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World Religions
A Guide to the Basics
Judaism
• Abraham is considered the founder since he
made the covenant with God.
• Basic Beliefs
– God made a covenant with the Jewish people
– God spoke through prophets and other religious
leaders to guide the people
– The Ten Commandments were given directly to
Moses from God on how to live life
– Scripture from the prophets and their holy book, the
TeNaKh that includes the Torah, Nevi’im, and
Ketuvim.
Judaism
• Jerusalem is the holy city where many
prophets came from as well as their holy
temple or synagogue built by Solomon
• Jews believe in one God who they refer to
as the “God of Abraham”, Adonai, or
YaWeH in which they don’t feel you should
actual utter his real name so the leave out
the vowels and refer to him as the initials.
Judaism
• The Star of David serves as the symbol for the
faith.
– In his seminal work entitled the Star of Redemption
(1912), Franz Rosenzweig framed his philosophy of
Judaism around the image of the Jewish star,
composed of two conceptual "triads," which together
form the basis of Jewish belief: Creation, Revelation,
and Redemption; God, Israel, and World.
• The religious leader is a rabbi
• Judaism has three different sects that include
Orthodox, Conservative, and Reformed.
• It is mainly practiced in Israel, but can be
practiced by Jews around the world.
Christianity
• Abraham is considered the founder since he made the
covenant with God. His covenant was redeemed by
Jesus who is considered the messiah written about by
Hebrew prophets.
• Jerusalem is considered the holiest city because that is
where they believe Christ died and rose from the dead.
• Bethlehem is considered a holy city by some sects since
it is the birthplace of Jesus.
• Priests, pastors, or ministers lead Christians in teaching
and worship in churches.
• The cross is the symbol for Christianity representing
Jesus’ death on the cross.
Christianity
• Basic Beliefs
– God made a covenant with the Jewish people that was extended
through Jesus to everyone in the world.
– They believe in the Ten Commandments and scripture from the
TeNaKh that makes up the Old Testament of their holy book the
Bible.
– The New Testament of the Bible discusses the life and teaching
of Jesus and the development of the church.
– They believe Jesus died on a cross, was buried, and rose from
the dead three days later and ascended to heaven to be with
God the Father.
– They believe that God has three parts or the Trinity that includes
God the Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit (God’s
presence on earth).
– The ultimate goal of Christianity is salvation that will result in
eternal life for one’s soul with God in heaven.
– Baptism and Communion are two sacraments practiced by all
Christian sects.
Islam
• Abraham is considered the founder since he
made the covenant with God. Muhammad was
the last prophet.
• The holiest city is Mecca which they pray
towards five times daily which is the birthplace of
Muhammad.
• Muslims worship in a mosque and an imam
usually leads prayers.
• It is practiced in North Africa, South and
Southwest Asia, and areas throughout the world.
Islam
• Basic Beliefs
– The ultimate goal is to live according to Allah’s
guidance, which will be rewarded with salvation or
eternal suffering.
– The Koran, their holy book, describes how they
should live all aspects of their life. It includes ideas
from the history and law of ancient Hebrews and their
prophets and the story of Jesus’ life.
– The Koran also describes allowed and forbidden acts.
They can not eat pork, drink alcohol, or invest money
that charges interest.
Islam
• The Five Pillars of Islam
•Sunni believe their leader should be elected
by the community, but the Shiite believe the
leader should be a descendant of Muhammad
or actually his son-in-law, Ali.
Hinduism
• The Aryans are considered the founders since religious beliefs
correspond date back over 5000 years.
• Customs are recorded in their sacred texts known as the Vedas.
Other sacred text would include the Upanishads, Mahabharata, and
Ramayana.
• The Vedas contain hymns, incantations, and rituals from ancient
India.
• Although there is no holy city, the Ganges River is considered
sacred.
• The symbol is the Om which represents the Universal Spirit or the
Brahma.
• The Guru is considered enlightened and give guidance to those
seeking to be unified with the Brahma.
• The sects are Savism, Vaishavism and Saktism. They differ on the
different types of human temperaments or yogas that include Karma,
Bhakti, Jnana, and Raja.
Hinduism
• The Universal Spirit or Brahma is a
single all-powerful, unchanging spirit.
• Brahma exists in every living thing
(trees, plants, insects, animals, and
people) and seen in hundreds of
Gods.
• The numerous Gods help the faithful
to reach enlightenment.
• Hindus believe in reincarnation, the
ideas that the soul is reborn after
death into a human or other form of
life which continues until their soul
becomes perfect and is unified with
the Universal Spirit.
• Although outlawed now, Hinduism
was closely link to a caste system in
which the Gods created four social
groups or castes.
• Karma or a person’s every action
affects his or her fate in the next life.
Buddhism
• Siddhartha Gautama is considered the founder
who later became “enlightened” to become
“Buddha”.
• Bodh Gaya, India is the place of his first sermon
and considered a holy city.
• The symbol is Buddha and sometimes the 8
spoked wheel.
• There is no main deity. It is a way of life.
• The Ripitaka, or The Three Baskets, is a
collection of Buddha's sayings, his thoughts about
them, and rules for Buddhists monks which is
considered Buddhism’s sacred text.
• The monks are religious leaders.
• The worship structures are shrines or temples.
• There are two main sects, Theravada, which
spread to Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand,
Cambodia and Laos, and Mahayana which
spread to Nepal, Vietnam, China, Korea and
Japan.
• It is practiced mainly in South, Southeast, and
East Asia.
Buddhism
The Four Noble Truths
• Dukkha: All existence is
unsatisfactory and filled with
suffering.
• Trsna: The root of suffering
can be defined as a craving
or clinging to the wrong
things; searching to find
stability in a shifting world is
the wrong way.
• Nirvana: It is possible to find
an end to suffering.
• The Noble Eightfold Path is
the way to finding the
solution to suffering and
bring it to an end.
Buddhism
The Eightfold Path
1. Right understanding and viewpoint (based on the Four
Noble Truths).
2. Right values and attitude (compassion rather than
selfishness).
3. Right speech (don't tell lies, avoid harsh, abusive speech,
avoid gossip).
4. Right action (help others, live honestly, don't harm living
things, take care of the environment).
5. Right work (do something useful, avoid jobs which harm
others).
6. Right effort (encourage good, helpful thoughts, discourage
unwholesome destructive thoughts).
7. Right mindfulness (be aware of what you feel, think and do).
8. Right meditation (calm mind, practice meditation which
leads to nirvana).