World Religions

A Guide to the Basics

Judaism

• Abraham is considered the founder since he made the covenant with God.

• Basic Beliefs– God made a covenant with the Jewish people– God spoke through prophets and other religious

leaders to guide the people– The Ten Commandments were given directly to

Moses from God on how to live life– Scripture from the prophets and their holy book, the

TeNaKh that includes the Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim.

Judaism• Jerusalem is the holy city where many

prophets came from as well as their holy temple or synagogue built by Solomon

• Jews believe in one God who they refer to as the “God of Abraham”, Adonai, or YaWeH in which they don’t feel you should actual utter his real name so the leave out the vowels and refer to him as the initials.

Judaism

• The Star of David serves as the symbol for the faith.– In his seminal work entitled the Star of Redemption

(1912), Franz Rosenzweig framed his philosophy of Judaism around the image of the Jewish star, composed of two conceptual "triads," which together form the basis of Jewish belief: Creation, Revelation, and Redemption; God, Israel, and World.

• The religious leader is a rabbi• Judaism has three different sects that include

Orthodox, Conservative, and Reformed.• It is mainly practiced in Israel, but can be practiced

by Jews around the world.

Christianity

• Abraham is considered the founder since he made the covenant with God. His covenant was redeemed by Jesus who is considered the messiah written about by Hebrew prophets.

• Jerusalem is considered the holiest city because that is where they believe Christ died and rose from the dead.

• Bethlehem is considered a holy city by some sects since it is the birthplace of Jesus.

• Priests, pastors, or ministers lead Christians in teaching and worship in churches.

• The cross is the symbol for Christianity representing Jesus’ death on the cross.

Christianity• Basic Beliefs

– God made a covenant with the Jewish people that was extended through Jesus to everyone in the world.

– They believe in the Ten Commandments and scripture from the TeNaKh that makes up the Old Testament of their holy book the Bible.

– The New Testament of the Bible discusses the life and teaching of Jesus and the development of the church.

– They believe Jesus died on a cross, was buried, and rose from the dead three days later and ascended to heaven to be with God the Father.

– They believe that God has three parts or the Trinity that includes God the Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit (God’s presence on earth).

– The ultimate goal of Christianity is salvation that will result in eternal life for one’s soul with God in heaven.

– Baptism and Communion are two sacraments practiced by all Christian sects.

Islam

• Abraham is considered the founder since he made the covenant with God. Muhammad was the last prophet.

• The holiest city is Mecca which they pray towards five times daily which is the birthplace of Muhammad.

• Muslims worship in a mosque and an imam usually leads prayers.

• It is practiced in North Africa, South and Southwest Asia, and areas throughout the world.

Islam

• Basic Beliefs– The ultimate goal is to live according to Allah’s

guidance, which will be rewarded with salvation or eternal suffering.

– The Koran, their holy book, describes how they should live all aspects of their life. It includes ideas from the history and law of ancient Hebrews and their prophets and the story of Jesus’ life.

– The Koran also describes allowed and forbidden acts. They can not eat pork, drink alcohol, or invest money that charges interest.

Islam• The Five Pillars of Islam

•Sunni believe their leader should be elected by the community, but the Shiite believe the leader should be a descendant of Muhammad or actually his son-in-law, Ali.

Hinduism

• The Aryans are considered the founders since religious beliefs correspond date back over 5000 years.

• Customs are recorded in their sacred texts known as the Vedas. Other sacred text would include the Upanishads, Mahabharata, and Ramayana.

• The Vedas contain hymns, incantations, and rituals from ancient India.

• Although there is no holy city, the Ganges River is considered sacred.

• The symbol is the Om which represents the Universal Spirit or the Brahma.

• The Guru is considered enlightened and give guidance to those seeking to be unified with the Brahma.

• The sects are Savism, Vaishavism and Saktism. They differ on the different types of human temperaments or yogas that include Karma, Bhakti, Jnana, and Raja.

Hinduism• The Universal Spirit or Brahma is a

single all-powerful, unchanging spirit.• Brahma exists in every living thing

(trees, plants, insects, animals, and people) and seen in hundreds of Gods.

• The numerous Gods help the faithful to reach enlightenment.

• Hindus believe in reincarnation, the ideas that the soul is reborn after death into a human or other form of life which continues until their soul becomes perfect and is unified with the Universal Spirit.

• Although outlawed now, Hinduism was closely link to a caste system in which the Gods created four social groups or castes.

• Karma or a person’s every action affects his or her fate in the next life.

Buddhism• Siddhartha Gautama is considered the founder

who later became “enlightened” to become “Buddha”.

• Bodh Gaya, India is the place of his first sermon and considered a holy city.

• The symbol is Buddha and sometimes the 8 spoked wheel.

• There is no main deity. It is a way of life.• The Ripitaka, or The Three Baskets, is a

collection of Buddha's sayings, his thoughts about them, and rules for Buddhists monks which is considered Buddhism’s sacred text.

• The monks are religious leaders.• The worship structures are shrines or temples.• There are two main sects, Theravada, which

spread to Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, and Mahayana which spread to Nepal, Vietnam, China, Korea and Japan.

• It is practiced mainly in South, Southeast, and East Asia.

BuddhismThe Four Noble Truths

• Dukkha: All existence is unsatisfactory and filled with suffering.

• Trsna: The root of suffering can be defined as a craving or clinging to the wrong things; searching to find stability in a shifting world is the wrong way.

• Nirvana: It is possible to find an end to suffering.

• The Noble Eightfold Path is the way to finding the solution to suffering and bring it to an end.

BuddhismThe Eightfold Path

1. Right understanding and viewpoint (based on the Four Noble Truths).

2. Right values and attitude (compassion rather than selfishness).

3. Right speech (don't tell lies, avoid harsh, abusive speech, avoid gossip).

4. Right action (help others, live honestly, don't harm living things, take care of the environment).

5. Right work (do something useful, avoid jobs which harm others).

6. Right effort (encourage good, helpful thoughts, discourage unwholesome destructive thoughts).

7. Right mindfulness (be aware of what you feel, think and do).

8. Right meditation (calm mind, practice meditation which leads to nirvana).