The stuff I research is from books and I type it out for you guys. Yes one can also just type in the religion name on google.com and research on their own if they want. I encourage it. My information is from books though.

Also if one is interested they can share what they learned and type it in this thread to create conversations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_religious_groups

Well there you go.

Alright then I end my posting. Everyone have a great day and much luck in your studies.

I know we don't do this often within this forum but maybe we should.

One thing that stuck me about this thread is that it was in fact keep within a debate and no attacking that is unless I missed it for I only skimmed through the pages.

To me it has no bearing what religion one is or what their beliefs are as far as my outlook on the threads and the content of them. What I look for is that all can give their opinion without being attacked for what they believe within.

I just wanted to say good job for all posting within this thread that has keep it that way and thank you for it was a pleasure to see the different opinions that each person has and in a civil way.

Thanks again
Site Mod
Kristi

This is a great compliment Kristi and thank you for giving it. It means alot to me.

Just for that, I feel compelled to continue this thread as a type of host to show the many different belief systems that are practiced around this world.

The primary goal is to introduce the basic understanding of each religion and why they have been created at its time. This in my opinion will help us understand more about the people around the world. It is inevitable that there will always be people who disagree with certain practices, yet it doesn’t give an excuse of not knowing how they function or know a little about its history.

Hello everyone. My weekend was great as I spent alot of time with my 97 year old friend who is a native indian. I enjoy his time and love to listen to the stories when he was but a young man.

Today we shall continue with Islam as I haven't finished it yet. Islam is a very big religion primarily practiced in the Middle East. There are however 6 million Americans living in the United States that are of this faith.

Worship and Practice of the Islam Faith

The fundamental tenet of Islam states clearly that Allah is the one and only God, and thus the only God that may be worshipped. the Quran strictly forbids the worshipping of idols, or of any being other than Allah. Such behavior would be considered a type of blasphemy, nown as shirk - an unforgivable sin in the Muslim faith.

It follows that Muslims are not permitted to make images either of Allah or of the prophet Muhammad. There are some artistic representations of Muhammad that obscure his face. Some Muslims object to any form of representational art because of the inherent danger of idolatry. For this reason, Muslim places of worship, or mosques, are often decorated with geometric patterns.

Many of the restrictions in the Quran are explicit in establishing distinctions between Arabs and Jews as shown, for example, in the dietary laws, although they borrow heavily from the Jewish dietary law.

Practically speaking, there are few distincitions between kosher foods and those prepared in a properly Muslim, or halal (meaning permissible) manner.

The most radical difference between Muslim and Jewish dietary laws has to do with intoxicating beverages. While alchololic beverages are not prohibited in Judaism (in fact, wine is an important element inmany Jewish rituals and feasts), Muhammad absolutely forbade the use of such beverages.

more to come....

Interesting note:

Different grades of shirk have been identified in Islamic law. The shirk of custom, for instance, includes all superstitions, such as the belief in omens. The shirk of knowledge is to credit anyone, such as astrologers, with knowledge of the future.

Prayer and Mosques

Prayer has been described as the act of communication by humans with the sacred or holy. The Islamic Quran is regarded as a book of prayers in the same way as the Book of Psalms in the Bible, which is considered to be a meditation on Biblical history turned into prayer. Prayer obviously takes as many forms as there are religions.

The act of prayer in Islam, as we know, is prescribed: Muslims are expected to pray five times a day at definite times wherever they happen to be. In addition to that practice, on Fridays all Muslim men are also expected to attend the mosque for the after midday prayer. Friday is not identifable holy day in the manner that Christians and Jews, for instance, consider the sabbath.

In Islam, business may go on as usual either before or after the midday prayers.

A mosque is actually defined in Islam as any house or open area of prayer. Islam teaches that the whole world is a mosque because a person can pray to Allah anywhere.

Islam makes no distinction between the sacred and the everyday. However, every mosque has an area with a water supply so that the devout may wash their hands, feet, and face before prayer; Muslims may use sand for cleansing if water isn't available.

There is no prescirbed architeectural design for mosques. They generally have a minaret in an elevated place, usuall a tower, for the crier or muezzin to prcliam the call to worship.

The muezzin's call to worship is followed by te imam, who leads the community prayers, and then the khativ, who often preaches the Friday sermon. Sometimes the imam performs all three functions.

The imam is not a priest. Although he can't perform any rites, he usually conducts marriages and funerals. The imam generally acts as a leader of the local Muslim community and gives advice about Islamic law and customs. He is picked for his wisdom.

more to come...

What's the purpose of mosques?

The first mosques were modeled on Muhammad's place of worship, which was the courtyard of his house in Medina. Early mosques were just plots of earth marked out as sacred.

Interesting note:

On Fridays, the imam often gives a sermon that addresses both political and religious problems or points of interest.

