CONCEPT PAPER

INTRODUCTION TO WORLD RELIGION AND BELIEF SYSTEM

The Origin of Religion

Religion is an organized collection of belief systems, cultural systems, and world views that relate
humanity and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and
sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to explain the origin of life or the Universe.
They tend to derive morality, ethics, religious laws or a preferred lifestyle from their ideas about the
cosmos and human nature. According to some estimates, there are roughly 4,200 religions in the world.

• Hinduism

The term “Hinduism” includes numerous tradition, which are closely related and share common themes
but do not constitute a unified set of beliefs or practices. Hinduism is though to have got its name from
the Persian word hindu, meaning

“river,” used by outsiders to describe the people of the Indus River Valley. Hinduism has no founder or
date of origin. The authors and dates of most Hindu sacred texts are unknown.

• Islam

Islam is the second – largest religion in the world, with over 1 billion followers. It is a monotheistic faith
founded by a man name Muhammad in 7th century Saudi Arabia. According to Muslim belief, the angel
Gabriel appeared to Muhammad, a camel driver, in a mountain cave and delivered a message from the
one true God. The prophet Muhammad dedicated the remainder of his life to spreading a message of
monotheism in a polytheistic world. His life’s work is recorded in Qur’an, the sacred text of Islam.
 • Buddhism

Buddhism was founded by an Indian prince named Siddhartha Gautama around the year 500 BC.
According to tradition, the young prince lived an affluent and sheltered life until a journey during which
he saw an old man, sick man, a poor man, and a corpse. Shocked and distressed at the suffering in the
world, Gautama left his family to seek enlightenment through asceticism. But even the most extreme
asceticism failed to bring enlightenment.

• Judaism

Judaism is one of the oldest religions still existing today. It began as the religion of the small nation of
the Hebrews, and through thousands of years of suffering, persecution, dispersion, and occasional
victory, has continued to be a profoundly influential religion and culture.

• Christianity

Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It
is the world’s largest religion, with about 2.5 billion followers. It’s adherents, known as Christians, make
up a majority of the population in 157 countries and territories, and believe that Jesus is the Son of God,
whose coming as the messiah wag prophesied in the Hebrew Bible (called the Old Testament in
Christianity) and chronicled in the New Testament.

• Theravada Buddhism

Theravada Buddhism is strongest in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Burma (Myanmar). It is
sometimes called ‘Southern Buddhism’. The name means ‘the doctrine of the elders ‘ – the elders being
the senior Buddhist monks. This school of Buddhism believes that is has remained closest to the original
teachings of Buddha. However, it does not over-empasize the status of these teachings in a
fundamentalist way - they are seen as tools to help people understand the truth, and not as having
merit of their own.
 • Mahayana Buddhism

Mahayana Buddhism is the largest Buddhist sect in the world, and its beliefs and practices are what
most non-adherents recognize as "Buddhism" in the modern era. It developed as a school of thought
Sometime after 383 BCE, possibly from the earlier school known as Mahasanghika, though that claim
has been challenged. Confucianism Confucianism is a philosophy and belief system from ancient china,
which laid the foundation for much of Chinese culture. Confucius was a philosopher and teacher who
lived from 551 to 479 B.C.E. His thoughts on ethics, good behavior, and more character were written
down by his disciples in several books, the most important being the Lunyu. Confucianism believes in
ancestor worship and human-centered virtues for living a Peaceful life. The golder rule of Confucianism
is "Do not do unto others what you would not want others to do unto you."

• Taoism

Taoism (also spelled Daoism) is a religion and a philosophy from ancient China that has influenced folk
and national belief. Taoism has been connected to the philosopher Lao Tzu, who around 500 B.C.E.
wrote the main book of Taoism, the Tao Te Ching. Taoism holds that humans and animals should live in
n balance with the Tao, or the universe. Taoists believe in spiritual immortality, where the spirit of the
body joins the universe after death.

• Shintoism

Shinto is a religion that originated in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its
practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes
call its practitioners Shintoists, although adherents rarely use that term themselves. Though the
Emperor of Japan is traditionally considered the head of Shinto faith, Shinto has no Central authority in
control, and much diversity exists among practitioners.