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Christianity
The beliefs of all Christians throughout the world are based on the teachings of Jesus. His
message of love and brotherhood as well as his sacrifice on the cross and Resurrection
from the dead are the cornerstone of all Christian faiths. His teachings are codified in the
New Testament. Christians also include the Hebrew Scriptures, or Old Testament, in their
Bible, but not all Christians agree on which books of the Old Testament should be included
in the Bible. Jesus not only provided the basic message of the faith, but he is also the
savior whose death offered everyone the path to life in heaven. Most Christians recognize
Jesus as the son of God and accept the doctrine of the Trinity—the unity of Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead. Most Christians also believe that Jesus
was both fully divine and fully human. There are roughly two billion Christians worldwide
spread out between the continents of North and South America, Europe, and Africa.
Islam
Islam is one of the world’s major religions. Its Founder was Muhammad. At the core of
Islam is this idea: “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the prophet of Allah.”
Muslims believe that Allah created the universe and that humans must submit to his will.
The content of the Koran (Quran in Arabic), the holy book of Islam, is believed by Muslims
to be the word of Allah as told to Muhammad.
Five duties, called the five pillars of Islam, are expected of every Muslim. The first is the
most important: to profess that there is one God and that Muhammad was his prophet.
The second duty is prayer. Muslims pray five times a day. On Fridays communities gather
at a place of worship, called a mosque, for special prayers. The third duty is charity. The
fourth duty is to fast, or refuse to eat, from sunrise to sunset during the holy month of
Ramadan. The fifth duty is to make a pilgrimage, or journey, to the holy city of Mecca in
Saudi Arabia at least once.
The religion has about 1.3 billion followers worldwide. Most of the followers of Islam,
called Muslims, live in North Africa, the Middle East, and southern and central Asia.
Judaism
The religion of the Jewish people is Judaism. Judaism has more than 14 million followers
throughout the world, more than a third of whom live in the United States. Many other
Jews live in Israel, a country at the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea.
Like Christianity and Islam, Judaism teaches that there is only one God and that God
created the world. God expressed what he expects of people in the Ten Commandments
and other laws.
Jews believe that God, called Yaweh, chose them to have a special relationship with him.
They must devote themselves to God and love one another because God selected them to
bring knowledge of him to the rest of the world. They believe that, in return, God has
promised to make the Jews (Israel) a great nation that will eventually draw other nations
together in a worldwide community of justice and peace.
The sacred book of Judaism is the Hebrew Bible. Particularly important to Judaism are
the first five books, which are known as the Torah. These writings explain and interpret
God’s laws. The Talmud is a collection of traditional Jewish laws along with stories and
comments about those laws.
Judaism is thought to trace back to about 2000 bce (before the common era or birth of
Jesus). A man named Abraham is considered the founder. According to the Torah, God
told Abraham to leave his home in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) and take his people to Canaan
(Palestine). God promised that if Abraham obeyed, he and his offspring would become a
great nation in this new land. This is the first covenant, or agreement, that God made with
the Jews.
Buddhism
The religion based on the teachings of the Buddha is known as Buddhism. The Buddha was
born with the name Siddhartha Gautama and lived sometime in the 6th to the 4th century bc.
He became enlightened, meaning that he found a way to free himself from the cycle of desire
and suffering. The Buddha taught his followers how to achieve this too.
Buddhism began in India and spread to central and southeastern Asia, China, Korea, and
Japan. Today some people in the Western world also follow Buddhism. At the beginning of the
21st century Buddhism was the fourth-largest religion in the world, with about 360 million
followers and has no official god.
Buddhism is based on the Buddha’s teachings which as collected into a series of writings called
the Tripitaka, which serve as a type of holy book for the religion. Budda’s teachings which are
called the Four Noble Truths. The first truth is that life is made up of pain and suffering. The
second is that all suffering is caused by one’s desires. The third is that one can be free of these
desires. The freedom from desire is called nirvana. The fourth truth is the Eightfold Path, which
explains eight ways to achieve nirvana.
The Eightfold Path is also called the Middle Path. It teaches that people should not indulge in
too much luxury and pleasure. But they should also not harshly deny themselves all worldly
comforts. Instead, people should take a middle, or balanced, course in their behavior.
Buddhism has three main parts. These parts are called the Triratna, or “the three jewels.” They
are: the Buddha, or the teacher; the dharma, or the teaching; and sangha, or the community of
believers. Buddhist monks believe that the three jewels protect them. This is expressed in the
Buddhist prayer, “I take refuge in the Buddha. I take refuge in the dharma. I take refuge in the
sangha.”
