Major Religions of the World

Numbers
 Christianity: 2.4 billion people
 Islam: 1.9 billion
 Hinduism: 800 million
 Buddhism: 325 million
 Judaism: 14 million
 Hinduism
 Hinduism includes a very wide range of
beliefs and practices, so there aren't many
things that are common to all Hindu
groups
 Hinduism has no founder, no single book
of faith, no creed, and no single source of
authority(such as Jesus)
 Hinduism is very individualistic but a big
part of a person’s everyday life
 There are 750 million Hindus in the world,
mostly in India
 For many Hindus, religion is a matter of practice
rather than of beliefs. It's more what you do
than what you believe.

 Behind Hindu practice is the belief that every

soul is trapped in a cycle of birth-death-
rebirth(reincarnation). Every Hindu wants to
escape from this cycle.

 Hindus aim to live in a way that will cause each

of their lives to be better than the life before.

 Whether one is reborn into a better life, a worse

life, or even to live as an animal, depends on
Karma, which is the value of a soul's good and
bad deeds.
 Dharma is a “cosmic natural law” that forms the basis
for Hindu philosophies, beliefs and practices and holds
everything together

 People that live in harmony with Dharma proceed more

quickly toward Moksha

 Hindus ultimate aim is escape from the life cycle

altogether and achieve the ultimate liberation—Moksha

 Hindus believe the universe doesn't have a beginning

and an end. It's a cyclical pattern, so once it ends, it
begins again.

 One attains Moksha when one has "overcome

ignorance" and no longer desires anything at all(and
yes, that includes the desire for Moksha)
 Hindu Beliefs
 All good things in life are gifts from God
 Finding out what your life’s calling is as
Dharma suggest/requires is a very
important goal
 Being a fair and decent person is very
important
 Wealth, power and material belongings
are good goals as long as they don’t
become all important
 Moksha is the ultimate goal
 Four Stages of Life
1. Ages 12-24 you get educated and trained
2. Ages 24-48 you get married, raise a family,
make money, get involved in many things
3. Ages 48-72 you become a mentor to a young
person and start isolating themselves from the
outside world
4. At age 72 you end ties to the outside world
and get rid of your worldly possessions. Prayer
and devotion become very important.
 Mostly aimed at men and is not followed as
much as it used to be
 Hindu Gods
 One would think Hinduism is polytheistic. Most
Hindus would say they worship one God.
 There is only one ultimate God, Brahman, but
shows itself in many forms
 The gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, for
example, are different aspects of Brahman:
 Brahma reflects God's divine work of creating
the universe
 Vishnu reflects God's work in keeping the
universe in existence
 Shiva reflects God's work in destroying it
 Judaism
 Is a monotheistic religion
 Judaism is the oldest and smallest of the
world's five great religions
 Being a part of a Jewish community and
living one's life according to Jewish law
and traditions is very important.
 The fundamental beliefs of Judaism are:

-There is a single, all-powerful God,

who created the universe and
everything in it.
-God has a special relationship with the
Jewish people due to covenant that
God made with Moses on Mount Sinai,
3500 years ago.
 The Jewish place of worship is called a
Synagogue

 The religious leader of a Jewish

community is called a Rabbi

 Unlike leaders in many other faiths, a rabbi

is not a priest and has no special religious
status
 The Jewish holy day, or Sabbath(Shabbat),
starts at sunset on Friday and continues
until sunset on Saturday

 During the Sabbath, Jews do not

work(drive, cook, etc)
 7 Holy Days
 Rosh Hashanah-Jewish New Year
 Yom Kippur-A day of fasting and praying
which occurs 10 days after the first day of
Rosh Hashanah. The holiest day in the
year
 Sukkot-8 day festival of thanksgiving
 Hanukkah-The Feast of Lights is an 8 day
Feast of Dedication. It recalls the war
fought by the Maccabees in the cause of
religious freedom 
 Purim-The Feast of Lots recalls the defeat by
Queen Esther of the plan to slaughter all of
the Persian Jews, circa 400 BC
 Pesa(Passover)-The 8 day festival recalls the
exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt
circa 1300 BCE. A holiday meal, the Seder, is
held at home
 Shavouth-Pentecost recalls God's revelation
of the Torah to the Jewish people
 The Star of David is
the international
symbol of Judaism
 Flag of Israel has it
Buddhism
 Founded in India around 500 BC by
Siddhartha Guatama
 Became Buddha, the Enlightened One, when
he was 29
 He was trying to find the true meaning of life
and eventually, through four trance-like stages
of meditation, he was enlightened to the
Buddhist way of life
 His main teachings was to eliminate human
wants as they are the cause of suffering in the
world
 Buddhism has no unique creed, no
single authority and no single sacred
book
 Buddhism focuses on each individual

seeking to attain enlightenment

 Key beliefs and values are contained

in "The Four Noble Truths“

1. Life means suffering
2. The origin of suffering is attachment to
worldly things
3. The end to suffering is attainable
through eliminating physical wants/needs
 Eventually can achieve Nirvana(no wind)
 Nirvana means freedom from all worries

