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ASSIGNMENT CLASSIFICATION ESSAY ON RELIGION Name: Reg. No. : Course Submitted to: RELIGION: Religion is a set of beliefs, cultural system and worldviews that establish symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and to moral values. It defines who you are, what you are and your views about the world. It gives its followers guidelines which frames their actions, attitudes, cultures and belief. TYPES OF RELIGIONS: There are more than four thousand religions in this world, however, most of them are not commonly known to world.
Famous religions have been divided into three types: 1. Abrahamic Religions 2. Indian Religions 3. Iranian Religions 1) ABRAHAMIC RELIGIONS: Abrahamic religions are the religions that originate from one source i. e. Abraham (A. S). These are monotheism religions i. e. belief in the existence of one and only one GOD. The main three Abrahamic religions are: * Judaism * Christianity * Islam JUDISM Judaism is among the world’s oldest monotheistic religions and the first of the three Abraham religions. Around 12 million people in the world believe in Judaism.
They are mostly in the United States and Israel. The Torah, or Hebrew Bible, is the most important holy book of Judaism. The primary custom of Judaism is practicing prayer, preferably communal prayer. Jews attend synagogues for praying and religious events. Jews also follow Dietary Laws which require believers to avoid certain foods. Belief of Judaism is belief in one GOD and must obey the Laws of GOD. The Torah and the Oral Laws are important aspects of Judaism that must be studied. Jews believe in Halakha, which is the Jewish way of life. CHRISTANITY
Christianity is founded on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth (1st century) as offered in the New Testament. The Christian belief is vitally belief in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of GOD, and as Savior and Lord. Almost all Christians accept as factual in the Trinity, which educates the harmony of Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit as three individuals in one Godhead. Most Christians can recount their belief with the Nicene Creed. As the belief of Byzantine Empire in the first millennium and of Western Europe throughout the time of colonization, Christianity has been propagated all through the world.
The major partitions of Christianity are, as asserted by the number of adherents: * Catholic Church * Protestantism * Eastern Christianity ISLAM Islam is the second largest monotheistic religion in the world after Christianity. With more than one billion followers worldwide, there are many different Islamic groups, all united by their faith. Muslims believe that there is one God, Allah. The Holy Qur’an is the scripture of Islam. The two main groups of Islam are: * Sunni * Shia’s Muslims have specific Islamic customs that they follow on a regular basis including the Five Pillars of Islam.
Those who believe in Islam must also follow a specific diet which restricts Muslims from eating unlawful foods. Belief of Islam is that there is one GOD called Allah in Arabic. The religion is also based on the following six beliefs: Angels, the Holy Books of Islam, Prophets, Judgment Day, Predestination and The Sharia. 2) INDIAN RELIGIONS: Indian religion is a classification for beliefs that began in the Indian subcontinent; namely Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. These beliefs are furthermore classified as Eastern religions.
Although Indian beliefs are attached through the annals of India, they constitute a broad variety of devout groups and Indian beliefs are not confined to the Indian subcontinent. The documented annals of Indian beliefs start with chronicled Vedic belief, the devout practices of the early Indo-Aryans, which were assembled and subsequent redacted into the Samhitas, four canonical collections of hymns or mantras created in archaic Sanskrit. HIDUISM Hinduism is among the oldest religions of the world. It has more than 900 million followers, with around 80 percent of the Indian population claiming to be Hindu.
Hinduism does not follow a single doctrine or teacher, but recognizes one God and eternal soul called Brahman. The different types of Hinduism recognize different deities. Hindus think that karma determines the cycle of life, or samsara, which is wrote of birth, mortality, and rebirth that the soul goes through repetitively. The oldest priestly texts of Hinduism are the Vedas, or Books of Knowledge. According to Hinduism, Brahman composed everything. Different breeds of Hinduism worship other deities, trusting that they hold attributes of Brahman.