Rituals and Customs of the Muslim Faith

Marriage os Islam is considered Allah's provision for humanity. No value is given to celibacy. Parents are responsible for choosing a marriage partners for their children. Marriage is considered to be a joining of two families, not just two people. However, the Quran says that the girl must give her consent and not be forced into marriiage.

Marriage is a contract between a man and a woman, not a religous rite. Although it doesn't have to be performed in a mosque with an imam in attendance, it must be conducted according to Islamic law with two male Muslim witnesses. Nevertheless, marriage is seen as a state blessed by Allah.

Divorce is permitted, but it is certainly discouraged. Islamic law allows a man to have more than one wife; in traditional Islamic socieites, this is one way of trying to make sure that women can have the protection of family life. However, the prophet Muhammad adviced that unless a man feels able to treat the wives equally he should marry only one.

Obserant Muslims believe that their deaths are predetermined by Allah as part of his design. Therefore, death should not be feared for the deceased will go to Paradise. To overdo mourning would show a mistrust of Allah's love and mercy.

In Islam, on the Day of Judgment Allah will raise all the dead and judge them. The good will go to Paradise; the others to the fire.

After death, the body is ritually washed and wrapped in a linen shroud. All Muslims regardless of sect are dressed in the standard grave clothes an upper shroud, a lower garment, and an overall shroud. Only martyrs are buried in the clothes in which they die, without their bodies or garments being washed. As evidence of their state of glory, the blood and dirt are on view.

Do Muslims follow a different calendar from the western world?

Yes, they do. The Islamic calendar is lunar, and unlike most other lunar calendars, is not adjusted to keep in step with the solar year. Thus, Muslim dates tend to change in relation to the Western solar calendar. Years are counted from the prophet Muhammad's move to Medina in 622 C.E., also known as Hegira. The year 2000 C.E. is 1420/21 A.H.

Sunni and Shi'ites

Of the two main groups within Islam, the Sunnis compose about 90 percent of all adherents and the Shi'ites about 10 percent. Sunni Muslims regard themselves the traditional, mainstream, pragmatic branch of Islam; in fact, they became known as the orthodox element in Islam. This claim, however, is in dispute as it is considered that all orientations in Islam are a result of the common Islamic origin.

There are religious and political differences between the two factions. The list of differences are so vast that I chose not to post them in here to avoid disputes about them and probably also belong in the political forum in the end. If interested then as suggested use the google.com to find out what their interests are for personal reference please. thank you.

This concludes the basic introductory of Islam. If you are of this faith and wish to share your views or knowledge about it then don't hesitate to do so. We are here to learn from you.

Next religion is "Hinduism".

Good Morning everyone. I hope you have slept well, have plenty to eat and drink, and managed to go to work in peace. Those retired, I hope you didn't fall off the wrong side of the bed today

We shall start with a very old religion called Hinduism. Most people know of this religion to originate in India and that they worship or pray to many different gods. Let us get in a little deeper detail of what they practice and see why they believe in this and where the history came from. If you know more about this religion and wish to share it with us then please do as I could use the help.


HINDUISM

Hindus see their religion as a continuous, seemingly eternal, existence - not just a religion, but a way of life. Its adherence to customs, obligations, traditions, and ideals far exceed the secularist tendency to think of religoin primarily as a system of beliefs.

ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT

Although the word Hinduism was coined in the West and only came into use at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the name Hindu, referring to an inhabitant of India, comes from ancient Persian. Similarly, the Hindu belief system has marked ancient origins, which is hwy some Hindus reject the comparatively modenr term "Hinduism" to define their religion, preferring the term Sanatana Dharma or Vedic Tradition, the latter referring to the sacred texts called the Vedas.

The Vedas, which can be traced to 1500 B.C.E., traditionally were handed down orally and were only reproduced in written form beginning in medieval times. The oldest veda is the Rig Veda, which consists of more than 1,000 humns. The other three vedas, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda, and Atharva Veda - include musical notations for the performance of sacred songs, explanations, and instructions for the performance of sacred rituals and ceremonies, interpretations of certain hymns and verses, and mystical texts.

Over the years Vedic rites became so complicated and had so many rules that only highly trained priests could read the texts explaining them. It was from this background and legacy that the practice and belief in Hinduism evolved.

The textbooks on Hinduism, composed in the early twentieth century, were written by Hindus to explain the faith so that it could be taught to future generations.

More than any other major religion, Hinduism celebrates a complex, multileveled spectrum of beliefs and worship practices that is best exemplified in the Hindu prayer: "May good thoughts come to us from all sides." It has been said that no religious idea in India ever dies; it merely combines with the new ideas that arise in response to it.

Hindusa see the divine in everything and are tolerant of all doctrines. A Hindu may embrance another religion without giving up being a Hindu because he or she is disposed to regard other forms of worship and divergent doctrines as inadequate rather than incorrect.

