Download SS 8-Ch 1 PPT Religion A Force of Change

• A person who follows
Judaism is a Jew
• Their God is Yahweh
• A person who follows
Christianity is a Christian
• Their God is God
• A person who follows
Islam is a Muslim
• Their God is Allah
ALL THREE GODS are the SAME !!!
JUDAISM
• Total number of Jews
may be 14 million
• Began  3000 years
ago in Palestine (now
Israel)
• It is the oldest
mainstream religion on
record
• They have ONE GOD:
YAHWEH
• Jewish people are a
CHOSEN PEOPLE
(chosen by God)
• To protect this position,
they must follow the 10
commandments
• (God gave these to
Moses. They are the
‘rules’ of life)
MAIN BELIEFS
MAIN BELIEFS
• They believe a
MESSIAH will be sent
from God to free them.
• They DO NOT believe
their Messiah has
come yet
• They believe in an
after life
SACRED TEXT
• TORAH (most
important of Jewish
Holy Books)
•
TALMUD (a guide
for life and living)
•
OLD TESTAMENT
SYMBOL
• The Star of David 
• Jews have been
PERSECUTED through out
their history
• PERSECUTED= To
attack or harass
someone for a specific
reason, such as race,
religion or politics
• Jews have often been
kicked off their land (the
area around Israel called
PALESTINE) to far away
places
TURNING
POINTS
TURNING
POINTS
• According to Jewish
tradition, the last time
they were kicked out
was called DIASPORA,
or the SCATTERING
(around 70 CE)
• Jewish people finally
got to make Israel their
own country in 1948
(This happened after
the Holocaust of World
War Two, when Nazis
killed 6 million Jews in
concentration camps)
Judaism is a bit
opposite of most
religions…
instead of spreading
outward throughout the
world, it is going back to
it’s home land of
Israel…
and that has caused
problems in the Middle
East! (40% of world
Jews live in Israel and
40% live in America)
SPREAD
CONCLUSION
• The Jewish religion is
famous for its ability
to survive all of the
hardship its people
went through
CHRISTIANITY
• Total number of
Christians may be 2.1
billion
• Christianity began 
2000 years ago
• It is the most widely
distributed religion in
the world
CHRISTIANITY
• How It Came About:
• Jews were living in
Palestine in 64 BC
when the Roman
Empire took over their
land.
• The Romans treated
the Jews very cruelly.
• Many Jewish people prayed
for a MESSIAH to come
from God and help them
build a new nation away
from Rome
• MESSIAH: The awaited
king of the Jews, to be
sent by God to free them
• In Christianity, Jesus
Christ was awarded this
position.
• ***Jesus was a JEW. ***
CHRISTIANITY
CHRISTIANITY
• He started life as a
carpenter, but later became a
PREACHER.
• His first twelve followers, or
DISCIPLES, were called
APOSTLES
• Jesus believed and
preached the OLD
TESTAMENT.
• He also added his own
teachings, OVER AND
ABOVE the OLD
TESTAMENT
• His APOSTLES are
the one who started
CHRISTIANITY
based on his
teachings.
• His teachings are
written in the
Christian Bible under
the title of the NEW
TESTAMENT
CHRISTIANITY
CHRISTIANITY
• The Jewish authorities
and Roman rulers were
both afraid of Jesus and his
growing popularity, so they
executed him.
• ***This is why so many
Christians would later
persecute Jews…
• They felt Jews were
responsible for the death of
Jesus…
• The main problem with this
idea is that Jesus was a
JEW!!!!!!!***
• Jesus stated that
there were two
commandments
greater than all of
the other ones:
– Love your neighbour
as yourself
– Love God with your
whole being
MAIN BELIEFS
MAIN BELIEFS
• They believe in ONE
GOD. They believe
that Jesus is the SON
of God
• They follow the same
Ten Commandments
as the Jews
• They believe if you live
a good life and are
baptised, you will have
an afterlife in heaven.
SACRED TEXT
• The BIBLE (made up
of TWO books
– the OLD and the
– NEW TESTAMENT
SYMBOL
• The CROSS 
(Because he was
killed on a Cross… it
was a very common
and brutally painful
way to die in Ancient
Rome)
TURNING POINTS
• Crucifixion of Christ
(Crucifixion means
the execution on the
cross, you die from
exposure)
THE SPREAD
OF
CHRISTIANITY
• Christianity started very
SMALL with only a few
disciples.
• During this time, Roman
authorities saw Christianity
and its followers as a
threat. They killed
thousands of them.
