RELIGIONS

PROJECT SUPERVISOR: 
SHAZIA PERVEEN
MADE BY: 
KHADIJAH ABBASI
IQRA MOBEEN
MUHAMMAD AHTISHAM
SAAD MAHMOOD
CLASS: BBA (MORNING)
SECTION: 6A
 Part.no#1
Religion
Nature of Religion
Great Religions of Today
Hinduism
Saad Mahmood
Religion
• Religion helps satisfy this longing because of the concepts common to
all of its forms: the incorporation of a code of ethics; the use of myths
or stories; the organization of intellectual doctrine; the display and
comfort of ritual; the fostering of community and regard for others;
and the hope of some intense, personal experience such as the
answering of prayer.
Religion (cont)
• In our own country, evidence of religious influence is rich. It includes
the millions of people who attend religious services; the thousands of
houses of worship; the celebration of holidays (holy days) such as
those associated with 182 The more I study science, the more I believe
in God. —Albert Einstein Christmas, Easter, Passover, Yom Kippur,
and Ramadan; and those ceremonies that are both private and official,
such as weddings and funerals, and rites such as baptisms and bar
mitzvahs.
The Nature of Religion
• Today, when we say that a person is religious, we usually mean he or
she believes in the existence of a supreme being and that this belief
determines moral precepts and behavior to an important degree.
• Religions vary greatly. Most include a belief in God or gods, some
concept of an afterlife, and some theory of salvation
The Nature of Religion (cont)
• Religions can have both spiritual and civil elements. Civil religion, a
term that was first used by Rousseau, refers to religious beliefs that
lead people to want to live by the laws of the land. It is a means of
motivating people, out of fear of the divine power over them, to
“subject themselves willingly to the governmental laws.”
The Nature of Religion (cont)
• The relationship between man and the superhuman power he believes
in and feels himself to be dependent upon.” Such a relationship is
expressed in various ways, including feelings of trust or fear, legends,
myths, prayer, rituals, and the application of religious precepts to the
conduct of life.
The Nature of Religion (cont)
• Kalahari bushmen are seen living a life that we feel must have been
unchanged for thousands of years. Suddenly, a Coke bottle is tossed
out of a plane passing overhead and lands among them. The bushmen
view the bottle as a gift from the gods, but it causes changes, including
tests of faith, which themselves celebrate the imagination of the primal
human spirit.
Great Religions of Today
• Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In the world,
about 70 percent of the population identifies itself with some
organized religious group, although many people are only loosely
affiliated. In the United States, Protestant or Catholic Christians are
the largest groups
Great Religions of Today (cont)
• Christians in the world is Roman Catholic rather than Protestant.
Muslims and Hindus are the next two largest religious groups in the
world.
• Since 1950 the largest change has been the decreased importance of
Buddhism. In large part, this decrease is due to the decline in religion
in China after the communists took control in the 1950s.
Hinduism
• Hinduism is the religion and social
system of the Hindus, the majority of
whom live in India. Since ancient times,
it has had a strong hold in India, and
even today it dominates the lives of the
majority of its people. A minority of
Indians have been converted to foreign
faiths such as Christianity or Islam, or
to religions such as Buddhism, Jainism,
or Sikhism, all three of which
developed out of Hinduism itself.
Hinduism (cont)
• e. Although Hinduism claims to be monotheistic, its High God has
many forms, of which the two best known are Vishnu the creator and
preserver and Shiva the destroyer. There are thousands of lesser gods.
No one attempts to remember all of them, but each has its place in folk
affection; the believer will tell you, “They are all the same god.”
Hinduism (cont)
• Many animals are sacred: The cow is revered because she represents
Mother Earth. Other sacred creations are monkeys, snakes, the banyan
tree, the herb known as basil, all mountains and rivers, and rocks of
unusual shape. Hindus are divided into four castes: (1) scholars and
priests (Brahmans, a word .meaning “source of life,” or “expansive
force”); (2) administrators of the state; (3) commercial and agricultural
entrepreneurs; and (4) workers who perform the tasks the three higher
classes shun—for example, sweeping floors, cleaning bathrooms, and
repairing shoes.
 Part.no#2
Buddhism And Judaism
Khadijah Abbasi
BUDDHISM
• Buddhism, is now rare in India, it remains important in the Eastern
world.
• It teaches that by right thinking and self-denial its followers can achieve
nirvana.
• It developed out of early Hinduism, and one of its chief objectives is to
free people from the endless cycle of reincarnations that is part of Hindu
doctrine.
• Buddhism was founded more than 500 years before Christ by a young
Nepalese prince, Shakyamuni.
• Gautama, who later became known as
Buddha (“the enlightened one”).
• He is also sometimes called Siddhartha, “the perfected” or “completed
one.”
 BUDDHISM
• After observing the troubles of his father’s subjects, the
prince became convinced that all life results in suffering
and that the only escape is to overcome desire for life and
its pleasures.
• Therefore, he left his parents and his princely existence
and became a wandering ascetic monk in order to seek a
cure for suffering. 
• He succeeded in entering a trance in which he
remembered his former incarnations and perceived
himself as having already passed through so many stages
that he was ready to have himself born to his current
circumstances in order to preach to others.
• Gautama had thus reached Enlightenment and could be
called Buddha.
 BUDDHISM RKET
• He emerged from this state of contemplation, or nirvana, although
tempted by evil forces to remain dallying there, and went to Banaras,
on the Ganges River in India, to explain how others could attain
nirvana amely, by realizing that life is suffering, suffering springs from
a burning thirst for material and spiritual riches.
• We cease to thirst by passing through eight stages:
• Right Views
• Right Aspiration
• Right Speech
• Right Conduct
• Right Livelihood
• Right Effort
• Right Mindfulness
• Right Contemplation
 BUDDHISM
• The Buddha’s birthplace (Kapilavastu), the place of his
Enlightenment (Bodh Gaya), the place where he gave his
first sermon (the deer park in Sarnath), and the place where
he died all in India or Nepal are today the main destinations
for Buddhist pilgrimages.
• Buddhism is not one of the major religions of India today,
having declined for many reasons, but principally because
Islam.
• Muslims destroyed the Buddhist monasteries and dispersed
the monks.
• Over the centuries, as Buddhism gained converts and spread
to other countries like China, Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia,
and Sri Lanka.
 THTH

