5 Main Religions

Christianity:

        Christianity is the largest religion practiced world wide with about 2.2 billion people belonging to it. People who practice Christianity are known as Christians. Most of the adherents of this faith Live in Europe, The Americas, and South Africa. The branches of Christianity are Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestants. Christianity was founded by Jesus Christ and we can view many of his practices and teachings through our holy book, The Bible, especially in the New Testament. Christians believe that Jesus is human and divine. They believe Jesus led a virtuous life and that he was crucified, died, buried, and resurrected. He eventually ascended into Heaven where he reigns with God the father.

Islam:

        Islam comes in as the second largest religion practice around the world with about 1.5 billion adherents. We call the people who practice this faith Muslims where they are mainly found in Indonesia, The Middle East, and North Africa. The denominations of Islam branch off to Sunnis (roughly 75-90%) and Shiites (roughly 10-20%). The founder of the Islam faith is Muhammad (570-632). Their holy book is known as the Quran (Koran). They are Monotheistic, meaning they believe in 1 God and they are also Abrahamic. They believe in the 5 Pillars ( Testimony, Prayer, Alms-Giving, Fasting, Pilgrimage). Muslims see their purpose in life as serving and submitting to Allah, and observing to the Islamic Law.

Hinduism:

       Hinduism has roughly 1.1 billion adherents and the people who practice this faith are known as Hindus. This is mainly practiced in Nepal and India. Their Holy book, The Vedas, are eternal truths revealed to ancient sages. These books are composed in verse form meaning they are very poetic and can be sung because they are easy to memorize. Hindus do not have a distinct founder but a series of intellectual or philosophical points of view, rather than rigid, strict set of beliefs.

Buddhism:

       Buddhism has a wide variety of people ranging from about 500 million to 1.5 billion. They are called Buddhist and they mainly are located in Southeast Asia, China, Nepal, and Japan. About 1.2 million Buddhists live in our country. The founder of Buddhism is Siddhartha Gautama. The different practices that branch from Buddhism are Tibetan, Zen, Theravada, and Amidist. There are 4 Noble Truths: 1. There is suffering 2. Attachment to desire is the origin of suffering 3. There is a cessation of suffering 4. The eightfold path will lead to the cessation of suffering.

Eightfold Path -

                               View
     Dedication                          Intention
                               
Mindfulness           Right             Speech

     Effort                                  Action
                               Livelihood

Judaism:

       Judaism is the smallest religion listed here with only 14 million to 18 million adherents. They are known as Jews. They are mainly located in Israel and our country. 6.4 Million of them live in Israel and 5.3 million to about 7 million live in U.S.A. The founder of this religion is Abraham and their Holy Book is called the Torah. They are an Ethical Monotheism religion meaning God is one, and with the actions of human kind. They also believe and follow the 10 commandments, just like Christians, and they believe in the 13 principles of faith.