RE 2 Unit study

Nature of religion and beliefs

Introduction
- People ponder the mysteries of human existence and seek to find answers the questions that people
have asked and continue to ask about the search of meaning and the ultimate goal of human life a
number of quite distinctive responses have emerged.
- Some come through sacred texts and writings for others such as Australias Indigenous people
through ancestral myths and stories of Dreaminess expressed through symbolism and art and
reenacted in there ceremonies.
- Living religion explores the expression and practice of various belief systems that have emerged
throughout the world as people have sought answers to the ultimate question of existence.
- Religion, however one defines it, is complex. It can be a cohesive force in society and, at the same
time, a source of division. But the exploration of these different things is exciting.
- What is religion? Belief in, worship of, or obedience to a supernatural power or powers
considered to be divine or to have control of human destiny. The sate of being grasped by
ultimate concern.
- With all these definitions the only common agreement is that is it something beyond the
ordinary. It has a transcended dimension and that helps in some way to map a course through life
obstacles and limitations of human existence.
- Transcendent Dimension: The belief in a divine being or powers whose existence goes beyond
human limitations.
- Immanent Dimension: A world view that recognizes a divine being or powers as a constant reality
and active and continuing presence among believers in this world.
- Religion offers believers a specific set of beliefs and practices that gives meaning to there live.
Religious adherents use sacred texts ,key beliefs, ethical systems, rituals and ceremonies to confirm
the beliefs and to provide them with guidance on how to live there life.
Two types of Religious World Views
- It is possible to distinguish two types of religious world views. The first is a world view that holds
belief in a divine power and/or powers beyond the human dimension. This corresponds to the world
view held by Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The followers of these religions believe in one God
why exists beyond the human and yet guides humanity throughout its everyday existence.
- The second world view maintains belief in a divine being or powers dwelling within he individual
such a world view is characteristics of Buddhism and Hinduism.

Characteristics of religion
- There are four main characteristics of a religion:
- Beliefs and believers.
All religions are sustained by beliefs and believers. An example is for Christians they believe Jesus
of Nazareth was the son of God, the resurrection, forgiveness of sins. The believers are certainly the
living Adherents of each tradition. But in some cases it also includes holy people, saints , mystics
and other inspirational figures both living and dead.

- Sacred texts and writings

All religions have at there center oral and written sacred texts and writings or other types of stories.
In Islam the Quran is the central sacred text. This is meditated from and gives directions
- Ethics
Ethics can be understood as the explicit, philosophical and religious reflection on moral beliefs
within a tradition. These are central to any religion there purpose is to clarify what is Right and
Wrong and what followers of a religion should freely do or refrain form doing.
- Rituals and ceremonies
Rituals and ceremonies are enactments or systems of actions and beliefs that each have a beginning
a middle and a end.. They are directly linked to superhuman beings or forces. Rituals and
ceremonies in Judaism include male circumcision and Bar Mitzvah as well as significant rituals for
marriage, divorce and death.
A dynamic, living religion
-These characteristics create in turn a dynamic, living religion. A dynamic religion is one
characterized by energy, ambition, new ideas and practical achievements. It develops into a
powerful force that refreshes itself constantly, and therefore avoids settling into a practicable or
conservative rut. A living religion is something that is full of life, not dead, decaying or bereft of
ideas
The contribution of religion to individuals and to society and culture
- This section on the nature of religion has provided various examples of how religion contributes to
individuals and to society and culture. With its claim to a supernatural dimension, revealed religion
succeeds in fixing the minds and hearts of its adherents in the here and now while at the same time
pointing beyond the material to the spiritual or divine realm.
- They change over time and affect the society and culture in which that changers take place
creating a dynamic and living society.

Australian Aboriginal Beliefs and Spiritualities- Dreaming

Nature of dreaming
- Aboriginal: Capitalized when used to describe Aboriginal people
- Culture: the accepted and traditionally patterned ways of behaving, a set of common
understandings shared by the members of a group or community Includes land, language,
relationships, and indignity.
- Indigenous: Those people who are the original inhabitants of any country.
- Ancestral beings: Those spirits who moved about forming the landscape and creating the plants,
animals and as people know the world.
- Dreaming- A complex concept of fundamental importance to Aboriginal culture, embracing the
creative past of the ancestral beings as well as the present and the future.
-Initiation: Formal admissions into a society the ceremony of admission.
-Mythological Symbolism: The representation of the stories about supernatural beings and events.
Rite: A formal or ceremonial act or procedure that is described or is customary in a religious or
other solemn use. Within the rite there are central rituals.