BUDDHISM

• Although Buddhism is primarily an Asian religion, in the

1970s small Buddhist sects sprang up in the United States.
• Many of these sects disbanded in the late 1980s, but a few
remain.
• The Buddhist monastic community was founded by the
Buddha himself, and its organization and character are said to
be the one element in Buddhism that has changed relatively
little over the centuries.
• Even to this day, Buddhist monks shave their heads and wear
the traditional yellow robes.
• Zen Buddhism, transcendental meditation, and yoga, all
Buddhist practices that do not require more than several hours
of practice a day, have also spread.
 T

JUDAISM USINESS
• We now turn to the three major monotheistic religions (religions with one
god)Judaism, Christianity, and all share a common history.
• In 2015, the entire Jewish population of the world was probably only about
13.9 million, compared with about 2.2 billion Christians and 1.6 billion
Muslims.
• Judaism developed out of the religion of the ancient Hebrew tribe.
• According to the Bible story, a great leader of this tribe, Abraham, put his
trust in a single God to guide him and his people in their migrations.
• During their wanderings, the Hebrews, or Israelites, as they came to be
called (after Jacob, or Israel, the grandson of Abraham), moved into the
fertile Nile delta to escape famine. There they were eventually enslaved by
the Egyptians.
• During the period of their slavery, probably sometime between 1450 B.C.
and 1400 B.C., there arose a great leader, Moses.
• He led the Israelites to freedom, as God had directed him, and came to be
co mmonly regarded as the real founder of Judaism.
 THTH

