World Religions: A Comparative Study, Study notes of World Religions

Download World Religions: A Comparative Study and more Study notes World Religions in PDF only on Docsity! WORLD RELIGIONS Judaism 0.3% Buddhism 6% Other Hinduism 13% Christianity Islam 18% 33% How do you say yudayakyo in English? When was Buddhism founded? Where was Hinduism founded? Who founded Christianity ? What do you call people who believe in Islam ? What percent of the world’s people are Hindus ? Where do most Jews live? What is the holiest day for Moslems ? What holidays do Christians celebrate? Where do Buddhists worship? What’s the Jewish holy book called? What are the most important Hindu holy places? Is Buddhism monotheistic or polytheistic? According to Islam , what happens after death? What are the main sects of Christianity ? J U D A I S M Judaism developed in the Middle East about 1500 B.C. Abraham is considered to be the founder. Believers in Judaism are called Jews (or Jewish people). Less than 1% of the world’s population (0.3%) are Jewish - about 17 million people. They live in the United States (40%), Israel (23%), Russia (14%) and Europe (10%). The holiest day of the week for Jewish people is Saturday. Major holidays include the Jewish New Year Rosh Ha-Shanah (September), Yom Kippur (October), Hanukah (December) and Passover (March). Jews worship in a synagogue and study the Torah, the Jewish holy book. Jerusalem is the holiest place in Judaism. Jews have only one god, called Jehovah, and believe they are a “chosen” people. They believe in heaven and hell. Two main sects of Judaism are Reform and Orthodox. Strict Jews can’t eat pork or shellfish and are only allowed to eat specially-prepared kosher food. Men often wear a small cap called a kipah or yamulkah. Jews are not allowed to do any kind of work on Saturday. C H R I S T I A N I T Y Christianity was founded in the 1st century A.D. by Jesus Christ. Believers in Christianity are called Christians. There are now about 2 billion Christians, about 33% of the world’s people, living all over the globe (mainly in North America, Latin America and Europe). Sunday is the Christian holy day. Christmas and Easter are two major holidays. Christians worship in a church and believe in a book called the Bible. The most important Christian holy places are Rome, Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Christianity has only one god, called God. Christians believe that after death people go to heaven or hell. The main sects of Christianity are Catholic (southern Europe, Latin America), Eastern Orthodox (Greece, Russia) and Protestant (northern Europe). Christians have a number of special customs. Catholics pray to Mary, Jesus’ mother, and confess their sins to a priest. Christians often wear crosses, make the sign of the cross and baptize babies with holy water. In church, they take communion - drinking wine (Christ’s blood) and eating bread (Christ’s body). B U D D H I S M Buddhism was founded in India in 525 B.C. by Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama). People who believe in Buddhism are known as Buddhists. 6% of the world’s population are Buddhist, about 350 million. Almost all Buddhists live in Asia (mostly South-East Asia and East Asia). There is no special holy day of the week in Buddhism. The major Buddhist holiday is Buddha’s birthday. Buddhists worship at home or in a temple. The holy Buddhist writings are called sutras. Bodh Gaya in India is a very holy place for Buddhists, since that is where Buddha attained enlightenment sitting under a tree. Originally, there were no gods in Buddhism, but people later made Buddha a God. Buddhists believe that people who die are reborn. Two Buddhist sects are Theravada (Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia) and Mahayana (Tibet, China, Korea, Japan). Buddhists in different countries have special customs. In Thailand, for example, Buddhist priests wear orange robes and beg for food each morning. Christian cross The Bible star of David menorah candle stick Buddhist wheel of law Buddha statue