- In spite of diversity, no matter where Aboriginal people come from in Australia they are
recognized and recognize each other as being one people.
- Aboriginal people have been in Australia for more then 40 000 years. When James Cook entered
Australias history, the Aboriginal life was nomadic or semi nomadic they were living by hunting
and gathering using stones and spears.
- Because they were described as this James Cook described the continent as terra nullius which is
empty land.
- Dreaming is the CENTRE of Aboriginal religion and life; its the closest translation of the
Aboriginal concept of how the world works. Dreaming is the past, the present and the future.
- Dreaming is the unseen spiritual world. It is what gives life and reality to the visible life
- In traditional aboriginal Australia, world order comes form all those events in which ancestral
beings travel and transform themselves into sites.
- For Indigenous Australians the land is the core of all spirituality-the land is not dead, it is alive
with power and the Ancestral beings who live in it. It is impossible to discuss the beliefs and
spiritualities of Indigenous Australians without talking about the land.It is the land that gives them
their indignity- the land is my mother.

Religion in Australia Pre 1945

- Religion as defined by Europeans, came with the establishments in 1788 of the British settlement
in the colony of New South Wales and was the religion of the British-Christianity. This British
Christianity , however was not unified Christianity and the lack of harmony among Christians
remained part of Australias religious history well into the twentieth century.
- It was not until the mid nineteenth century that there was any official recognition of any religious
tradition other then Christianity and that was of Judaism.
- Relative isolation from the rest of the world and a fairly narrow immigration stream form the
British Isles endured that the religious make up of Australia did not change much for a hundred
years.
- The exceptions to this were waves of non-British immigration during the nineteenth century gold
rushes and some refugees around the time of the First World War. The real marker point for a
change in the Australian religious landscape came with worldwide upheaval of the Second World
War. The end of that war, then, serves as the point up in to the current survey goes.
- In 1845 , those identified as Christians were 98.6% of the population , 72.4% were Anglicans,
Presbyterians, Methodist and other protestants from Britain and 26.2 % were Catholics from Ireland
and Britain.
Arrival and establishment of Christianity
- Formal Christianity came to Australia, rather as an after thought with the first fleet and its church
of England chaplain Rev Richard Johnson. On the first fleet , two thirds of the convicts classified
themselves as church of England , one third as Roman Catholics.
- For the first thirty years of the new settlement the church if England ministers were the only clergy
with any power of influence in the community. They had a role in legislative activity and were
supported financially by authorities.
- The church of England was the sate religion of England and it was expected things would be no
different in Austral.
-Many were atheist , the church of England never associated with them.
- The catholic convicts despised the religion of the English, a people they saw as their oppressors.

- Al convicts were obliged to attend church of England services but these had little effect in
establishing a climate of religious feelings.
The Church of England (Anglican)
-The earliest Church of England ministers were of the low church, or evangelical.
-The evangelicals stressed religion as an individual matter of personal conviction and salvation, as
meditated through the bible.
- Support from the colonial government brought many privileges for the Church of England in
Australia.
- Bishop William Grant Broughton sought permission of self government for the church in England
in 1850. But was declined.
- In 1962 all the parliaments of Australia passed legislation to separate completely the Church of
England from its formal link to the Crown under Australian secular law.
The Church of Scotland (Presbyterian)
- Presbyterians were not necessarily the wealthy classes in the nineteenth centaury Australian
community.
- Rev. John Dunmore Lang sponsored a significant number of Presbyterians to Australia to escape
the poverty of Scotland and also to ensure a Protestant character to NSW.
- Movement towards the union of various divisions within Presbyterianism in Australia was began
in the second half of the nineteenth century.
- A national Federal Presbyterian Union was formed in 1901 as the Presbyterian Church of
Australia.
The Church of Rome (Roman Catholic)
- In its Australia beginnings, the catholic church was Irish and the Irish were convicts.
- Convicts on board, English laws had led them to rebel.
- In 1798 Irish rebels were transported to Australia in large numbers mainly men who stood up to
English oppressors.
- The Irish Catholics were given more piety than some others in the colony, encouraged as from
1820 by the powerful influence of Fr John Terry.
-Therry became a leader to the Irish Catholics.
- The catholic church began to grow in strength. By the 1880s thirty
seven Roman catholic schools were built and running throughout Australia.
The nonconformist Churches
- The nonconformist played a major role in the establishment in Christianity.
- Came from mainly pacific islands
- Samuel Mars den played a major role being the colonies chaplain and planting the seeds for
Christianity in Australia.
- There were small groups of them and they continued for years.
- Strong commitment to evangelicalism, they loved missionary work and were active in establishing
schools, churches, hospitals.
- It declined throughout the nineteenth century.
Religious Traditions other than Christianity
- Apart from Judaism, it would be difficult to say that any tradition other then Christianity was
established in Australia before 1945.