• (Nero, a ruthless Roman
Emperor, had them killed in
various ways. These
included having them
dressed in animal skins and
torn apart by dogs,
crucified, or made into
torches for night-lights)
• However, one of the few
MISSIONARIES (or
teachers) of early
Christianity was to have a
huge impact on the Spread
of Christianity.
• His name was SAINT PAUL
• Interestingly, Paul started his
career by PERSECUTING
Christians for the Romans.
• But then he had a vision of
Christ and became a
Christian
THE SPREAD
OF
CHRISTIANITY
THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY
• He wrote many
letters to many cities
to help spread
Christianity.
• Many of his letters are
in the NEW
TESTAMENT
• Within 400 years
what started with 12
main teachers
became the official
religion of most of
Europe
CONCLUSION
ISLAM
• Total number of Muslims
may be 1.5 billion
• Islam began  1400
years ago
• It is the second most
widely distributed
religion in the world and
may outnumber
Christianity soon (higher
birth rates in Muslim
nations)
• Developed in the ARAB
world
• Islam was a religion
whose prophet was
named MUHAMMAD
• Muhammad was born in
Mecca, a great trading
city, around 570 AD (CE)
• He died in 632 AD (CE)
HOW IT CAME
ABOUT
HOW IT CAME
ABOUT
• His relatives were
business people and
traders and members of
an important clan
• He was orphaned by the
time he was six years
old. His grandfather and
uncle took care of him.
• The family was poor
• As a young man
Muhammad married the
widow Khadijah and
joined her in business
• He became a skilled
trader and manager
• In the year 610,
Muhammad retreated to
a cave near Mecca
where he could meditate
and pray
HOW IT CAME
ABOUT
HOW IT CAME
ABOUT
• As he meditated, he
received a powerful
revelation from God
through the angel
Gabriel
• Muhammad received
many important
revelations from God,
which give guidance in
many areas
• These are recorded in
the Qur’ân
• They describe God’s
powers and
expectations, the Day
of Judgment, and other
matters.
• The new religion
revealed to Muhammad
was called ISLAM,
meaning “submission
to the will of God”
• The followers of Islam
are called MUSLIMS,
meaning “they who
submit”
HOW IT CAME
ABOUT
HOW IT CAME
ABOUT
• Muhammad knew that the
idea of one God, ALLAH,
would not be popular in a
pagan city like Mecca,
where many gods were
worshipped.
• Although he made some
converts (people who
changed there religion to
his), city leaders and
others soon began to
persecute Muslims, who
fled to the city of Medina.
• Muslims call this
migration the HIJRAH
• It marks the beginning
of the Islamic calendar.
• Later the two cities
fought and the Muslims
defeated the forces of
Mecca.
HOW IT CAME
ABOUT
SACRED TEXT
• Qur’ân (KORAN), the
Muslim Holy Book
• Muslims accept the
Koran as the word of
God as given to
Muhammad by the angel
Gabriel
• Because it is believed to
contain God’s actual
words, in Arabic, the
Koran cannot be
changed.
• Every letter is sacred.
• Islamic law, called the
SHARIA, is based on the
Koran and the Hadith.
• Muslim scholars taught
that religious beliefs,
religious duties, and
good works were the
important elements of
Islam
• The MOSQUE is a Muslim
place of worship (like a
church)
• It is large and uncluttered
• There are no chairs or pews
because the faithful bow and
lie face-down (prostrate)
themselves in the sight of
God
THE SPREAD OF ISLAM
Many Arabs were
inspired by Muhammad
and believed that
spreading the new
religion was a sacred
duty.
Those who
converted were treated
well
Those who resisted
were destroyed and
enslaved
THE SPREAD OF ISLAM
• Muhammad died in
632 AD. The goal
after that was to
spread Islam
• By 647 AD they had
conquered Iraq,
Palestine, Syria,
Egypt, and Iran. Two
years later they
reached what is now
Pakistan.
TURNING
POINT
• This dispute resulted in
warfare between Ali and his
supporters on one side and
a group that included the
Umayyad family and
Muhammad’s wife, Aishah,
on the other.
• The problem of the
leadership of Islam resulted
in a major division in the
Islamic world between the
Shi'i (Shai) supporters of
Ali, and the Sunni,
supporters of Aishah and
the Umayyad family. This
division remains today
CONCLUSION
• There is no one type
of Muslim…
• they share a main
book but have many
different practices
between groups.