Hindus are generally separated into three communities according to the model of Brahman revered: worshippers of Vishnu the preserver, Shiva the destroyer, and the Mother Goddess. Vishnu, also paged Narayana, secures the universe and saves humans from disasters and oppression. He produces arrivals on Earth through his incarnations. Shiva is the destroyer, creator, and preserver, according to his avid followers. In the Hindu Trinity, he is the destroyer that possesses elements of good and evil. He is also coupled to fertility.
The Mother Goddess is related with fertility and female energy in Hinduism. JAINISM Jainism is an ancient religion that believes that bliss can be achieved if one lives a harmless life. The religion does not depend on gods, but on the self. Therefore, Jainism is known as a self-help religion. There are two major divisions of Jains: The Digambara sky clad and the Svetambara white clad. There are about 4. 2 million followers of Jainism in the world, mostly in India. Jainism is interested within the well-being of the universe and mankind.
According towards Jainism humans, animals, and plants possess souls that are equal and should be respected. Because of this, Jains are vegetarians and consume natural resources as smoothly and cautiously as possible. They also cooperation reincarnation. The ambition of Jains is towards attain liberation via erasing everybody bad karma from the soul within order towards halt the repetitive cycle of birth and mortality and move the immortal soul into a state of eternal bliss. The three jewels or meaningful attitudes of Jainism are: right principle, right behave, and right knowledge.
The five swears or mahavratas are: preventing violence, detaching from possessions, speaking the truth, not theft, and practicing sexual restraint. The modern-day version of Jainism is the profession of Mahavira, whose teachings are compiled within texts branded the Agamas. The religious officials of Jainism are nuns and monks whom command disciplined lives. BUDDHISM Buddhism is a spiritual tradition with 376 million followers throughout the world. It emphasizes personal spiritual development and the achievement of a deep understanding of the true meaning of life.
According to Buddhism, all elements of life are interrelated; therefore, compassion is necessary. Buddhism is both a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, who is also known as the Buddah. There are many different sects of Buddhism with the two major sects being Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism. Buddhists achieve Enlightenment through leading lives of morality, wisdom, and meditation. Buddhism does not focus on worshipping god(s), but is rather based on teaching the dharma, or the truth about things in nature and the universe.
Central to Buddhism are the Four Noble Truths that came to Buddha as he meditated under the Bodhi tree. They are: Dukkha existence is full of suffering, Trsna suffering is caused by the attachment to wrong things, Nirvana suffering can end, and the Eightfold Path how to end suffering and begin a life of Enlightenment. The Four Noble Truths are the early teachings of Siddhartha Gautama later he evened out Nirvana. The definitions of the four certainties are: * The Noble Truth of Suffering: Life ultimately leads to suffering.
Suffering includes birth, aging, illness, death, anguish, distress, despair, separation from what is agreeable to oneself, not attaining what one trusts, etc. * The Noble Truth of the Accumulation of Suffering: This is also referred to as the source of suffering which is examined to desire something that leads to gratification, lust, and delight. Cravings are examined to be the start of suffering. * The Noble Truth of the Elimination of Suffering: The third certainty is the concept of compensating higher the desiring and relinquishing it. The Noble Truth of the Path that Leads Away from Suffering: This certainty is the way that leads to the end of suffering and is also summoned the Noble Eightfold Path. The road that leads away from suffering consists of having the right intention, right motion, right concentration and right mindfulness in each day. 3) IRANIAN RELIGIONS: Several important religions and religious movements originated in Greater Iran, that is, among speakers of various Iranian languages and hence with an Iranian cultural background. Moreover, Iranians played a significant role in the development and transmission of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Zoroastrianism: is a religion and philosophy founded on the teachings of Prophet Zoroaster in the 6th hundred BC. The Zoroastrians worship the Creator Ahura Mazda. In Zoroastrianism good and evil have different origins, with evil attempting to destroy the invention of Mazda, and good attempting to maintain it. * Mandaeism: is a monotheistic religion with a strongly dualistic worldview. Mandaeans are sometime labeled as the Last Gnostics. * Kurdish religions: include the traditional faiths of the Yazidi, Alevi, and Ahl-e Haqq. Sometimes these are labeled Yazdanism.