THE FIVE MAJOR WORLD RELIGIONS

1. Choose the right option.

– Which of the following could be called the 'founder' of Hinduism?

a. Krishna b. Buddha c. Moses d. Muhammad
– Which of the following pairs of founders is considered by 'their' religion to be God in
human form?
a. Moses and David b. Muhammad and Buddha c. Krishna and Jesus d. Jesus and Paul
– Which of the following is the Holiest Book of Islam?
a. The Talmud b. The Hindu c. The Gospel d. The Qur'an
– Who are the trinity of gods in Hinduism?
a. Brahma, Shiva and Moses b. Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu c. Shiva,
Muhammad and God d. Father, Son & Holy Spirit
– The bar or batmitzvah is a coming-of-age ceremony in ….?
a. Judaism b. Islam c. Buddhism d. Hinduism
– The Five Pillars (fasting, declaration of belief, pilgrimage, alms and daily prayer)
are the principal religious duties in …?
a. Christianity b. Hinduism c. Buddhism d. Islam

2. Now watch a video on the link below and find out if your answers were right.
http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-five-major-world-religions-john-bellaimey

3. Read the transcript and look up unfamiliar words and expressions here.

In all times and places in our history human beings have wondered: where do we come from? What's our
place in the world?what happens to us after we die? Religions are systems of belief that have developed and
evolved over time in response to these and other eternal mysteries. Driven by the feeling that some questions
can only be answered by faith and based on an intuition that there is something greater than ourselves, a
higher power we must answer to, or some source we all spring from and to which we must return.
HINDUISM means the religions of India, it's not a single religion but rather a variety of related beliefs and
spiritual practices. It dates back 5 millenia to the time of Krishna, a man of such virtue that he became known
as an avatar of Vishnu, an incarnation of the God in human form. He taught that all life follows karma, the law
of cause and effect and our job is to do our duty, our dharma. According to our place in society without
worrying how things turn out. When we die we are reincarnated into a new body. If we followed our dharma
and did our proper duty in our past life, we get good karma which sends our soul upwards in the social scale.
Our rebirth into the next life is thus determined by what we do in this one. The wheel of rebirths is known as
Samsara. It's possible for a very holy person to lead a life with enough good karma to escape the wheel. This
escape is called Moksha.
Hinduism teaches that everything is one. The whole universe is one transcendant reality called Brahma. There
is just one Brahma but many gods within it and their roles, aspects and forms differ according to various
traditions. Brahma is the creator, Vishnu is the preserver who sometimes takes on human form and Shiva is
the transformer, or lord of the dance. Durga is the fiercely protective divine mother, Ganesha has an elephant
head and is the wise patron of success.
Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world and although most Hindues live in India they can be found on
every continent, one billion strong.

