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Buddhism
Founder
Siddhartha Gautama (The Buddha)
Origin Location
North East India
Size
followed by 350 million
live by the Five Moral Precepts which mean
refraining from:
Beliefs
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Sit on the floor
barefoot facing an
image of Buddha and
chanting
harming living things
taking what is not given
sexual misconduct
lying or gossip
taking intoxicating substances e.g.
drugs or drink
Life is full of suffering caused by desire and that use meditation as part of the path
the way to end this suffering is through
toward Enlightenment and Nirvana
enlightenment that enables one to halt the
endless sequence of births and deaths to which
one is otherwise subject. This breaking of the
cycle is called Nirvana.
stress charity
Karma- our actions have results
Do not believe in a personal creator
God
Prayers are written on the
prayer wheel. Spinning the
Dharma Wheel (wheel of wheel to the Buddhist is the
same as orally reciting the
life) -symbol of cycle of
prayers.
life, death, and rebirth
lotus flower-symbol of purity and
divine birth
Symbols
temple
eight spokes for eight
ways of life
prayer beads called malas
pagoda
Judaism
Moses is also an important figure.
Abraham
Founder
Origin Location
Israel
Size
smallest of monotheistic religions, with only about 12 million followers
spiritual leaders are called Rabbis (has no
special religious status)
a single God who not only created the
universe, but with whom every Jew can
have an individual and personal
relationship
Beliefs
Men are required to cover their heads during worship. The head
covering is called a kippah or yarmulka.
Star of David
synagogue
menorah
Symbols
symbolizes the burning bush as
seen by Moses on Mount Sinai
most holy Jewish book is the Torah (the
first five books of the Hebrew Bible) which
four sided top played
during Hanukkah (an eight- was revealed by God to Moses on Mount
Sinai over 3,000 years ago
day holiday)
Islam
Founder
Muhammad
Origin Location
Saudi Arabia
Size
second most popular religion in the world with over a thousand million followers
6 main beliefs
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Beliefs
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Allah as the one and only God (absolute submission to a unique and
personal god, Allah)
angels
holy books
Prophets (special messengers)
o Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, and Jesus
o Muhammad - final prophet
Day of Judgment
o heaven or hell
Predestination
o That Allah has already decided what will happen.
o Muslims believe that this doesn't stop human beings making free
choices
The Five Pillars of Islam are an essential part of Muslim life. These are five rules that every Muslim has to live by.
They are declaration of faith, saying prayers five times a day, abstaining during daylight hours in Ramadan,
giving money to the poor, and making a pilgrimage to Makkah.
prayer mat and prayer cap
Qur'an (Koran)
Symbols
mosque
Crescent Moon and Star
pray five times a day
Allah's words spoken
through Muhammad
Christianity
Jesus of Nazareth
Founder
Origin Location
Israel
Size
world's biggest religion, with about 2.2 billion followers
only one God, but that this one
God consists of 3 "persons"
Jesus Christ was the Son of
God & was the Messiah
promised in the Old Testament
Beliefs
Symbols
Easter egg and
Christmas tree
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God the Father
God the Son
The Holy Spirit
Cross and Bible
bread and wine
God sent his Son to earth to
save man from his sins.
church, chapel, cathedral
Hinduism
no founder, it developed out of Brahmanism - no prophets
Founder
variety of different religious groups which come out of India
Origin Location
India
Size
world's third most popular religion, with around 750 million followers
Yoga
Beliefs
caste system
Karma- our
actions have
results
believe in a
universal soul or
God called
reincarnation (soul
Brahman - a
is eternal and lives
supreme being of
many lifetimes)
many forms and
natures which is
found in
everything
Aum
main Hindu scriptures
sound heard in deepest
meditation
Symbols
Diya
Ganeshagod of wisdom and the
remover of obstacles,
son
of Shiva and Parvati,
a lamp made usually of clay, with
depicted
as a short fat
wick made of cotton and dipped in
man
with
an elephant's
ghee or vegetable oils used used
head
for praying to the deceased
ancestors
the Vedas, a collection of
hymns praising the Vedic
gods
the Ramayana, long epic
poems about Rama and
Sita
the Mahabharata, which
includes the Bhagavad
Gita
the Puranas, a collection
of stories about the
different incarnations
and the lives of saints
worship every day at
home and have a
shrine there
mandir (temple
vary in size fro
small village shr
to large buildin