and troubles
4. The path to the end suffering and
achieve Nirvana is to follow the Eight
Fold Path
 Eight Fold Path
1. Right View
 To see and view things as they really are
 Attained true wisdom
2. Right Intention
 Think and do the right things at all times
3. Right Speech
 Do not lie, curse, slander, or gossip
4. Right Action
 Do not harm yourself or others, do not steal,
and no sexual misconduct
5. Right Livelihood
 No jobs dealing in weapons, in living beings
(including raising animals for slaughter as well
as slave trade and prostitution), working in
meat production and butchery, and selling
alcohol and drugs
6. Right Effort
 Give 100% effort in what you do
7. Right Mindfulness
 Having the power to control our thought
process and see the truth behind things
8. Right Concentration
 Ability to have deep concentration and ability
to focus on wholesome thoughts and actions
 ISLAM
 Islam is the world's second most
followed religion.
 It began around 1400 years ago in
Arabia, but swiftly become a world
faith, and now has around 1.3
billion people.
 "Islam" is an Arabic word which
means “surrendering oneself to
the will of God.”
 One will achieve peace and security by doing
so.

 A person surrenders to the will of Allah by

living and thinking in the way Allah has
instructed.
 Islam is more than a system of beliefs. The
faith provides a social and legal system and
governs things like family life, law and order,
ethics, dress, and cleanliness, as well as
religious ritual and observance—Islamic
Republic.
 Where is Islam practiced?
 The countries with the largest Islamic
populations are not in the Middle East as
most would think.
 The largest are Indonesia (170 million),
Pakistan (136 million), Bangladesh (105
million), and India (103 million)
 Islam's three holiest places, the cities of
Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem, are all in
the Middle East
 The present form of Islam began in Arabia in
622 AD
 It is based on the ministry of a man named
Muhammad and on the words that Allah gave to
the world through him.
 Muhammad did not found Islam. Islam was
created by Allah at the beginning of time, and in
fact Muslims regard Adam as the first Muslim
 Muhammad was the final messenger through
whom Allah revealed the faith to the world
 There had been earlier messengers, among
them Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus.
 5 Pillars of Islam
1. Shahada(witness) is the Muslim
profession of faith
- "I witness that there is no god but
Allah, and that Muhammad is the
prophet of Allah"
 Muslims say this when they wake up in
the morning and just before they go to
sleep at night
 2. Salat (daily prayer) is a prayer ritual
performed 5 times a day by all Muslims
over the age of 10
 Between first light and sunrise
 After the sun has passed the middle of
the sky
 Between mid-afternoon and sunset
 Between sunset and the last light of the
day
 Between darkness and dawn
3. Sawm(fasting) is abstaining each day during
Ramadan.
 Sawm helps Muslims develop self-control, gain
a better understanding of God's gifts and
greater compassion towards the deprived.
 Ramadan is the holiest day for Islam. It marks
when Muhammad had the Qur-an revealed to
him.
 Sawm is usually described as fasting, but it
actually involves abstaining from all bodily
pleasures between dawn and sunset
 Not only is food forbidden, but also things like
smoking, chewing gum, negative thoughts and
sexual activity.
4. Zakat(almsgiving) is giving alms to
the poor.
 This is a compulsory gift of 2.5 %
of one's savings each year
 Giving in this way is intended to
free Muslims from the love of
money.
 It reminds them that everything
they have really belongs to God.
5. Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca that all
physically/financially able Muslims should
make at least once in their life
 Mecca is the most holy place for Muslims

 Takes place during days 8-13 of the 12 th

month of the Islamic Lunar calendar

 They circle the Kaaba seven times on

three occasions, say prayers, drink from a

holy spring, walk to Mount Arafat to pray,
feast, cast stones at three pillars(to fight
Satan’s temptations), shave hair, run
seven times between some hills
The Kaaba
 Other Info
 The Qur’an is the Islamic holy book
 The Qur'an is the actual word of God, and
contains the fundamental beliefs of Islam
 Mecca, Medina and Jerusulem are holy
cities
 According to tradition, the Qur'an was
dictated to Muhammad
 Two major sects
 Sunni-920 million people(everywhere else)
 Shiite-120 million people(Iran)
 Islamic Law
The Sharia outlines all of the
laws (comes from the Koran)
5 Major Crimes:

 theft, highway robbery,

intoxication, adultery and falsely
accusing another of adultery
 Christianity
 Based on the life and teachings of Jesus
Christ
 Originated in Palestine in the 1st century
AD
 Believe that Jesus was the son of God who
came and died for people’s sins and then
rose so that all people could be saved
 Believe in one God (monotheistic) who
created the universe and all things in it
 Christianity originally developed as a part
of Judaism
 Christian Way of Life
 Fellowship with God
 Our relationships with others
 Obedience to God's commands
 Discipline
Ten Commandments
 Important Days
 Ash Wednesday-Lent
 Palm Sunday
 Maundy Thursday
 Good Friday
 Easter
 Ascension
 Pentecost
 Advent
 Christmas
 Epiphany