- However other traditions were presented in Australia particular leading up to Federation and the
Immigration restriction act of 1901. Which ensured the white Australia policy became Reality.
- After world war 2 the governments drive to repopulate Australia left many nationalities in
Australia
Islam
-There were many Muslim presences in Australia before European settlement.
- Nothing much happened except some carvings.
- Majority of them turned back to there homeland after the period of work, the numbers declined in
Australia.
Judaism
- There were at least eight Jewish convicts on the first fleet.
- Convict numbers were supplemented by emigrants Jews from Britains urban poor and then
increasing numbers of middle-class English who brought with them particular Jewish style
practices.
- They flourished throughout Sydney and Melbourne.
- They were fleeing persecution, they continued to come all through the twenty century.
The development of Christianity in Australia
-Rivalries between the Church of England and Catholics. Effected how education developed In
Australia and in the way social welfare was organized.
Sectarianism
- There has been sectarianism between Christian denominations for ever.
- Mainly between Anglicans and Catholics.
- All Protestants denominations kept apart from the Irish Catholic.
- The First World War was a crucial period in the entrenchment of the sectarian divide between
Catholics, and Protestant and Anglican Australia.
- The conscription tore up Australia.
- Not until 1960s that Sectarianism disappeared.

Social Welfare
- In the area of social welfare, agencies such as St Vincent De Paul, the Wesley Central Mission and
the Brotherhood of St Lawrence have a major impact today on the lives of Australians.
- The men and women who took religion seriously in the Nineteenth century were the origins of
these.
- They did this without Government support.
St Vincent de Paul
The st Vincent de Paul society is a catholic organization established in France 1833. By 1895 there
were already twenty six branches of the St Vincent DePaul society in Sydney alone. Members of the
association visited people in hospitals and prisons, offered assistance to age, homeless and poor.

The salvation Army

The Salvation Army, a Christian denomination that began as the Christian Mission in the East end
of London in 1865, it found its way to South Australia in1880. The salvation Army has a strong
belief in the importance of bringing the Christian message to people through practical means, thus it
emphasis on providing welfare services. From humble beginnings, the Salvos have become a part
of the fabric of Australian society.
The contribution of religious traditions in Australia
Anglo catholic- A strand within the Church of England (Anglican ) whos rituals retained many
aspects of Roman Catholicism.
- Proselytizing- Winning converts to one religion.
- Secularism- A social or political philosophy that rejects all forms of religion.
Rural and outback communities
- The makeup of Australias religious communities state by state reflects the differences in their
colonial past.
- The catholic church went where the Irih went and many of them to outback communities in rural
Australia.
- In rural areas the catholic church had advantage- Catholic nuns and brothers and priest most
Ireland, were prepared to go where married Anglican clergy refused to go.
Bush Brotherhood
- Australias vast open spaces and absence church Authorities were two of the factors that played a
part in the emergence of the Church of England bush brother hood.
- For the first thirty years of the new penal settlement, the only official chaplaincy services were
provided by the Church of England ministers.
- There continues to be a strong tradition of providing chaplaincy services in Anglican Church today
.
- One of the most significant chaplaincy movements emerge in the nineteenth century was the
Anglican ministries in remote country areas.
- Scattered parishes the vastness of the Australian bush and the slowness of the Church of England
authorities to create bishoprics meant there was little to no church supervision in the bush.
- The brotherhoods relied on clergy recruited from England, lured by the promised romance of a life
as a minister in the Bush.
- Well in to the 20th century, the concept of loyalty to the Empire was disappearing in Britain.
English clergy no longer felt the same sense of duty to travel across the world to serve the church as
a bush brother.
- Of course there were Australian brothers, but local Anglicans were never as inclined towards the
style of lonely, celibate life that seems to have romanced to the English brothers afar.
- An extraordinary number of English Brothers were made bishops twenty in all, eighteen of them
in Australia.
The Bush Aid Society
- The Bush Aid Society was an attempt by the evangelical Sydney Anglicans to capture the dioceses
from the influence of the Bush Brother hood with there strongly Anglo Catholic stance.
- In addition Anglicans feared Catholic aggression in the bush. Social services, such as child
welfare and education, were almost entirely under the control of Catholics Nuns and brothers, who
had established convent schools in places and married Anglican clergy had refused to go.
- A mission to the bush was also and escape route for conservative Sydney evangelicals, who felt
besieged by the increasingly liberalizing forces around them.

