Michael Klees & Cam Brown

 Definition: a belief system and a set of practices that recognize the existence of a power higher than mankind.  Acts as a powerful shaper of daily life  Eating habits  Dress code  Celebrations  Family practices

 Proselytic:  Always seeking new members to convert  Ethnic:  Focused around a specific ethnic group & doesn’t wish to seek converts  Syncretism:  Combining two or more belief systems  Orthodox:  Emphasis purity of faith

 Christianity  Islam  Hinduism  Buddhism  Judaism

 Definition: A religion that attempts to appeal to and convert all people  Broken down into Branches, Denominations, and Sects  Branch: Large fundamental divisions within a religion  Denomination: Group of common congregations within a branch  Sect: Small groups who have broken away from a certain denomination

 Christianity  Roman Catholic, Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, Methodist, Mormon, Lutheran, Episcopalian, etc.  Buddhism  Islam  Sikhism

 Largest Universalizing religion  2 billion followers  Founded by Jesus  30 C.E.  In Israel  Monotheistic (belief in one God)  Doctrine & Holy Book  10 Commandments  Bible  Holy Sites  Churches  Jerusalem

 Branches:  Roman Catholic (52%)  Protestant (21%)  Eastern Orthodox (10%)  Other (17%)

 2 nd largest universal religion  1.3 billion followers  Fastest growing  Founded by Muhammad  622 C.E.  Middle East  5 Pillars  Allah is one true God  Pray 5 times a day towards Mecca  Charity  Fast during Ramadan  Hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca

 Monothesitic  Holy Sites  Mecca  Medina  Jerusalem  Holy Book  Qur'an  Branches  Sunni (83%)  Shiite (16%)

 3 rd largest universalizing religions  400 million followers  Founded by Siddhartha Gautama  B.C.  Lumbini, Nepal  Four Noble Truths  All living things must endure suffering  Suffering, which is caused by desire to live, leads to reincarnation  Goal of all existence is to escape from suffering and the endless cycle of reincarnation into Nirvana  Nirvana is attained through an Eight-fold path, which included rightness of belief, resolve, speech, action, livelihood, effort, thought, and meditation  Eightfold Path

 Holy Sites  8 religious shrines  Meditation to reach enlightment  Branches:  Mahayana (56%)  Theravada (38%)  Tantrayana (6%)

 Definition: A religion that appeals to a specific group of people  Typically found in one or few locations of the world  Not as popular as universalizing religions  Examples  Hinduism  Judaism

 Largest Ethnic Religion  3 rd largest religion in the world  900 million followers  Polytheistic religion (belief in multiple Gods)  Shiva, Vishnu, & Brahma are 3 main Gods  Founded in India  Places of Worship  Temples

 Law of Karma: all actions produce effects in the future  Dharma: one’s duty in this life, and to strive for harmonious and eternal truth within  Reincarnation: previous acts determine the condition into which a being is reborn in one form or another  Moksha (liberation of the soul)

 14 million followers  Known as the parent religion to Christianity  First monotheistic religion  Founded in Palestine(Israel)  Moses led the enslaved Jews from Egypt to Israel  Doctrines & Holy book  Torah (first five chapters of Hebrew bible)  10 commandments

 Place of worship & symbols  Synagogue  Star of David (six point star)  Branches  Orthodox  Original teachings of Judaism  Reform  Developed to try and fit to the modern times  Conservative  Most recent and moderate branch of Judaism