JUDAISM
• After the escape of the Israelites from Egypt, Moses ascended Mount
Sinai, where God appeared to him and through him made a sacred
covenant with what were by then the twelve tribes of Israel.
• That covenant required that the Israelites acknowledge “the God of
Israel” as ruler of the world and creator of heaven and earth.
• In return, God recognized the people of Israel as his chosen followers.
• Moses had been instructed by God to call him Yahweh, or as it is
sometimes translated, Jehovah.
• When Moses came down from the mountain, he brought with him two
stone tablets on which were inscribed Yahweh’s Ten Commandments.
• These were later amplified into the many commandments and
prohibitions set forth in the Torah the Pentateuch, or the Five Books
of Moses which is part of both Jewish scriptures and the Christian Old
Testament.
 T

JUDAISM
• Judaism has several unique characteristics.
• First, though it makes claims to universality, it was and still is
primarily the religion of a group of people who can, with
qualifications, regard themselves as descendants of the ancient
Israelites.
• Jews believe that they were chosen by God, but they do not
believe that being chosen by God makes them special.
• In fact, in the Book of Exodus, God suggests to Moses that
perhaps he should begin again with a less fractious tribe.
• According to Jewish theologians, God chose the Jews simply
because he had to begin somewhere.
• They do not see it as an honor or as a sign that they are superior,
attitudes that are attributed to them by some non-Jews.
 THTH

JUDAISM
• Second, Judaism has preserved much of its essential
character for more than 3,000 years.
• It has done this in spite of the fact that for more than 1,900
years, ever since their last major rebellion against Rome was
crushed by the Emperor Hadrian in A.D. 135, Jews have
been a widely scattered and often persecuted minority among
alien peoples.
• Finally, and most important, Judaism was the first great
religion to develop a clear and unequivocal concept of a
single God as the creator and ruler of the universe.
 T

JUDAISM USINESS
• Although some Jews believe in the resurrection of the
dead and that people must account beyond the grave
for their good and evil deeds, unlike some other
religions Judaism is a world affirming, not a world-
denying, faith, and it requires that Jews enjoy this life
and use their abilities for the service of humankind.
• It looks for the coming of the Messiah the expected
deliverer of the Jews and for a messianic age in which
the kingdom of eternal peace will prevail and all evil
impulses will be removed from the human heart.
• But it rejects the Christian belief that the Messiah has
already come with his message of salvation.
 THTH

JUDAISM
• From the Middle Ages to early modern times, the rights of
Jews in Europe were greatly restricted, and they were forced
to live in special sections of the cities called ghettos.
• The French Revolution and Napoleon did much to free Jews
from the ghettos.
• But later there was a backlash, and it was not until after the
social upheavals of 1848 that in most countries Jews received
full rights of citizenship on a more or less permanent basis.
• This however, did not end their troubles, for the very success
that many of them soon enjoyed in their professions stirred
up new waves of anti-Semitism, or feelings of hatred and
dislike toward Jews.
 T