- The bush Aid society fro Australia and Tasmania known as the BCA, was launched on the 26th
May 1919.Bca with its married clergy and army of female volunteers, took over in places where the
brotherhoods had failed , particularly the settled rural areas and townships.
- In an age when women are mostly restricted to fetes and flowers in the service of the Church , the
BCA was a noteworthy for it pioneering use of women missionaries and they were the backbone of
the Society. Australian women took up the challenge, too, as hostel sisters and nurses.
- The BCA developed a reputation for health care services, its hostels for young people, and its
innovative use of airplanes. The hostels- models of Christian service rather than proselytizing
preaching-ensured the welcome of the BCA and its long life in the Bush. The BCA is still working
in some of the Areas it pioneered in the 1920s.
Australian Inland Mission
- Victorian-born Presbyterian minister John Flynn ( 1880-1951) went on a mission to shearers in
1909 and in 1912 founded the Australian Inland Mission, which brought a range of religious, health,
pastoral and other services for Europeans in outback Australia. Flynn used the modern inventions
of the wireless and the aero plane to establish the Flying doctors service in the late 1920s to provide
reliable medical assistance for people in medical need to remote areas. The school of the Air was an
offshoot of the introduction of the wireless in the bush. Flynns motto was For Christ and the
Continent it is still the motto of the Uniting Church in Australia outback mission service.
Education
- The story of religion and education in the nineteenth century Australia is essentially a story of the
interplay of Christianity and politics.
- The churches battled with government for financial support and autonomy in an area where they
saw the future of their religious communities and education.
- The series of enactments of parliament in the nineteenth century focusing on education influenced
the contribution of the Churches to Australian society and also the process of secularism in
Australia society.
- The establishment of the Schools Estates Corporation Charter in 1825 guaranteed one-seventh of
colonial land grants for the maintenance of the Anglican Church and its schools.
- This ensured that control of the colonies schools remained with the Church of England.
- The majority of Catholic parents refused to send there their children to school, preferring no
education rather than allowing their children to come under the Church of England.
- The effect of the Church Act 1836 was to provide government aid to genuine religious effort in the
colony.
- The church act had the effect of ensuring that established Christianity in Australia was both
mainstream and urban. Small religious denominations or people living in far-flung rural areas
lacked the facility to organize themselves in into congregations, and received virtually no aid.
- The major denominations firmly established their power base in the cities particularly in
Melboune and Sydney
- In 1862, government aid was withdrawn from all New South Wales religious denominations and
Henry Parkes Public Instruction Act 1880 abolished aid to to denominational education.
- Education was to be free, compulsory and secular.
- This was to lead to the establishment of Catholic education system entirely separate from the state.
State controlled schools had been condemned in Pope Pius IX Syllabus of Errors in 1864 and so
Catholics did not welcome the idea of secular education system as was proposed by the Act. This,
together with Urban power-base of the church, brought the establishment of a system of Catholic
schools with religious orders of teachers as heir essential foundation.
Public Morality
- Religion, something of an afterthought in the founding of Australia, came to be seen as the only
hope of improvement in public morality. The clergy could do the job of being Gods police.
Christians had a powerful influence on public policy in these areasand established a reputation as
wowsers.

