Religions

across the
world
• Derived from the latin word
“religio” means obligation, bond,
and reverence.
• A socio-cultural system of
designated behaviors and
practices, moral views, texts,
sanctified places and other things
that relates humanity to
supernatural, transcendental, or
spiritual elements.
• Set of beliefs that relate humanity
to an order of existence.
 Theism Atheism
• Religious beliefs that at •Denial of god/s.
least one god exists .
• Belief in the existence of
god/s.
Monotheism Polytheism
• Worships a single god. • Worships two or more
• They believed that a gods.
single god is
responsible for
everything.
•Christianity •Shintoism
•Islam •Sikhism
•Hinduism •Confucianism
•Buddhism •Taoism
•Judaism •Zoroastrianism
•Jainism
• Most widely practiced religion in
the world.
• Monotheistic religion based on
the life and teachings of Jesus
Christ.
• Bible, its main scripture consists
of 66 books and divided into
two parts: old and new
testament.
• Monotheistic Religion.
• Believed in one god Allah and its
prophet Muhammad.
• Qur’an is its main scripture consists
of 114 books.
• “Submit to God”, interpretation of
Islam religious practices.
• Ummah, Islamic community
• Arkan, five (5) pillars of Islam
• Shahadah- profession of faith.
• Salat- daily prayers of muslim: five (5)
times a day. They need to pray facing
north, where the Mecca is located.
• Zakat- giving of alms. They need to
share their wealth to those who are in
need.
• Sawm- fasting during Ramadan, with
the exemption of sick, elderly, and
pregnant.
• Hajj- every Muslims must do pilgrimage
at least once in their lives to the holy
city of mecca.
 Sunni Shiites
• The largest branch of Islam • Shia’t Ali or “Party of Ali”
• Ahl al-sunnah or “People of the • Can combine their prayers
tradition” three times a day.
• They accept the first four caliphs • Some of its dominant
as the successor of Muhammad. regions practice Muttah
• First four caliphs: Abu Bakr, marriage or temporary
Uhmar, Uthman, Ali marriage.
• World oldest religion and the
third largest in the world
• No specific founder.
• It is henotheistic, which means
they worship one God
“Brahma” but still
acknowledged other gods
such as Vishnu (the god that
protects) and shiva (the god
that destroy)
• Believed in Samsara or “continuous
cycle of life” and karma “the
universal law of effects”.
• All living creatures have a soul or
“atman”, and all is part of the
supreme soul.
• They strived to achieved “dharma”
or “the way of life”
• “moksha” the salvation , which
ends the cycle of rebirths and
become a part of the absolute soul.
• They considered cow as their
sacred animal.
• Vedas, their main scriptures
• Four parts of vedas: Rig Veda,
Samaveda, Yajurveda,
Atharveda
• Caste system, social system
in India they believed you had
been born in your caste
based on your deed on earth.
• There two primarily symbol of
Hinduism: swastika and om.
• Swastika means good fortune
• Om, composed three letter of Sanskrit
and represent three sound a, u and m.
Also considered a sacred sound.
• Om often found in temples and family
shrines.
• Siddhartha Gautama (the buddha)
founded buddhism.
• They don’t acknowledged a supreme
god or deity.
• They focus on achieving
enlightenment. And when they
achieved echelon they will
experienced nirvana- highest state of
enlightenment.
• They meditate because they believed
it helps awaken the truth.
• They also embraced the concept of
karma and reincarnation.
• Buddha’s teaching: wisdom,
kindness, generosity, and
compassion.
• A way of life; a good moral conduct.
• Five moral percepts:
• No killing of living things
• Do not take what is not yours
• Do not sexual misconduct
• No Lying
• Do not use alcohol and drugs.
• Also called as middle way
• Eight division path to achieved
enlightenment and cease suffering:
• Right understanding
• Right thought
• Right Speech
• Right conduct
• Right livelihood
• Right effort
• Right mindfulness
• Right concentration
• Essence of buddhas teaching:
• The truth of suffering-
• The truth of the origin of
suffering
• The truth of the end of
suffering
• The truth of the path that
free us from suffering.