JUDAISM SINESS
• More than one-third of all U.S. Jews live in metropolitan
New York, and considerable numbers are concentrated
in other large cities such as Los Angeles, Philadelphia,
Chicago, and Miami.
• Jews are sometimes considered primarily a religious
group, but in a poll taken by Newsweek, only 43 percent
of U.S. Jews said they considered themselves religious.
• According to political scientist Daniel Elazar of Temple
University, only 20 percent of the Jewish population
worships regularly.
• Of the others, 40 percent maintain nominal affiliation
with a temple but usually attend services only on their
high holy days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
 Part.no#3
Christianity
Modern
Christianity In
The United
States
Islam
Iqra Mobeen
CHRISTIANITY
• Christianity, the principal religion of the Western
world, developed from Judaism, and the greater part of
the Christian Bible (the Old Testament) still consists of
Jewish sacred writings.
• The ancient Jews believed that at his chosen time God
would confound their enemies and set up a new Jewish
kingdom under a Messiah (deliverer) descended from
King David.
• Later some came to believe that the Messiah would
come down from heaven at the end of the world, at the
time of the resurrection of the dead, and would carry
out the last judgment.
• Western cultures, events that took place before the birth
of Christ are dated “B.C., ” meaning “Before Christ.”
CHRISTIANITY
• At some point in Jesus’ life, he became convinced that he was the Messiah, or
Christ, and the divine son of God. Often he is called Jesus Christ, which simply
means Jesus, the Messiah. Soon after he started his ministry, at about the age of
thirty, he gathered around him the Apostles, the twelve close associates who
were to be his chief aides and who were to carry on his ministry after his death.
• Jesus never doubted the reality of God or of his own special relationship to
God.
• Jesus taught that the most important things are to believe in God, do His will,
and believe in Jesus as the son of God.
• Jesus also taught that God demands we love one another, friend and foe alike,
and this has been one of the most difficult teachings for devout Christians to
interpret and to apply as a practical guide in daily conduct.
THE EARLY CHRISTIANS.
• The spread of Christianity after Jesus’ death was
relatively rapid, but the early Christian groups, or
churches, were only loosely linked.
• By the end of the first century, however,
administrative organization had begun to develop
in Rome and elsewhere, and bishops began to
assume authority not only to appoint priests to
oversee local churches but also to settle disputes
over doctrine.
• Gradually the primacy of the bishop of Rome
became recognized throughout the empire, and by
the end of the third century, he had taken the title
of pope.
THE MIDDLE AGES AND AFTER.
• Before the final collapse of the Roman Empire in the West in A.D. 476, the
Church of Rome had become strong enough to prevent the complete
breakdown of order and civilization that might otherwise have resulted
from the successive invasions of the empire by Germanic tribes.
• During the Middle Ages, the church dominated the religious and
intellectual life of Europe and to a great extent its politics and economics.
Meanwhile, the eastern Roman Empire with its capital at Constantinople
(now known as Istanbul) still survived, and the Eastern Church, later
known as the Orthodox Church, became increasingly independent of
Rome. The final break, or schism, between the two parts of the church
occurred in 1054 and remains to this day.
REFORMATION
• The Reformation led to a considerable period of religious and political
turmoil, including religious wars and repression of dissident groups in
various countries, and though it did not win over the majority of Catholics
to Protestantism, it did result in substantial defections from the Roman
Catholic Church. But the Protestants who succeeded in gaining freedom
from control by Rome did not succeed in joining to form a major
independent church body.
• Instead, they divided into a considerable number of sect, or
denominations. Several of these, including the Puritans and Quakers,
played an important role in the settlement of the British colonies in
America.
Modern Christianity In The United States
• The United States is primarily a Christian state, but there are many different
groups of Christians; a Unitarian or an Episcopalian differs significantly from
an evangelical Christian in terms of worldview and beliefs. For the most part,
U.S. Christianity functions smoothly with the state, but conflict between
religion and state can arise when the moral views of certain Christian
fundamentalist groups on issues such as abortion differ from the moral views
as expressed in the laws of the state.
• When such differences exist, individuals are forced to choose between the
two. The state integrates best with religion when each stays in its own sphere.
That view is captured in Jesus’ edict that his followers were to “Render unto
