The 5 Major Religions
by Clayton Jones
Christianity
- Monotheistic
- God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit (Holy Trinity)
- The Bible
- Major holidays: Christmas, Easter
- Major practices include everyone going to church on Easter Sunday and Christmas Eve, praying, Ash Wednesday, Lent
- Christianity is from Israel
Judaism
- Monotheistic
- The Messiah will come
- The dead will be resurrected
- G-d is eternal
- Prayer is to be directed to G-d alone and to no other
- The Torah Is the most sacred book
- Major holidays:
- Shabbat, Passover, and hanukkah
- Originated in Israel
Islam
- Monotheistic
- Allah
- book=Quran
- they pray five times a day and read the Quran everyday
- Ramadan
- Islam originated in Israel
Hinduism
- Hinduism's early history is the subject of much debate for a number of reasons.
- Firstly, in a strict sense there was no 'Hinduism' before modern times, although the sources of Hindu traditions are very ancient.
- Secondly, Hinduism is not a single religion but embraces many traditions.
- Holy days: Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, Hanuman Jayanti, Holi, Krishna, Janmashtami (Krishna Jayanti), Mahashivratri, Makar, Sankranti, Navaratri (Navratri), Raksha Bandhan, Rama, Navami, Swaminarayan, Jayanti Thaipusam, Vaisakhi, Varsha, Pratipada
- Hindu religious rites are classified into three categories:
- Nitya
- Nitya rituals are performed daily and consist in offerings made at the home shrine or performing puja to the family deities.
- Naimittika
- Naimittika rituals are important but only occur at certain times during the year, such as celebrations of the festivals, thanksgiving and so on.
- Kamya
- Kamya are rituals which are "optional" but highly desirable. Pilgrimage is one such.
- The majority of Hindu homes have a shrine where offerings are made and prayers are said.
- Hindu worship, or puja, involves images (murtis), prayers (mantras) and diagrams of the universe (yantras).
- Central to Hindu worship is the image, or icon, which can be worshipped either at home or in the temple.
Hinduism originated in India.
Buddhism
Buddhism originated from northern India nearly 2,500 years ago. Buddhist believe in the 4 noble truths. The four noble truths are The Four Noble Truths are regarded as the central doctrine of the Buddhist tradition, and are said to provide a conceptual framework for all of Buddhist thought. These four truths explain the nature of dukkha meaning suffering or anxiety
The four noble truths:
1. The truth of dukkha (suffering, anxiety, unsatisfactoriness[a])
2. The truth of the origin of dukkha
3. The truth of the cessation of dukkha
4. The truth of the path leading to the cessation of dukkha
Buddhists pray for times. The main concept of their religion is too make it Nirvana by living the best possible spiritual life possible. This is basically the after life. If they do not succeed in making it to nirvana, then they believe that they are reborn through reincarnation.
Buddhism originated in India.
About Me
Email: cwj0198@g.coppellisd.com
Twitter: @claytonjones27