of monastic
life was an interruption to my day (all that stopping for
prayers and starting again) turned into a ceaseless and
seamless way of being in time.
3. Almsgiving. The third pillar of Islam involves a serious
redistribution of wealth. Since all is given by God, then
nothing of what I own is mine, unless it is shared
according to God’s will. Muslims traditionally give 2.5
percent of their wealth to the poor, although this tithing
sometimes has taken the form of a tax if the government
is Muslim. Nevertheless, the intent remains the same: to
give to the poor and to be a just and peace-filled society.
4. Ramadan. The fourth pillar of Islam is the fast that
takes place during the holy month of Ramadan. All
Muslims all over the world during Ramadan are called on
to fast from sunrise to sunset for 30 days, unless they are
sick or on a journey. Generally, those 12 or older rise early
for a meal before the sun rises, then break their fast after
sunset.
5. Pilgrimage. The fifth pillar of Islam also bonds a
community of believers. It is the pilgrimage (hajj) to
Mecca. This obligation does what all great pilgrimages do.
It restarts the conversion experience by returning the
devotee to the point of origin. A religion is not just a
collectivity, but consists of many clusters of individuals.
They must take on themselves again the beliefs and
practices of the founder and the dictates of the religion’s
scriptures. To take a sacred journey, along with other
believers, is to personally accept and immerse oneself in
the culture of that religion and make it your own.
Judaism began with Abraham in the 19th century BC. The Old Testament history of the Jews is the same as for Christians. Jesus was seen as a prophet but not the son of God… hence Jews are still waiting for the coming of the Messiah.
The most significant development to come from Abraham and Jewish beliefs is that there is only one God.
The Jews consider themselves God’s chosen people.
The exodus story celebrates the liberation of the Jews from slavery in Egypt. Moses led the Jews to the “promised land”. Passover celebrates this great event.
The history of the Jewish people is one of exile and
persecution. This hatred towards Jews is called anti-
Semitism. In 70 AD, the Romans destroyed the city of
Jerusalem. The Jews were exiled from Jerusalem until
the middle of the 20th century (1948). They returned to
Israel, the land of the exodus. What remains of the
destroyed temple from 70 AD is called the Western
Wall (or “wailing wall” by some). These are in modern
day Israel. For centuries, Jews were forced to live in
other people’s countries, mostly in Europe. The
greatest persecution took place in the Holocaust
during World War II. Six million Jews were killed, a
third of the population. The Catholic Church has
persecuted Jews during the Crusades and the
Inquisition as well. Because Jewish faith is tied very
much to culture and practice, even the most horrible
atrocities could not wipe out the faith.
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Take a few minutes to write down some misconceptions and stereotypes that you
believe exist about the religions we have discussed tonight.
Share some of the stereotypes with your small group. Where do you think the stereotypes
come from? How do these stereotypes spread? How much, if any, of an impact do the media
have in the cultivating stereotypes? What dangers exist when we assume that stereotypes are
true? What can we do to change these perceptions?
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The Golden Rule is a moral
principle found in virtually all of
the major world religions,
usually explicitly.
If the Golden Rule is part of so
many religions, why are there
so many problems in the world
based on difference of religion?
The Golden Rule
One should behave towards
others as one would have
others behave towards oneself.