Download World Religions

World Religions
Unit 7
Religion and Culture
• Value system that people place on themselves
and others based on a spiritual or divine
aspect of the world.
• Religion can impact the world’s landscape and
the cultures of billions.
• Faith-belief in things that you cannot see or
prove.
Religion and Culture
• Monotheistic-One god
• Polytheistic-Many gods
• Ethnic religions-person is
born into the faith, little to
no effort is put forth to
convert others.
• Universalizing religionsmembers actively try to
covert others
Religion and Culture
• Atheists-do not believe in any god
• Secularist-person who wants to separate
religion from all aspects of society
One thought on
religion vs. atheism
by British celebrity
Ricky Gervais
Major Religions of the World
• Buddhism
• Hinduism
•Christianity
•Islam
•Judaism
Christianity
• World’s largest religion
• Monotheistic, universalizing.
• 3 Branches: Roman Catholic, Protestant, and
Orthodox
• Symbols:
– Cross located within the church
– Steeple of the church points upward towards
Heaven. Cross usually on top of steeple
Christian Beliefs
• Jesus Christ:
–
–
–
–
Born on Earth
Died on Cross
Resurrected
Showed that all Christians can be
saved
• The Bible
– Old and New Testament
• Old: Israelites, Moses, Abraham, David.
Before the coming of the Savior
• New: life of Jesus and foundation of the
new faith
• Holy Trinity: God, Son, Holy Spirit
Structure of Christianity
• Catholic Church
– Pope
– Cardinals
– Bishops
– Priests
• Protestant Church
– Pastor, Minister
• Orthodox Church
– Patriarch
Denominations
• Branches of a religion that differ on specific
aspects of the principles of the religion
– Catholicism is the oldest and largest branch
– Martin Luther created the Protestant Reformation
which broke away from Roman Catholicism
• Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, etc.
Islam
• Second largest religion. Starting to gain on
Christianity
• Muslims
– Mostly live in the Middle East, Northern Africa,
Southeast Asia
• Universalizing, monotheistic
• Shares some of the major people with
Christianity and Judaism
Islam
• Islam believes that Jesus was a prophet, but
not the main prophet. For Muslims, this
person is Muhammad.
• Muhammad was spoken to by Allah (God) and
wrote down Allah’s word in the Koran.
• Koran is the Islamic holy text.
Islam
• Muslims worship inside of a mosque
– Minarets-towers that extend upward toward Allah
• The leader of a mosque is an imam.
– They lead prayers at different times of the day
Beliefs of Islam
• Five Pillars of Islam:
1. Shahadah: There is only one God, Allah
•
When you accept the creed of Allah, you officially become
a Muslim
2. Salah: Prayer must be done five times daily facing
the city of Mecca
3. Zakat: Taxes must be paid directly to the poor and
needy or the mosque
4. Sawm: One must fast during Ramadan
5. Hahjj: One must make a pilgrimage to Mecca once
during one’s life
Salah and Sawm
Hajj
Denominations
• Shiites, Shiahs, Shi’a
– 15-20% of Muslim population
– Conservative
– Interpret the Koran literally
• Sunnis make up the largest percentage of
Muslims
– Liberal
– Looser interpretation of the Koran
Denominations
• Shiite Muslims live mainly in Iraq and Iran
• Sunni Muslims live in the rest of the Middle East,
Northern Africa, and Southeast Asia
• Theocracy-state ruled by religious leaders
– Religion plays a key role in the administration of the
country
– Koran plays an important role in the institutional laws of
society
• Islamic theocracies are ruled by Sharia Law
– Do not separate church and state
– Based on Koran and teachings of Muhammad.
• Fundamentalism-literal interpretation of a holy book,
urges strict behavioral guidelines to comply with basic
principles of religion
– See this in Christianity .
Judaism
• One of the oldest religions
• Not just a religion, but an ethnicity
Judaism
• Worship inside of a synagogue
• The Star of David is a major symbol in the
religion.
• David was one of the major leaders in the
faith
Beliefs of Judaism
• Ethnic, monotheistic religion
• God figure is Yahweh
• Jewish bible is the Tanahk, based on the Torah
and the Talmud
• Rabbi leads the service on Saturday
Distribution
• Majority of population lives in the US along
the East Coast
• Israel was founded in 1948 as a homeland for
the Jewish after WWII
– 14 Million Jews live there today
Denominations of Judaism
• Orthodox
– Can live within society
– Believe that the Torah’s message can change with
the times
• Reform
– Believe Torah is open to continuous interpretation
Jewish Holidays
• Passover
– Biblical Story
• Rosh Hashanah
– Reflect on sins
• Yom Kippur
– Fast
– Atonement
Monotheistic vs. Polytheistic
• Monotheistic
– Belief in one god figure
– Believers will go to heaven, nonbelievers to hell
• Polytheistic
– Many gods
Hinduism
• Oldest religion on Earth
• Ethnic religion
– You can practice, but you are only Hindu if you’re
born into a Hindu family
• Majority in India
• 3rd largest religion
Beliefs of Hinduism
• 3 primary deities
– Brahma
– Shiva
– Vishnu
• Practice faith in a
temple
• Vedas-holy texts
• Reincarnation
Deities
Triumvirate:
• Brahma
– Created the
universe
• Shiva
– Destroys the
universe
• Vishnu
– Preserver of Earth
and universe
Buddhism
• Focus on elimination of desires through
meditation
• No focus on a specific god
– Instead: personal devotion of the individual follower.
• Located in East Asia, Northeast, Southeast Asia
• Universalizing but…
– Syncretic religion: combining 2+ faiths into one belief
system
Buddhism
• Pagodas
– Individual rather
than congregational
– Not social
– Burn incense to
release
spirits/meditate
Beliefs of Buddhism
• Siddhartha Gautama
– Prince who lived in
Nepal
– He left his palace and
observed the poverty in
the region and was
disgusted.
– He lived a life without
material possessions
• Nirvana: enlightenment
Beliefs of Buddhism
• 4 Universal Truths
– All living beings should experience and endure
suffering
– Suffering leads to the desire to live, which leads to
reincarnation
– The goal is to leave the suffering of this Earth
perpetuated by reincarnation
– Nirvana can be achieved through practicing the
following eight steps:
• Rightness of belief, resolve, speech, action, livelihood, effort,
thought, meditation.
Confucianism
• Based on teachings of
Confucius
• China
• Focus on relationships,
makes up the major
societal rules of China
• Feng Shui/Geomancykeeping flow of energy
in harmony
Daoism
•
•
•
•
Release of personal desires
Lao Tzu
China
Things happen that cannot be explained by
rational thought
• Mystical understanding of the harmony of life
Sacred Places & Spaces
• Sacred spaceslocations with
significant meaning
– Taj Mahal: built by
Muslim prince as a
mausoleum for wife
– Ganges River: Hindu
holy river; bodies are
burned and scattered
over river
– Death and how to care
for the dead
Conflict
• Battles fought in the name of religion happen
frequently
– Why is this ironic?
• Interfaith boundaries-fighting over the boundaries of
people of different faiths
–
–
–
–
Christians vs. Muslims
Iran vs. Israel
Christians vs. Christians
Muslim Pakistan vs. Hindu India
• Nuclear Weapons…
– 9/11 and other terrorist attacks (worldwide)
– Northern Ireland: Protestant vs. Catholic