Learning About World Religions

Learning about World Religions

Hinduism: The people who practice Hinduism are called Hindus and they live mainly in India. This is a very ancient religion, one that began around 2,000 B.C.E. in the Indus River Valley in South Asia. We don’t really know who created this religion, but we think it is a mixture of the beliefs of Aryan invaders from Europe and the people already living near the Indus River Valley. Hinduism is a very flexible faith—it doesn’t have a lot of hard and fast rules and it has often adopted beliefs from other religions and added them to Hinduism, especially ideas from Buddhism. It is a polytheistic religion, meaning that Hindus believe in and can worship more than one god. They believe that there is one universal spirit, Brahman, who shows himself through the faces of many gods and goddesses. Most Hindus have one god who is their favorite and whom they worship in mandirs (these can be altars set up at home or temples dedicated to a god and taken care of by priests.) There are three well-known Hindu gods-the Hindu trinity orTrimurti. They are Shiva, the god of destruction and salvation; Vishnu, who preserves the universe and who over time, has taken human form and visited Hindus on earth; and Brahma, the god of creation. Hindus also believe that humans die and then their spirits are reborn in human or animal form over and over again. This cycle is called samsara. A Hindu’s soul will go through this process until it reaches a true understanding of the universe. The release from the cycle is called moksha. Hindus believe that when you are reincarnated, the new form your spirit takes may be determined by your karma. If you have good karma, you will be reincarnated as a higher being than someone who has bad karma. Karma is the belief that our bad choices and actions will eventually catch up with us, if not in this life, then in the next. When bad things happen to Hindus, many believe that this is punishment for bad actions they may have done in a former life. Good karma leads to rewards, so Hindus are pacifists; they do not believe in harming living beings. Many Hindus choose to live as vegetarians because they do not want to harm living creatures, even for food. Hindus have several holy texts that they read: the Bhagavad-Gita, an important holy book written in the form of a poem; the Vedas, which help Hindus learn how to worship and the Upanishads which are writings that tell about Hindu beliefs.

Judaism: People who practice Judaism or are born to a Jewish mother are called Jews. Most Jews today live in either the country of Israel or in the United States. Judaism is a monotheistic religion, meaning that Jews believe in and worship only one god. Their god is called Adonai. Judaism is an old religion, almost as old as Hinduism. It began around 1,500 B.C.E. near the area we today call Iraq in Southwest Asia. The founder of Judaism was a man named Abraham. Jews believe that Yahweh picked Abraham and promised to make him the father of a great nation of people. He also said that he would give Abraham and his descendents their own land. Many Jews today believe the land that Yahweh promised them is the land called Israel. In return, Abraham and his family had to promise to follow the commands of Yahweh and be an example to others of how Yahweh wanted humans to live. For many centuries Jews tried to follow the directions of Yahweh; sometimes they were successful and sometimes they weren’t. Their religion is based on the laws they believe Yahweh gave them which are written down in their holy book, the Torah. They also read another book call the Talmud. Over many thousands of years, Jewish scholars have thought and written about the laws laid down in the Torah. All their comments are written down in the book called the Talmud. Both books are important to the Jewish religion. Jews read the Torah and worship Yahweh in synagogues. The most important belief in Judaism is that there is only one god, Yahweh, and that Jews must worship only him. Their religious services are lead by rabbis who are men or women who know the Torah well. Jews try to follow Yahweh’s laws, especially the Ten Commandments. Some of the rules they follow have to do with the type of food they eat and how it is prepared. Many Jews eat only kosher food, meaning it has been prepared according to the rules of the Torah and it is on the list of foods that Yahweh told Jews they could eat. The most important day of the week to Jews is called the Sabbath. It begins Friday night at sundown and lasts until sundown on Saturday night. Families and friends gather together and eat a special meal on this night and pray together to Yahweh. Many Jews believe that Yahweh has asked them to rest on the Sabbath, so the food for the meal is prepared ahead of time. As you have probably already learned, for at least a thousand years, Jews were hated by Christians and were treated very harshly. During WWII, the German leader Hitler tried to kill all the Jews in Europe because he blamed them for the problems the world and Germany were facing at the time. This attempt to kill Jews, the Holocaust, was just the biggest example of what people had been doing to them all over Europe for many, many years. Beginning the late 1800s, Jews felt they would only be safe if they had their own country and weren’t living spread out all over the world. The movement these Jews began to return to their ancestral home, Palestine, was called Zionism. With the support of the United Nations, the Jews were allowed to return to Palestine and make their own country there. They named it Israel and it was officially recognized by the United Nations and much of the rest of the world in 1948. Unfortunately, although there had always been some Jews living in Palestine, there were also many Muslims living in the area and they were very angry that their land was given away by foreigners or that they would be forced to share what they considered their own territory with the new country of Israel. To this day the Jews of Israel and the Muslims who live around them do not get along. War breaks out frequently in the area.