• One of the three most ancient religion in
India.
• Teaches the path of enlightenment
through the path of non-violence.
• They also believed in karma and
reincarnation.
• Jains are strict vegetarians, in fact eating
roots vegetables is not allowed because
removing the root will kill the plant.
• They can eat plants above the ground.
• Jains honor 24 Jinas and
Tirthankaras
• Jinas- spiritual leaders who
achieved enlightenment
• Mahavira, one of the most
influential Jina. He is
considered as 24th and final
Jina.
 :

Digambara Svetambara
• Sky clad • White clad
• they are more conservative. • Believed they have retained most of
original scriptures.
• They believed that only man can
attain liberatioin • Women can attain liberation as well
as man.
• Their monks go naked, rejecting
even the needs for clothing. • Their clergy wears white seamless
clothing
Digambara Svetambara
• Founded in the Punjab region.
• The Sikhs call their faith Gurmat “the
way of the Guru”
• Founded by Guru Nanak
• Adi granth or grant sahib, sacred
scripture of Sikhism.
• Gurdwara, place of worship.
• Karah Prasad, sacramental food
consist of equal parts of wheat flour,
clarified butter, and raw sugar
• Adi Granth condemns caste.
• Sikh Rahit Marayda, manual that
specifies the duties of Sikhs
• Four rituals for the rites of passage:
• First- birth and naming ceremony.
First letter of the name is chosen
to the first letter from the hymn of
Guru Granth Sahib. Singh is added
to the names of male and Kaur to
the females.
• Second rite- marriage ceremony
• Third rite- initiation
• Fourth rite- funeral ceremony
• World oldest monotheistic religion.
• Most Jews believed that their Messiah has
not come yet-- but will one day
• Synagogues, their holy place
• Rabis, spiritual leaders.
• Six pointed star of David is the symbol
Judaism.
• Tanakh, jewish sacred text or “The Hebrew
Bible”
• Torah, first five books of Tanaks, outline
laws for Jews to follow.
• Abraham, founder of Judaism.
• Jacob son of Isaac took the name Israel,
and his children and future generation
became known as Israelites.
• Ten commandments, revealed at Mt.
Sinai.
• Mishnah, text that describes Jewish code
of law.
• Talmud, collection of teachings and
commentaries on Jewish law.
• Shabbat, day of rest and prayers to the
jews.
• Granada Massacre- Muslim kills Jewish
families and mob the royal palace in
Granada.
• First Crusade- holy wars between
Christians and Muslims, and thousand of
Jews were killed.
• Spanish Expulsion- those Jews who refused
to convert in Christianity were killed.
• Holocaust- Nazis murdered more than 6
million Jews.
• Polytheistic religion
• The way of the Gods.
• Kami, means God.
• Amaterasu, sun goddess and the
most important god in Shintoism.
• There is no absolute right and
wrong, as humans are thought to
be good and evil.
• They believed that evil is caused by
the evil spirits.
• They used rituals to keep the evil
spirits away.
• Shinto Shrine, place of worship.
• Matsuri, means festival where
they celebrate in order to show
the Gods the outside world.
• Miko, younger woman who
aided the Priests in rituals.
• Way of life propagated by K’ung
Fu- Tzu.
• Source of value and social code
of the Chinese.
• Advocate a strict code of ethics
one should adhere to achieved
the middle way of life.
• Five constants and Four virtues.
• Benevolence • Contingency
• Righteousness • justice
• Ritual
• Knowledge
• Integrity
• Filial piety
• Loyalty
• Attributed to Lao Tzu
• Religion during Tang Dynasty
• They believed in spiritual immortality,
where the spirit of the body joins the
universe after the death.
• Its main ideas is the belief in balancing
forces yin and yang;
• Yin and yang show that everything in the
universe is connected
• Ancient Persian religion;
• Arguably the world’s monotheistic faith
• Zoroaster, founder of Zoroastrianism
• Ahura Mazda, single god
• Avesta, sacred text
• Each person had the freedom to choose
good or evil