Hinduism has been called a civilization and congregation of religions. It has neither a single prophet nor one god to worship. Rather it offers a plethoa of ideas - a metaphor for the many Hindu deities - with no beginning, no founder, no central authority, no hierarchy, and no organization.

Every attempt to classify or define Hinduism has proved to be unsatisfactory in one way or another. These efforts have been compounded because the scholars of the faith have emphasized different apsects of the whole.

more to come....

Interesting note:

Hinduism has more than 650 million adherents in India and at least 100 million in the rest of the world. Of these, 700,000 are in South Africa, nearly 600,000 in North America, and 500,000 in the United Kingdom.

Content thus far:

Page 1 - Brief introduction of Christianity - http://mingle2.com/topic/show/215176

Page 2 - Brief introduction of Catholicism, Amish, Anglican - http://mingle2.com/topic/show/215176?page=2

Page 3 - Brief introduction of Baptists - http://mingle2.com/topic/show/215176?page=3

Page 4 - Brief introduction of Christian Science, Gnostic Christianity*, Congregationalism, Jehovah's Witness, Mennonite, Mormonism - http://mingle2.com/topic/show/215176?page=4

Page 5 - Presybyterianism, Raelians** - http://mingle2.com/topic/show/215176?page=5

Page 6 - Adventist, Deism, Lutheranism - http://mingle2.com/topic/show/215176?page=6

Page 7 - Methodist, Orthodoxy, Protestantism - http://mingle2.com/topic/show/215176?page=7

Page 8 - Protestantism continued, Quakerism - http://mingle2.com/topic/show/215176?page=8

Page 9 - Unitarian Universalist Association, Islam - http://mingle2.com/topic/show/215176?page=9

Page 10 - Islam continued, Hinduism


* was not on the list

** was not on the list and is not a Christian denomination belief

HINDU DEITIES

While they do not worship one single god, Hindus do believe in a supreme being who has unlimited forms. This is not contradiction in terms, because of the many forms theses deities take. For instance, Vishnu and Lakshmi have the full powers of a god, but Brahma and Sarasvati have only certain godlike aspects. At the core is the Hindu philosophy of nonspecific inclusion.

Hindu teachings revolve around what, to western eyes, might seem to be a vast series of interlocking narratives, rather like the actions in a play. In fact, that is exactly how some of them are presented' as divine plays featuring interaction between gods and humans in which deities enter the material world as avatars - divine beings with physical forms. Their purpose is to draw the Hindu audience into a discourse.

In watching the narratives being played out, Hindus have often experienced themselves as members of single imagined family.

For instance, in the narrative called Rama yana - a tragic story of love, honor, and courage - the cast includes Rama, Sita, and the wicked Havana. Havana kidnaps Sita. Rama rescues Sita nad kills Havana, but the lovers are forced to separate. the story represents the tragedy of life in the real world where love of the soul for god is constantly being tested.

There are many gods, goddesses, and deities in the Hindu tradition; the choice of which to worship is left up to the individual, and this choice may change or evolve over time. There is no exclusivity in the choice of the divinity to worship during the search. Imagine that the search for the "One that is All" is like a revolving glass mirrored ball in a dance hall. The observer meditates on the search and a beam of light goes on illuminating one side of the glass ball, which is slowly turning in the light. As it turns, mirrored facets are visible and the observer selects one on which to concentrate. The ball is the "One that is All", its mirrored facets are its deities.

While there are Hindu temples and places for community worship, many Hindus prefer to worship either alone or with their families, at personal altars in their homes.

more to come...

Interesting note:

Among the most popular and best known avatars are some of the ten incarnations of Vishnu, which include Krishna and Rama. Krishna is probably number one in popularity.

Central Belief for Hinduism

In an effort to tie down the belief in a way that is palatable to Western thought, maybe it's not a bad idea to start with what is concrete, or appears so, or is at least explainable, or partially so. In Hinduism, the law of karma states that all actions produce effects in the future. A concept that is linked to karma is that of dharma, one's duty or station in this life. The relationship between dharma and karma is discussed at length in Bhagavad Gita, a major text within the Hindu tradition.

REINCARNATION

Indigenous to this belief is the idea of reincarnation. In more technical terms, Hindus accept the doctrine of transmigration and rebirth, and believe that previous acts are the factors that determine the condition into which a being is reborn in one form or another.

The idea of reincarnation is virtually universal in India. According to a basic Hindu concept, people are born over and over again into a state of suffering. Deeply involved in this transformation is the atman - a Sankrit term for self; the eternal core of the personality that survives after death and that is headed to a new life or is release from the bonds of existence. The atman is inextricably joined with Brahman, the Being itself, a concept that may also be thought of as "high god." To be released from the cycle of rebirth, one must attain the atman/Brahman identity. That is, one must become one with Being.

One reason people keep getting born over and over into suffering is that they do not understand this connection. As long as people think atman is separate from Brahman, or world soul, the cycle will continue forever.

more to come...