- The influence of Christian values in legislation can be strongly evident in the 2oth century
particularly in the first half. Criminal adultery, liquor, licensing and anit- gambling laws and a
strong positive lobby in laws to protect women and children were all evidence of the influence of
Christian morality over the 20th century lawmakers.
- Variouse Sunday observance laws were passed down
Religion Traditions
Christianity
Origins and Variants
- Christianity emerged around 3 BCE, from within Jewish context, through the life and ministry,
death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.
- Jesus was a religious Jew who attended the synagogue, and celebrated Jewish festivals.
- After Jesus death his messages were spread and adapted by Paul and other men and women whop
were his disciples. They had established a separate identity when it was accepted that to follow
Jesus one did not have to be Jew.
- The catholic communion includes eight distinct rites including the Roman Marinate rites and
acknowledges the Pope as the leader.
- Christianity is the largest of the worlds major religions with about 2.1 billion followers, roughly
one third of the worlds populations.
Principal beliefs
- Christians believe in one God and that Jesus Christ is the son of God and that God sent his son to
earth to save humanity from the consequences of its sins.
- Christians believe that Jesus was fully human and fully divine.
- They believe in whose forgiveness should be made for Jesus to come again.
- Christians believe in the trinity that is God, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit and that God, through
the work of the Holy Spirit is present today and evident in the works of believers.
- Christians believe that the Church of Communion of believers is necessary for salvation and is the
body of Christ and believe in life after death.
- They believe that sacraments were established by Jesus him self. Generally they retain at least two
sacraments clearly mentioned in the Christian Scriptures- Baptism and Eucharist.
- Christians recognize 7 sacraments.
- Some Christian Churches also hold strong beliefs in saints and in Mary as the mother of God.
Sacred texts and writings
-The Christian Bible consists of the Jewish Scriptures (torah) and the Christian scriptures.
- The Key beliefs of Christianity are expressed throughout the Bible.
- The Bible is also sometimes referred to as Scripture or Holy Scripture
- The word Gospel means Good News. A term used by early Christians to describe what Jesus had
achieved.
- The Jewish scriptures were written in Hebrew and sections in Aramaic. The Christian scriptures
were written in Greek then translated to Latin for the western Church.
- There are no difference in the interpretation of the Bible for catholic, Orthodox and Protestant
churches.
- the Bible offers Christians support and guidance, including guidelines for moral behavior. It is
used for reading, reflection , prayer and retreat.

Ethical teachings
- The core Christian ethical teachings are the Ten Commandments or Decalogue , beatitudes and
Jesus commandments
- They are also based on the law of love and compassion, on the nature of the Final Judgment as
well as the gospel call to repentance forgiveness and the urgent demands of Gods reign.
- Christian ethics raises questions for believers: What is good life? How to distinguish between
good and evil? How does Jesus challenge me?.
- Historically there have been quite different approaches to ethics by Catholics and Protestants. For
Catholics there was eternal law- God directed all nature to its proper goal-and this law could be
known in two ways. It could be known by human reasons, natural law, and by Gods revelation
through Scriptures and Tradition Church teaching.
- Because the Protestant reformers generally based there ethics on the bible there was never the
same certainty and confidence in protestants ethics as there had been in Catholic ethics.
- Christians these day tend to exercise their conscience when making there decisions in ethical
issues.
Significant Practice
- Christian worship involves praising God in music and speech, readings from scripture and prayers
of various sorts, also holy ceremonies.
- Christians liturgy or worship is a key reference point for prayer, reflecting the life, death and
resurrection of Christ for believers.
- Christian worship grew out of Jewish worship and the first obvious divergence was making
Sunday the Holy day instead of Saturday. By doing this the day of Christian worship is the same as
the day Jesus rose from the dead.
- Church services on a Sunday divide into two general types: Eucharist, services focused on the act
of the Holy Communion and services of the word. Both types of service include hymns, readings
and prayers.
-Reformed churches stress the preaching of the word in their practices, while Orthodox and Roman
Catholic Churches stress symbolic actions and rites. Icons are particular important in Orthodox and
Eastern liturgical practices.
- Prayer was central to the life of Jesus and many Christian prayer forms have their earliest roots in
Judaism.
- Forms of Christian personal devotion include vocal, mental and contemplative prayer as well as
practices.
- The rites Baptism and marriage and the other sacraments are also significant practices in the
tradition and find their inspiration in Jesus preaching and in the sacred rituals of the early church.
Judaism
Origins and variants
- Judaism as a historical religion has its origins in the clan of Abraham and Sarah which wandered
from ancient Egypt.
- God revealed to Abraham that Israel was Gods chosen people. Gods call of Abraham and Israel
was shown in the Exodus and in the giving of the Torah or Ten Commandments to Moses.
- There are four major groups or variants within Judaism:
- Orthodox
- Ultra Orthodox
- Progressive
- Conservative

