World Religions Project
By Avery Goforth
Hinduism
Rituals- Hindus believe devotion to God is very important so they do a lot of meditating and praying to talk with the Gods. Brahmacharga happens to kids in their school years, where they focus on knowledge and developing character, and Saangasu is when you're about to die and you focus on abandoning the world and preparing for a life of contemplation. This happens to all hindus. They also pray many times a day, usually to photos of the Gods.
Holidays- Hindus celebrate and go to many festivals. One main holiday is Basant Panchami, Diwali, and Dashara. They're mostly all festivals where you go and worship and celebrate a certain God. For example, Diwali is a festival of lights, celebrating Lakshmi, the God of Prosperity.
Main book- No holy book, but many holy scriptures. The two main scripture categories is Shruti and Smriti.
Main Gods- Brahman, Shiva, Vishnu, Shakti, Ganesha (Many Gods)
History- Hinduism developed thousands of years ago, but no one knows the specific time. Hinduism is simply the religion of the Indian people.
Polytheistic
Buddhism
Rituals- Buddhists do a lot of meditating which connects you with Buddha. Buddhists also participate in pilgrimages and mantras which are sacred sounds that are supposed to "protect the mind."
Holidays- Buddhist new year, which is celebrated for three days in April or Janurary. Vesak is "Buddha Day" which is. Buddha's Birthday.
Main Book- There is no book, but Buddha's teachings are called Dharma which are collected into 108 volumes. He has 84,000 helpful teachings.
Main Gods- They don't consider him a God, but Buddha is their main superior man they look up to.
History- Buddha was born in the 6th century BCE. Buddhism is the one of the oldest religions still practiced today. Buddhism spread from the northeastern region of the indian subcontinent.
Neither polytheistic or monotheistic.
Judaism
1. God exists
2. God is one and unique
3. God is incorporeal
4. God in enternal
5. Prayer should be directed to only God and 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 (teachings now contained in the Talmud and other writings) 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
Rituals- Daily prayer, Sabbath service, holidays, birth and child naming ceremony like how the boy is named 8 days after he's born.
Holidays- Rosh Hashanah (new year), Yom Kippur, Sukott
Main Book- The Written Torah
Main Gods- God (YHWH)
History- Traces back to mankind but Jewish origins begin with Abraham and the Hebrews
Monotheistic
Christianity
Rituals- Go to church every sunday, pray at dinner or before you go to bed, go through confirmation, all christians usually get baptized.
Holidays- Christmas (the birth of Jesus), Easter
Main Book- The Holy Bible
Main Gods- God
History- emerged from what now is Isreal in the mid 1st century AD and became common in europe in the Middle ages. When people started coming over to the new world it soread with them and their settlers and that's why we have it in the United States now.
Monotheistic
Islam
Rituals- fasting (ramadan), pilgramage to Meca, Rajj religious practice
Holidays- Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha are celebrated in Ramadan (a month of fasting.)
Main book- Quran
Main Gods- Allah
History-
Monotheistic