Buddhism: The people who follow Buddhism are called Buddhists. Buddhism began in India in around 500 B.C.E. The founder of Buddhism was a man named Siddhartha Gautama. He was born a prince and was very sheltered by his father the king. He lived in a beautiful palace and was given everything he wanted for many years. He married while he was very young and had a son. As he grew up, he really wanted to see what life was like outside the palace, but his father feared the influence of the outside world. However, once he was a man, his father could no longer forbid him to leave the safety of his home. Finally he ventured outside the shelter of the palace and saw how the rest of humanity lived. He was shocked by all the suffering that he saw around him and decided to devote his life to finding a way to stop it. Unfortunately for Siddhartha’s family, this meant that he would have to leave them and the palace forever. After many years of trying, Siddhartha Gautama believed that through meditation and prayer he had found the way to end the suffering of those around him. He began to share his method with others and he took on a new name, The Buddha or the Awakened One. Buddha taught his followers that there are four truths in life (The Four Noble Truths): life is suffering, human desires cause suffering, suffering can be stopped, and the way to stop suffering is to live life according to the path (The Eightfold Path). This path, with eight steps you take, teaches Buddhists how to separate themselves from the world and all their cravings and desires. Buddhists, like Hindus, believe in reincarnation. They believe that when we die, our souls are reborn in different bodies. We will continue this life and death cycle until our souls reach nirvana, or living without suffering. Many Buddhists don’t worship Buddha, although there are some who do. They don’t believe that he is a god. Instead, they see Buddha as a human being whose example they want to follow. Most Buddhists don’t worry too much over whether there is a god or not. They believe humans aren’t meant to understand that. They focus on how to live properly. Buddhists are gentle. They do not believe in violence and most are vegetarians. They sometimes pray to statues of Buddha at sanghas or homes for Buddhist monks. Other times, they will pray to Buddha in temples. The followers of the Buddha wrote down his teachings in a set of holy books called the Tipitaka, or three baskets. Buddhist monks and nuns are holy people who have dedicated their lives to the study of Buddha and his teachings. They do not lead a worship service, but they take care of the temples and pass on the Buddha’s teachings.

Christianity: The people who follow the religion of Christianity are called Christians. Christians live all over the world today. Christianity is a monotheistic religion that grew out of Judaism. It began around the year 33 C.E. in the country we today call Israel, in Southwest Asia. The founder of Christianity was a Jewish man named Jesus. Christians believe that Jesus was God who came to earth in human form. They say that he was born to a virgin, Mary and that he came to bring people close to God and to save humanity from sin. When Jesus was in his thirties, he began to preach to the people around him. He asked them to repent, or turn away from their sinful ways, and worship God truly. He picked at least twelve helpers during his ministry and he called them his disciples. The disciples studied with Jesus and helped as he preached his message. Many of the Jewish leaders of the time felt threatened by Jesus. He was criticizing them and they did not like him. The Romans, who had taken over the country where Jesus lived, didn’t like him either. They believed that he was a trouble maker and that people who listened to him would rebel against Rome and try to get their independence back. Many poor Jews loved Jesus. He reminded them that they were special and that God cared about them too. Unfortunately, the Jewish leaders and Roman officials who didn’t like Jesus had him killed. He was executed by the Roman government by a method called crucifixion-a person is nailed to a cross and slowly dies of suffocation and thirst. It was a particularly horrible way to day, but Christians believe that Jesus allowed himself to be killed this way to show them the way to God. Christians believe that after three days in his tomb, he rose from the dead and appeared to his followers. They saw his death as a sacrifice; they felt he gave his life to save them from sin and that his resurrection was a sign that God was more powerful than death. The people who continued to follow his teachings after his death and resurrection eventually broke away from Judaism and began their own religion--Christianity. Christians worship one god, but they believe their god has three faces: God the father who created the universe, God the son who was Jesus and took human form to be close to them and God the Holy Spirit who Jesus left behind to help Christians follow God’s commandments and live the right way. Christians read their holy book, the Bible. Half of it contains the Jewish scriptures and half of it contains new books written about Jesus and the early church. Christians worship in churches. Their worship services can be lead by ministers or priests, depending on the kind of Christians they are. Christians and Jews have much the same history and believe many of the same things; however, Jews do not believe that Jesus was God in human form and Christians do.