- Reconstructive
- The two main variants in Australia are modern Orthadox and Progressive.
- In traditional terms a person is considered a Jew if there Mother is a Jew.
Principal Beliefs
-Rabbinic Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people in the period following the destruction of the
second temple in 70ce. This is distinct from Jewish religion of the biblical times, which focused on
temple worship.
- Shifted from Temple cult to home and synagogue worship.
- The central concepts of Jewish belief are covenant and blessing, flowing from he great Exodus or
liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.
- Today, as in the past, Jewish beliefs find expression Authority of the Rabbi as a teacher of the
Torah, and through the religious practices of the faithful Jew who fulfils the mitzvoth.
Sacred writings and texts
- The most important collection of sacred texts is the Torah or first five books of the Hebrew Bible.
The first five books are also referred to as the Pentateuch. There is also the Mishnah this is a
broader version of the Torah.
- The general term Tenach is used to refer to the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures. - Talmud- Is a
Collection of commentaries on biblical texts that form, with the HYPERLINK
"http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Torah" Torah, the foundation for the religious laws of
HYPERLINK "http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Judaism" Judaism.
- The Talmud is the most authoritative work of the Oral Torah.
- Part of Jewish sacred writings is also Midrash, a collection of traditional Jewish interpretations of
the books of the bible, in the form of homilies.
Ethical Teachings
- Significant ethical teachings include the Decalogue or Ten Commandments and the Shema.
- The ethical principles of Judaism are lived through the commandments and the shema.
- The ethical principals of Judaism are lived through the commandments of the torah, the rule of
life; and include the obligation to do deeds of loving kindness.
- Alms giving are considered to be equal to all commandments of the torah.
- Of particular importance is the Halachah, the Jewish legal tradition grounded in the 613 mitzvoth
of the Torah which seeks to guide Jews in right relationships with God and all people.
- The torah prohibits graven images. It has been argued in modern Judaism that moral human beings
are the only human beings are the only image of God that is appropriate. The religious ethic that
emerges from such a view is that humans are the nearest thing to being divine. As others should
always be treated with respect and generosity and one should always act with humility. In order to
love to love ones neighbor, as the torah teaches, one must know the others pain.
- Moses penned the most famous summary of Jewish Belief the thirteen articles of faith. This
combined with the torah and mitzvoth contain important teachings on covenant, prayer, humanity,
the afterlife, and the religious roles of individuals families and the Jewish community.
Significant practices
- The Jewish call to holiness is based on the precepts of the Torah; and in particular the keeping of
the mitzvoth, the 613 commandments contained within the Torah.
- Key features of Jewish spirituality also include the Shabbat ( Sabbath meal) and the Sabbath
synagogue meal.
- Judaism includes kabbalah or mystical traditions.
- Mothers perform the home ritual of the lighting of the candle and blessing the meal to usher in
Shabbat. In the orthodox tradition, the woman Is responsible for the maintenance of the home and is

