World Religions: A Comparison

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World ReligionsA Comparison

• World History

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Followers of the Major Religions
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Buddhism

• 373 Million followers
• No personal deity
• Siddhartha Gautama (563B.C. - 483 B.C. ) was the
  founder, people follow his teachings.
• Many sacred texts, no main one
• Buddhist monks and nuns are the leadership

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The Buddha

• The Buddha is not considered a god, rather he is
  seen as an example on how to live your life.

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Basic Beliefs of the Buddhist

• People reach complete peace and happiness,
  Nirvana, when they divorce themselves from
  worldly things and desires.

• Noble Eightfold Path is the way that a person
  reaches Nirvana

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Hinduism

• 840 million followers
• Began around 3000 B.C.
• Three main gods (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva)
• No one founder or holy book, several texts
  including the Vedas
• Leaders include the guru, Holy Man, and Brahmin
  priests

Since Hinduism has more than one god, what type
of religion is it?
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Basic Principles of Hinduism

• Reincarnation
• People reach happiness when they let go of
  worldly possessions
• Worship, knowledge and virtuous acts also lead to
  happiness
• Karma

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Compare/Contrast
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Monotheistic Religions

• What are monotheistic religions?
• Which have the most followers?

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Islam

• One God (Allah)
• Began 622 A.D. after Muhammad left Mecca.
• Muhammad is the founder
• The Quran is the holy book
• Sharia law
• There are no clergy leaders
• Followers are known as Muslims (1.25 billion
  followers)

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Basic Beliefs of the Muslim

• Person achieves salvation by following the 5
  pillars and living a just life.
• The 5 pillars are
• Faith
• Almsgiving
• Fasting
• Hajj
• Prayer

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Judaism

• 15 million followers
• God (Yahweh)
• The founder is Abraham around 2000 B.C.
• Holy books include the Hebrew Bible or Torah
• Rabbis

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Basic Beliefs of Judaism

• There is only one god who watches over his
  people.
• God protects his people, but also holds them
  accountable for their sins.

• A person serves god by studying the torah and
  living its teachings.

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Christianity

• 2.1 Billion followers
• Jesus Christ is the founder
• The holy book is the bible
• The leaders of the Christian church are the
  clergy members

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Basic Beliefs of the Christian

• There is only one god and he protects and watches
  over his people
• Jesus was the son of god and he died for mans
  sins.

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Judaism Christianity Islam
Similarities
Differences
Unique
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Confucianism

• Not known how many followers due to blending
  with other ideas.
• Confucius (551 B.C. 479 B.C.) was the founder
• Some say the main deity as well
• Holy books include Analects and 5 Classics
  (Classic of poetry, Book of Documents, Book of
  Rites etc..)
• No clergy

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Basic Beliefs of Confucianism

• Strong family relationships
• Social order, harmony and good government

• Education is very important