Caesar that which is Caesar's and unto God that which is God’s.”
 ISLAM
• Islam, like Judaism and Christianity, is a
religion based on divine revelation, and its
messenger, Muhammad, like Moses, made no
claims to divinity for himself. He believed
only that he had been chosen by God, or
Allah, to receive from the angel Gabriel
revelations of Allah’s will. These revelations,
which became frequent, he repeated in full to
those who would listen, and shortly after his
death they were assembled by his friend Abû
Bakr to form the Qu’ran, the holy scriptures of
the Muslims. Abû Bakr became the first
successor, or caliph, to carry on Muhammad’s
work.
 ISLAM
Qur’an begins as follows:
• In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the
Merciful.All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the
Worlds.The Beneficent, the Merciful.Master of the
Day of Judgment.Thee do we serve and Thee do
we beseech for help.Keep us on the right path.The
path of those upon whom Thou hast bestowed
favors. Not [the path] of thoseupon whom Thy
wrath is brought down, nor of those who go astray.
• The Qur’an is accessible on the Web in formats that
are easily searchable for specific topics, and, given
the importance of Islam to modern world affairs,
browsing through it is definitely a worthwhile
activity.
 ISLAM
• Muhammad was born about A.D. 570 at Mecca, in the
western part of what is now Saudi Arabia. According to
tradition, he was orphaned and became a ward first of his
grandfather and then of an uncle, both of whom were
prominent members of the Koreish tribe. Later he was a
merchant, and at about the age of 25 he became the
business advisor to a rich widow, fifteen years his senior,
whom he eventually married.
• Though Muhammad himself initiated the religion of
Islam, he was greatly influenced by Christianity and
Judaism. He considered that he was completing and
perfecting the workof Moses, Jesus, and other heavenly
messengers whom he recognized as his forerunners. But
Muhammad denied the Christian doctrine of the Trinity
and the divinity of Christ. According to the Qur’an, God is
one and God is eternal. He neither begets nor is begotten.
FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM
• In Arabic, Islam means “submission,” and Muslims are
submitters to the will of God. The devout Muslim’s goal
is fairly simple: It isto perform one’s duties as outlined in
theQur’an and as exemplified by the acts of Muhammad
in his lifetime. For devout Muslims, the Qur’an is
infallible.The so-called Five Pillars of Islam state the
indispensable religious duties of a believer:
• 1. Acceptance and frequent repetition of the creed,
“There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his
messenger.”2. The performance five times a day of
prescribed rituals of prayer and devotion 3. The giving of
alms to the needy 4. The fast during Ramadan, the month
when the angel Gabriel appeared to Muhammad 5. The
pilgrimage to the Kaaba stone at Mecca once in a lifetime
by those who can afford it
The Denominations of Islam.
• After Muhammad’s death, Islam split into two factions: the Shiites (the
sectarians, followers of Ali, cousin to the Prophet), who believed that
Ali was the legitimate successor to Muhammad, and the Sunnis (the
traditionalists), who believed that Abû Bakr, the oldest companion of
Muhammad,was the legitimate successor.Today Sunnisconstitute about
85 percent of all Muslims and Shiites constitute about 15 percent.
• There are also smaller sects of Islam, including the Sufis and the
Wahhabis, and though they are small in number, they can play
important roles in the interaction between the Islamic world and the
Western world.
Islamic Fundamentalism
• In recent years, there has been much discussion of what is
sometimes called Islamic fundamentalism and its connection to
terrorism and jihad. In Arabic, jihad means “striving,” but it is
commonly used by the Western press to denote a sacred war
against the Western world.
• As with all fundamentalist religious groups, there is much dispute
about what is meant by fundamentalist Islam and whether some
groups should be considered as fundamentalist Muslims.
 Part.no#4
The Role of Religion in Society
Religion as a Source of Moral Values and Social Change
Impact of Religion on Education, the Arts, and Literature
Interfaith Efforts for Peace
The Potential Conflict between Religion and Government
M.Ahtisham
The Role of Religion in Society
• There can be little doubt that in most primitive societies and the earliest civilizations, religious beliefs
and practices were a strong integrative factor.
• Because of these beliefs and practices, people knew how they must behave individually and as a group
to avoid the ill will of the gods and to win their favor.
• They knew certain things were sacred and that if the group was to avoid famine or other misfortunes, no
one must be allowed to treat the gods with disrespect.
• Religious beliefs were tied to rules of behavior and usually gave strong support to custom and tradition.