Hinduism
Hinduism is the world’s oldest major religion. Some traditions of Hinduism date back more than
3,000 years. Over the centuries, however, its followers—called Hindus—have accepted many new
ideas and combined them with the old ones. More than 800 million people practice Hinduism
worldwide. Most of them live in India, where Hinduism began.
Hinduism has neither a founder nor a central organization. No one has set down a list of beliefs for all
Hindus to follow. However, all Hindus revere the Veda, an ancient body of sacred literature.
Hindus believe in a spiritual power called Brahman. Brahman is the source of all existence and is
present in everything and every place. The human soul, called atman, is part of the universal
Brahman. Hindus generally believe that when someone dies, the atman is reborn in another body. A
soul may return many times in human, animal, or even plant form. This idea is known as
reincarnation. The cycle of rebirth continues until one accepts that the atman and Brahman are one.
Most Hindus consider breaking free from this cycle to be a person’s highest purpose.
Hindus are expected to act according to the principle of ahimsa, which means “nonviolence.” This
means that one must never wish to harm anyone or anything. Hindus consider many animals to be
sacred, especially the cow. Devout Hindus eat only vegetarian food.
Hindus worship many gods. The god Vishnu is considered the protector and preserver of life. The god
Siva represents the forces that create life as well as those that destroy it. The supreme goddess is most
commonly called Shakti. Like Siva, she can be either beneficial or fierce, depending on her form. The
worship of Vishnu, Siva, and Shakti are the three major branches of modern Hinduism.
Brahma (not to be confused with Brahman) is considered the creator of the universe. In ancient times
he was widely worshipped, but his following is now small.
Sikhism
Sikhism is a religion of India that was started by a man named Guru Nanak. He was the
first of the 10 gurus, or teachers, of the Sikhs. Most of the 27 million Sikhs worldwide live
in the state of Punjab in northwestern India.
Sikhs believe that there is one God. All people are considered equal and have the
opportunity to become one with God. But first they must overcome self-centeredness by
honoring God, working hard, and sharing with others.
Many Sikhs belong to the order called the Khalsa. Members of the order avoid alcohol,
tobacco, and drugs and devote themselves to prayer. The men carry swords. They must not
cut their hair or beards and must cover their hair with a headdress called a turban.
The main Sikh temple is the Harimandir, or Golden Temple, in Punjab state. The Sikh
religious book is called the Adi Granth (First Book). It contains nearly 6,000 hymns, or
songs praising God, written by Nanak and other gurus. Though there is no official name
for the Sikh’s God, they consider theirs to be one merged God made up of both the creator
and gurus.
Confucianism
For more than 2,000 years the people of China have been guided by the principles of the
teacher and philosopher Confucius. There has never been a recognized God in
Confucianism. Followers of Confucianism have put Confucius’s teachings, into writing,
which are considered the sacred text that makes up Confucianism. Confucianism is based
on kindness, love, and respect. Confucianism serves as a way of life, a source of values, and
a social code for its followers totaling around 6.3 million today.
Daoism (Taoism)
Daoism is a system of philosophy and religion that began in ancient China and is still
mainly practiced there today by the roughly 2.7 million followers. It is sometimes spelled
Taoism. Along with the philosophy called Confucianism, Daoism has helped to shape
Chinese culture. Confucianism focuses on human society and the duties of its members. In
contrast, Daoism emphasizes nature. It is more joyful and carefree.
Daoism began more than 2,000 years ago. It was based on a book called the Daodejing (or
Tao-te ching). Laozi the founder has traditionally been named as the author of the
Daodejing. But scholars are not sure that Laozi ever existed. They now think that more
than one person wrote the Daodejing between the 500s and the 200s bc.
For Daoists, they do not believe in a certain god, but the most important thing in life is to
find the Dao or Tao. The Dao is not easy to define. It is the unchanging reality that is the
source and end of everything: earth, skies, water, etc. This means that all beings and things
are one. Because all is one, life and death merge into each other. A Daoist does not fear
death because it is only part of an eternal cycle.
“Dao” also is translated as “the Way,” meaning the way to think and act. Followers are
taught to act in harmony with the natural course of things. They try to avoid disturbing the
natural order. This often means that they take no action at all. Daoists believe that striving
for power and wealth is a waste of energy. Such things distract people from searching for
the Dao.