Now, let's travel west across deserts and mountains to the fertile crescent about 4000 years ago.
JUDAISM began with god calling Abraham and Sarah to leave Mesopotamia and migrate to the land of
Canaan. In return for their faith in the one true God, a revolutionary concept in the polytheistic world of that
time, they would have land and many descendants. From this promise came a land of Israel and the chosen
people but staying in that land and keeping those people together was going to be very difficult. The Israelites
were enslaved in Egypt but God freed them with the help of the prophet Moses who received the 10
commandments and later hundreds more. They conquered the promised land but could only keep it for a few
hundred years.
Israel sits at a crossroads through which many armies marched over the centuries and in the year 70 the
Romans destroyed the temple in their capital, Jerusalem. So the religion transformed itself from a temple
religion with sacrifices and priests to a religion of the book. Because of this, Judaism is a faith of symbolism,
reverence and deep meanings tied to the literature of its history. The many sacred scriptures make up the
Hebrew bible or Tanakh, and hundreds of written discussions and interpretations are contained in an
expansive compendium of deeper meanings called the Talmud
Jews find rich symbolic meaning in daily life, at the Passover meal every item on the menu symbolises an
aspect of the escape from slavery. The importance of growing up is emphasised when young people reach the
age of Bar and Bat mitzvah. Ceremonies during which they assume responsibility for their actions and
celebrate the weaving of their own lives into the faith, history and tasks of the Jewish people.
There are 14 million Jews in the world today, 6 million in Israel which became independent following the
horrors of genocide in World War 2 and 5 million in the US.
But now let's go back 2500 years and return to India where BUDDHISM began with the young prince named
Siddhartha. On the night he was conceived, his mother, the queen Maya, is said to have been visited in her
sleep by a white elephant who entered her side. Ten months later prince Siddhartha was born into a life of
luxury. Venturing forth from his sheltered existence as a young man he witnessed the human suffering that
had been hidden from him and immediately set out to investigate its sources. Why must people endure
suffering? Must we reincarnate through hundreds of lives? At first he thought the problem was attachment to
material things so he gave up his possessions. He became a wondering beggar which he discovered certainly
made him no happier. Then he overheard a music teacher telling a student 'Don't tighten the string too much
or it'll break but don't leave it too slack or it will not sound!'. In a flash he realized that looking for answers at
the extremes was a mistake. The middle way between luxury and poverty seemed wisest. And while
meditating under a Bodhi tree, the rest of the answer came to him : all of life abunds in suffering, it's caused by
selfish craving for one's own fulfillment at the expense of others. Following an eight step plan can teach us to
reduce that craving and thus reduce the suffering. On that day Siddhartha became the Buddha, the enlightend
one. Not the only one but the first one.
The Buddhist plan is called the eight fold path and though it is not easy to follow it has pointed the way for
millions to enlighten it which is what Buddhahood means. A state of compassion, insight, peace and
steadfastness. From the time he got up from under that tree to the moment of his death as an old man, the
Buddha taught people how to become enlightened, right speech, right goals, a mind focused on what is real
and a heart focused on loving others.
Many Buddhists believe in God or gods but actions are more important than beliefs. There are nearly a billion
buddhists in the world today, mostly in east, south-east and south Asia.
2000 years ago in Judhaism's promised land, CHRISTIANITY was born. Just as Hindues call Krishna God in
human form, Christians say the same thing about Jesus. And Christianity grew out of Judhaism just as
Buddhism grew out of Hinduism.
The angel Gabriel was sent by the God of Abraham to ask a young woman named Mary to become the mother
of his son. The son was Jesus, raised as a carpenter by Mary and her husband Joseph until he turned 30
when he began his public career as the living word of God. Less interested in religiousness than justice and
mercy, Jesus healed the sick in order to draw crowds and then taught them about his heavenly father.
Affectionate, forgiving and attentive. Then he would invite everyone to a common table to illustrate his
kingdom of God. Outcasts, sinners and saints all eating together. He had only 3 years before his
unconventional wisdom got him into trouble. His enemies had him arrested and he was executed by Rome in
the standard means by which rabble-rousers where put to death: cruxifiction. But shortly after he was buried,
women found his tomb empty and quickly spread word convinced that he had been raised from the dead. The
first Christians described his resurrected appearances inspiring confidence that his message was true. The
message: love one another as I have loved you.
Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus in December at Christmas and his suffering, death and resurrection
during Holy Week in the Spring. In the ceremony of baptism or washing away of sin and welcoming in into the
Christian community, Jesus recalls his own baptism when he left his life as a carpenter. In the rite of
communion, Christians eat the bread and drink the wine blessed as the body and blood of Jesus recalling
Jesus' last supper.
There are 2 billion Christians world wide representing almost a third of the world's people.

ISLAM began 1400 years ago with a man of great virtue, meditating in a mountain cave in the Arabian desert.
The man was Muhammad. He was visited by a divine messenger, again the angel Gabriel, in Arabic Jibrayil,
delivering to him the words of Allah: the one God of Abraham. In the next few years, more and more
messages came and he memorized and taught them. The verses he recited were full of wise sayings, beautiful
rhymes and misterious metaphors. But Muhammad was a merchant not a poet. Many agreed that the verses
were indeed the words of God and these believers became the first Muslims. The word muslim means one
who surrenders, meaning a person who submits to the word of God.
A Muslim's five most important duties are called 'the five pillars'. Shahada, Muslim's declare publicly there is
no other God but Allah and Muhammad is his final prophet. Salat, they pray five times a day facing Mecca.
Zakat, every Muslim is required to give two or three percent of their net worth to the poor. Sawm, they fast
during daylight hours for the lunar month of Ramadan to strengthen their willpower and their reliance on God.
And Hajj, once in a lifetime every Muslim who is able must make a pilgrimage to the city of Mecca rehearsing
for the time when they will stand before God to be judged worthy or unworthy of eternal life with him.
The words of God revealed to the prophet over 23 years are collected in the Qur'an which literally translates
into the recitation. Muslims believe it to be the only holy book free of human corruption, it is also considered by
many to be the finest work of literature in the Arabic language.
Islam is the world's second largest religion practiced by over 1.5 billion Muslims around the globe.
Religion has been an aspect of culture for as long as it has existed and there are countless variations of its
practice but common to all religions is an appeal for meaning beyond the empty vanities and low realities of
existence, beyond sin, suffering and death, beyond fear and beyond ourselves.