•In the early history of civilization, almost every “nation” had its own gods, and sometimes, as in ancient
Egypt, the king himself was regarded as divine.
•Even in twentieth-century Japan, until 1945 Shinto doctrine held that the emperor was a descendant of
the sun goddess.
•As a result, the people were drawn together not only by their common beliefs but also by their
participation in common rituals of prayer, praise, and sacrifice.
•Not infrequently, however, in the more highly developed civilizations of the world, differences in
religious beliefs have been a source of social conflict, especially when groups with different religious
beliefs have lived within the same national borders. To get an idea of the potential problem.
• For example, at Northern Ireland, where Protestants and Catholics clash, and at India, where Hindus
clash with Muslims.
 Religion as a Source of Moral Values and
Social Change
• Religion, then, can be a socially disruptive force, but it seems clear that over the years its major influence has
been to integrate and stabilize nations and cultures.
• In the Western world, where Christianity in its various forms is by a wide margin the predominant faith, our
ethical and moral values have, over the centuries, been modified and given greater vitality by the teachings of
the Christian religion.
• Religion’s integrative force derives from the fact that it gives divine authority to ethical and moral principles.
• Without people’s adherence to such principles, it would be difficult to maintain an orderly society with free
elections and a wide range of personal freedoms, to produce goods with enough efficiency to hope to eliminate
poverty, and in general to maintain the level of civilization we have already achieved.
• Through its influence on individuals, religion also has an impact on economic and political institutions. The
great German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920) developed this thesis in his book The Protestant Ethic and
the Spirit of Capitalism.
• According to his theory, the new Protestant sects that developed out of the Reformation, especially those that
were influenced by the doctrines of Calvin, made a major contribution to the economic prosperity of Britain and
western Europe and to the development of modern industrial capitalism.
• They did so because they believed in the Protestant ethic.
Impact of Religion on Education, the Arts,
and Literature
• The influence of religion on education, the arts, music, and literature is pervasive. During the Middle
Ages, the church and especially the monasteries preserved ancient literature and kept learning alive.
• In the United States, from colonial times until well into the nineteenth century, most of our colleges and
universities were started and controlled by religious organizations.
• Many of them are still church-controlled, and some religious bodies operate extensive systems of
secondary and primary schools.
• Many of the great works of art of ancient Greece and the European Renaissance are representations of
personalities or events with religious signifi- cance.Buddhism and Hinduism have inspired temples,
paintings, and sculpture of great sophistication, mystery, ferocity, and beauty.
• Particularly in India, these represent unpar- alleled fecundity and vitality.
• In some countries such as Indonesia and China, the entire history and development of the religions are
carved over acres of temple structures or wrested from vast rock-cut caves and cliffs, constituting some
of the greatest artistic and historical monuments in the history of human ingenuity.
• In Japan, hundreds of great gardens have been created to the quiet glory of Buddhism and Shintoism.
Interfaith Efforts For Peace
• Despite the many differences, significant
similarities exist among religions.
• Religious leaders have attempted to build
on these similarities by creating
organizations of multiple religious
denominations committed to creating better
understanding among the world’s
population.
• In her book, The Mighty and the Almighty,
former Secretary of State Madeline Albright
argues that because many of the major
conflict
The Potential Conflict between Religion and
Government
• The previous two sections discussed the positive elements of religion for society.
• But religion also plays what some consider negative roles. Specifically, it can
undermine the state and lead people to fight others, all in the name of religion.
• The Crusades were an example of Chris- tianity leading to war against Muslims, and
recent jihad terrorist attacks are an example of Islam leading to attacks against Western
countries.
• Christianity and democratic government have made their peace with each other, with
religion playing the spiritual role that Rousseau saw for it as a type of civil religion.
• The pope’s decrees do not undermine Western governments, and a Catholic in
government is seen as following his or her own judgment rather than the pope’s decrees
on issues such as gay rights or abortion.
• The same is true of many other religions.
THE END.