obedient to her husband. Women do play public roles in the synagogue in progressive and
conservative variants of the traditions; these variants have also ordained woman as rabbis.
- The Jewish festival of Passover, the giving of the Torah and The festival of booths are known as
the three pilgrims festivals. This is because the Torah commands jews to make a pilgrimage to the
Temple in Jerusalem on each occasion. The temple no longer stands but the festival remains as
important aspects of the Jewish experience of the pilgrims journey of faith.
- The call to Aliyah Going up is a physical pilgrimage to the state of Israel is a powerful Notion in
modern Judaism
Islam
Origins and Variants
- Islam emerged in the seventh century within the tribal society of the Arabian Peninsula. Its name
is inseparable from that of Muhammad the Messenger of God.
- In the month of Ramadan (the ninth months of the Islamic calendar) Muhammad received the first
of many revelations from God. These revelations continued for twenty two years and when
collected and arranged became the Quran Islams sacred scripture.
- Muhammads preaching of Gods message was not well received in his home city of Makka and he
and a small number of followers quietly emigrated to Madina in 622.
- The hija ( migration) marked a turning point and it was in Madina that an Islamic community
( numma) was formed and its members were called Muslims.
- Muhammad was succeeded by the four rightly guided caliphs but the community suffered a
series of crisis about Authority and leadership that led to a number of different outcomes.
- The branch of Islam that accepts the first four caliphs as rightful successors of Muhammad.
- Sunni and Shii , the two major variants arose at this time. Today sunni comprise 85 per cent of
Muslims and shiI around 15 perent.
Principal beliefs
- In Islam it is impossible to separate beliefs from practice-faith and the right action are intertwined.
- The foundation of Islamic belief is the revelation from Allsh in the Quran.
- the beliefs of Islam are found in the seven Articles of its creed as revealed by Allah:
- Tawhid- the oneness of Allah. Only Allah must be worshipped and no other being should be
associated with Allah. The sin of this I worse then any other.
- Rusulhu- the belief in prophet hood. The Quran names twenty-five prophets among them are
Moses, Abraham, David and Jesus. And Muhammad is the final prophet.
-Al-Akhira- This is the world to come. Muslims believe in an afterlife that when they die their lives
on life will be assessed. While they believe that nothing can happen without the will and the
knowledge and the power of God, that does not stop human beings making free choices.
- Muslims belief is put into practice through the five pillars of faith.
Sacred texts and writings
- Islam has two universal texts that are considered sacred the Quran and the Hadith.
- The Quran is the direct word from God and contains all the essential teachings of the unity and
power of God, the stories of the prophets and the consequences of good and evil for the life here
and after.
- Muslims do not speak of Muhammad writing the Quran but of his receiving it and reciting it. The
recitation was copied down by scribes. It was during the time of the third rightly guided caliph that
the Authorized version was established.
- The Quran consist of 114 sura chapters with 6000 versus.
- For Muslims it is always recited in Arabic as that is the language of God.
- Second to the Quran in Authority is the Hadith, which record the sunna of the prophet. These are
the traditions and practices of Muhammad that have become models to be followed by Muslims.

- Most Muslims accept six collections of hadith as being the most trust worthy. These were
collected within the first three centuries of Islam.
Ethical teachings
- The ethical teachings of Islam reflect the beliefs and teachings of Islam.
-Islam places a very strong emphasis on the importance of right action.
- Laws that govern actions fall into two categories;
- The behavior of Muslims towards God.
- And the way in which human beings treat one another
- For Muslims there is no distinction between sacred and secular.
- The most important of the Laws that govern Muslims behavior towards god are described in the
five pillars of faith.
- Moral guidelines for Muslims place great emphasis on the umma or community, in this case they
are called to do things that is natural, promote unity and harmony and support the community and
obey the Law. Justice, compassion and generosity and love of neighbors are also stressed.
Significant Practices
- Muslims ritual, ceremonies, prayer and belief is centered on the five pillars of faith.
- These rituals are the practical expressions of the Muslim devotion to God and are extended to all
sectors of human activity.
- The daily ritual prayer is the distinctive mark of believers and provides them with opportunities
for direct communion with God five times a day and so helps them to avoid too much attachment to
non essential things.
- Salat is highly formalized and regulated in its cycles of spoken formulas and body postures and is
recited from memory in Arabic. Each Salat must be offered at its proper time and facing Mecca.
- The place of worship for Muslims is the Mosque but the obligatory daily prayers can be said
anywhere. Congregational prayer at a mosque on a Friday at noon is highly recommended.
-Major Islamic festivals include.
- The end of Ramadan
- The month of pilgrimage.

