SELF-TEST QUESTIONS
1. What features are inherent in religious consciousness?
Religious consciousness has the following features:
The belief that the source of the main guidelines and values of humanity is God - the highest power in the world;
Moral requirements and norms are perceived in the religious consciousness as a derivative of the will of God, expressed in his covenants, commandments and holy books (the Bible, the Koran, etc., based on certain contacts with a supernatural source;
The combination of content adequate to reality with illusions;
Symbolism;
Allegorical;
Dialogue;
Strong emotional intensity, functioning with the help of religious vocabulary (and other signs).
2. What religions and why are they considered world religions?
World religions include Christianity, Islam, Buddhism. The listed world religions are so called because their followers are represented by a variety of national and ethnic groups. Their belonging to a given religion is not determined by consanguinity and relationships. These religions place their values above the ethno-national identity of their followers.
3. What characterizes religion as a social institution?
Religion is a complex social phenomenon with a variety of forms, cults, functions, and methods of influencing social life. Most religions of the modern world have a special organization - the church with a clear distribution of responsibilities at each level of its hierarchy (structure). For example, in Catholicism and Orthodoxy these are the laity, white clergy, black clergy (monks), episcopate, metropolitanates, patriarchies, etc.
4. What characterizes the current stage of state-church relations in our country?
According to the Constitution adopted in 1993, the Russian Federation is a secular state; no religion is established as state or compulsory. Religious associations are separated from the state and are equal before the law. Citizens are equal in their rights and freedoms, regardless of their attitude to religion. Any form of restriction of rights on this basis is prohibited. Every citizen is guaranteed freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, including the right to profess, individually or together with others, any religion or not to profess any, to freely choose, have and disseminate religious and other beliefs and to act in accordance with them. Agitation and propaganda of religious hatred and enmity, as well as religious superiority, are prohibited.
In Russia in recent decades there has been an increase in the number of religious associations and organizations. Along with numerous religious associations and organizations of traditional Russian faiths, many new cults and religious movements, non-traditional for our country and its peoples, were registered.
5. What, in your opinion, is responsible for the sharp rise in interest in religion in Russian society in recent decades?
A sharp rise in interest in religion is a very characteristic feature of the spiritual life of Russia in the last decade. It should be noted that in many countries of the world, the approaching end of the century and millennium is associated with apocalyptic prophecies of the “end of the world,” and primarily due to deepening problems of an ecological, demographic and other planetary nature, threatening catastrophe and the death of all life on Earth. In Russia, universal anxieties about impending disasters were combined with specific negative phenomena of a protracted social crisis, which seemed to have been predicted by religion. Therefore, they were very, very drawn to her, trying to find hope and salvation in this.
6. What helps maintain interfaith peace?
The state and society actively support various forms of social service of religious associations. Funds are allocated from the state budget for the restoration, maintenance and protection of churches and other objects that are historical and cultural monuments. Anyone who visits a place memorable for Russians - the monument on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow, is struck by the fact that religious buildings of Orthodox, Jews and Muslims are located here not far from each other. This is a place of worship for those who died for their Motherland, who were not separated by belonging to different religions.
A system of government bodies is taking shape, and there is a staff of employees who communicate with religious associations. Religious leaders are invited to serve on various advisory councils of federal and regional authorities.
TASKS
3. One of the manifestations of interfaith contradictions in the past of mankind was religious wars. From your history course you know what tragic consequences they led to. What measures can prevent the risk of armed clashes based on sectarian hostility? Name the facts that, from your point of view, characterize the development of dialogue between various religious organizations in Russia.
First of all, state policy should be aimed at tolerance in society and this should be provided for at the legislative level.
The word "religion" comes from the Latin term religio, which means piety, holiness, piety and superstition. The concept itself is one of those conditioned by the belief that supernatural phenomena exist in the world. Such a judgment is the main feature and element of any religion represented by believers.
The emergence of religions
Today it includes Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. Their main and characteristic features are the places of their distribution, which do not depend on the places of occurrence. When the ancient inhabitants of the planet created their own, they primarily cared about the presence of ethnic needs and hoped for a certain “countryman” help from their gods.
The emergence of world religions dates back to ancient times. Then there were also such beliefs that answered the dreams and hopes of not only the people from where the prophet came who proclaimed the divine will. For such creeds, all national boundaries turned out to be narrow. Therefore, they began to control the minds of millions of people who inhabited various countries and continents. This is how such movements as Christianity, Islam and Buddhism arose. The table of world religions will show their types in more detail.