Islam: People who follow the teachings of Islam are called Muslims. Muslims live all over the world today, but especially in Southwest Asia and Indonesia. It is a very fast growing religion. Islam is the youngest of the major religions we are studying. It began in what we now call Saudi Arabia in about the year 610 C.E. The founder of Islam was a man named Mohammed. Mohammed was a good man who prayed often. One day, as he was praying in a cave on Mount Hira, Mohammed believed he was visited by the angel Gabriel. He felt that the angel carried a special message to him and that he was supposed to pass this message on to everyone else. Mohammed continued to pray at Mount Hira and he continued to receive messages from Allah, or God. Muslims, Christians and Jews all worship the same God. They share a lot of the same history in fact. However, Mohammed believed that both Jews and Christians had strayed away from the true message of God. He believed that the angel Gabriel was asking him to carry Allah’s message to get humanity back on track. Mohammed taught the message he received to as many people as he could. Sometimes people accepted his teachings, other times, they did not. There was quite a bit of conflict at the beginning of the story, but eventually the message taught by Mohammed spread from Southwest Asia to North Africa and even as far away as Spain. Today there are Muslims all over the world. Muslims read their holy book, the Qu’ran or Koran. They believe the Qu’ran contains the message given to Mohammed by the angel Gabriel. They also consult a book called the Hadith, a book of sayings by Mohammed. Muslims, like Christians, believe in heaven and hell. Muslims are strict monotheists. In fact their biggest statement of belief is that there is one God and that Mohammed is his final prophet. They acknowledge that Jesus existed and that he was an important prophet, but Muslims believe that Mohammed brought humanity the final word from Allah. They worship in mosques and often there are holy men called Imams who lead prayers there. Their day of worship is Friday. Like Jews, Muslims must follow certain laws pertaining to their diet. They must eat food that comes from an approved list and it must be prepared according to Muslim custom. That type of food is considered halal. Muslims have a core list of important beliefs, the Five Pillars of Islam. They must proclaim that there is no god but Allah and that Mohammed is his prophet at least once a day; they must pray a certain number of times each day facing the direction of one of their holy cities, Mecca; they must give a portion of their income to the poor; they must fast during the daylight hours during their holy month of Ramadan; and all who are able should visit the holy city of Mecca at least once in his or her life.

Sikhism:People who follow the religion of Sikhism are called Sikhs. The Punjab (Panjab or Panj) is an area of Northern India where the Sikh religion was founded. It is a fertile area because of the five rivers flowing through it. Historically the area was Hindu but Muslims invaded trying to spread their religion. From the battle between the two main religions the new religion, Sikhism, was founded. There are over 20 million Sikhs worldwide and the religion is open to anyone.

Sikhism was founded in the early 1400s by a teacher called Guru Nanak. He believed that all people were born equal and should have equal opportunities. Guru means "spiritual leader.”Guru Nanak was born into a Hindu family, but did not take part in theceremony to initiate himinto theHindu religion. He worked for a Muslim as he grew up so he learned about the Muslim religion too. Eventually he became a religious teacher, teaching about a new faith using ideas from both Hinduism and Islam. This new religion, called Sikhism, was based on one God and on the equality of all human beings. Nanak travelled far and wide to teach about the new religion and he became known as a guru. There were ten other Gurus after Guru Nanak, but today the holy book of Sikhism, the Guru Granth Sahib, is considered the last and final Guru.

The Sikh faith started as Guru Nanak realized that people were losing sight of God in their lives because of greed and superstition. He set out a list of new rules to bring people closer to God. These were based on the fact that there is only one God, responsible for all and that all people are equal and should have equal opportunities.