Religions of ancient origin

The Aztec religion is composed of an incredibly complicated, yet interesting, set of beliefs. Filled
with stories of human sacrifices and demanding HYPERLINK "http://www.aztecindians.com/aztec-gods.html" Aztec gods and goddesses, the Aztecs have left behind a legacy that
will be studied and marveled for years to come.
The Hierarchy of Aztec Gods
A part of the religious Aztec legends is the belief in a hierarchy of gods. According to Aztec
mythology, the top three gods were Huitzilopochtili (or hummingbird wizard), Tezcatlipoca
(smoking mirror) and Quetzalcoatl (sovereign plumed serpent). Below these three gods, those
who practiced the Aztec religion believed there were four sub-gods and an infinite number of gods
were below these four. Among them were the god of rain and the god of growth.
Aztec Sacrifices

Aztec sacrifices were an important aspect of the Aztec religion. At the root of these Aztec rituals
was the belief that the gods needed to be nourished by human beings. This was accomplished
through human blood. A part of the Aztec religion, therefore, was to participate in bloodletting,
which is intentionally harming and drawing blood from the body. Those who were higher in status
within the Aztec religion were expected to give the most blood during these Aztec rituals.
The Aztec gods and goddesses also required the living hearts of humans for nourishment. All
hearts were good, but the bravest captives were considered to be particularly nourishing to the Aztec
gods. As a result, widespread warring took place as the Aztec people sought to bring captives back
to the Aztec temples for sacrifice.
Sometimes, those practicing the Aztec religion sacrificed just one person. At other times, hundreds
or even thousands of captives were sacrificed at a time. Each Aztec sacrifice, however, took place
the same way. The captive or captives were taken to a pyramid or HYPERLINK "http://www.aztecindians.com/aztec-temples.html" temple and placed on an altar. The Aztec priest then made an
incision in the ribcage of the captive and removed the living heart. The heart was then burned and
the corpse was pushed down the steps of the Aztec pyramid or temple. If the captive was
particularly noble or brave, however, he was carried down instead.
In the case of an Aztec human sacrifice being performed for the god Huehueteotl, the ritual was
slightly changed. Huehueteotl was the Aztec god of warmth, death, and cold. He was responsible
for light in the darkness and for food during times of famine. As a part of the Aztec religion, special
sacrifices were held for Huehueteotl. The victim was first thrown into a fire, and then pulled back
out with hooks before being dying. The living heart was then removed and thrown back to the fire.
Aztec human sacrifices and bloodletting were important aspects of the Aztec religion, as they
believed it brought balance and peace to the world around them.
The After Life
HYPERLINK "http://www.aztec-indians.com/aztec-warriors.html" Warriors were highly regarded
in the Aztec culture. They were responsible for going out and finding and capturing the majority of
the sacrifices used to appease their gods. As a result, a special god was included in the Aztec
religion to honor the warriors. This god, Camaxtli, was the god of war, hunting, fire, and fate. He
was thought to have invented fire and to have made the Earth. The Aztecs believed that Camaxtli
lead both warriors slain in battle and human sacrifices to the eastern sky. According to the Aztecs
religion after they died they became stars in the sky.
Daily Life
The Aztec daily life was quite simple. In fact, Aztec family life was very similar to many modern
day cultures. For example, the husband was primarily responsible for supporting the family and the
wifes role was to provide the family with clothing and food. As such, the Aztec daily life for many
of the men was to farm or engage in craftwork. The female Aztec life, on the other hand, mainly
consisted of weaving and cooking.
Most Aztec households included the husband and wife and their unmarried children. In addition,
many of the husbands relatives lived with in the home. The Aztec daily life was filled with work.
Every member of the household, including children, helped in the household. Many also created
goods that could be used by the empire in trade for goods that were highly valued in the
HYPERLINK "http://www.aztec-indians.com/aztec-culture.html" Aztec culture, such as Jaguar
skins.
Education was important to the Aztec people. Fathers were responsible for educating the boys in
the family until they reached the age of 10. After this age, the boys were educated in a school
connected with a HYPERLINK "http://www.aztec-indians.com/aztec-temples.html" temple. These
schools taught HYPERLINK "http://www.aztec-indians.com/aztec-religion.html" religion and
provided HYPERLINK "http://www.aztec-indians.com/aztec-warriors.html" military training. Girls

sometimes attended these schools, as well. Otherwise, they stayed at home and learned household
skills important to daily life from their mothers.