How did Buddhism appear and what is this type of religion?
Buddhism appeared in Ancient India in the sixth century. The man who founded it is Siddhartha Gautama, popularly known as Buddha. Subsequently, he began to be considered a certain deity, that is, a certain being who had reached a state of highest perfection, or enlightenment.
The world religions are Buddhism and its various directions. It was based on the so-called doctrine of the Four Noble Truths, consisting of the following sections:
About suffering;
On the origin and causes of suffering;
About the complete cessation of suffering and the disappearance of its sources.
According to spiritual practice, after passing along such paths, a true cessation of torment occurs, and a person finds his highest point in nirvana. Buddhism is most widespread in Tibet, Thailand, Korea, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, China, Mongolia, Vietnam and Japan. In Russia, this direction was relevant in the Caucasus and Sakhalin. In addition, today it is the main religion of Buryatia and the Kalmyk steppe.
Everyone knows that Buddhism is one of the world religions. It is usually divided into the Great Vehicle and the Teaching of the Elders (Mahayana and Theravada). The first type includes Tibetan and Chinese directions, as well as several separate schools. His followers divide this religion into the Great and Lesser Vehicles. The second type, Theravada, is the only surviving Nikaya school. The concept of “metta bhavana” is used very actively here.
Tibetan Buddhism is characterized by Vajrayana, which is also called the Diamond Chariot, or Tantric religion. In some cases it is considered a separate and sometimes one of the Mahayana schools. This branch is quite common in countries such as Nepal, Tibet, and is also found in Japan and Russia.
The emergence of the first literature of Buddhism
While the Buddhist religion flourished, literature and writing appeared. It is truly one of the world's religions as it has millions of followers. Back in the fourth century BC, the famous Panini created a grammar of the Sanskrit language, the rules and vocabulary of which later significantly helped to establish communication and mutual understanding of a wide variety of nationalities and numerous tribes. It was during this period that such famous poems as the Mahabharata and the Ramayana were written down in Sanskrit, as well as treatises on various branches of knowledge.
World religions - Buddhism, Christianity, Islam - carry certain information in their directions. They permeate various collections of fairy tales, myths and fables. During the same period, the main rules of versification were developed. The worldview in Buddhism is characterized by a craving for parables, metaphors and comparisons. The religious and philosophical works of literature are very remarkable and unique. Most of all, of course, they are associated with the description of the life of the Buddha, as well as with his sermons.
Influence of Buddhism on temple design
In Japan, for example, with the advent of Buddhism, not only new architectural forms developed, but also construction techniques. This was manifested in a special type of layout of temple complexes. Stone foundations became a very important technical innovation. In ancient Shinto designs, the weight of the building was carried by piles dug deep into the ground. This significantly limited the size of the structures. In temples, the rectangular interior area was surrounded by a corridor, which was covered with a roof. The gate was also located here.
The entire monastic territory was surrounded by outer walls made of earth with gates on each side. They were named according to the direction they pointed. In addition, a rather important point is that many ancient monuments were built from wood.
Indeed, the process of constructing religious premises has always been and will be very relevant. Even from the very beginning of its development, when the foundations of world religions were just emerging, humanity designated such places. Today, when the main religions have already taken root, numerous temples, monasteries, churches and other sacred places continue to be of great importance and play a huge role in the life of every person.
When and where did Christianity appear?
Such a currently known religion as Christianity appeared in the first century AD in Judea (the eastern province of the Roman Empire). In addition, this direction also belongs to world religions. It is based on the doctrine of the God-man Jesus Christ (Son of God), who, according to legend, came into the world to people with good deeds and preached to them the laws of correct life. It was he who accepted great suffering and painful death on the cross to atone for their sins.
The word "Christianity" comes from the Greek term "Chriotos", which means anointed one, or messiah. Today it is considered a monotheistic religion, which, together with Islam and Judaism, is part of the Abrahamic faiths, and together with Islam and Buddhism is part of the three world religions.
Previously, many believed that there were 4 world religions. In modern times, Christianity is one of the most widespread beliefs in the world. Today it is professed by more than a quarter of humanity. This religion ranks first throughout the world in terms of its geographical distribution, that is, in almost every country there is at least one Christian society. The roots of Christian teaching are closely connected with Judaism and the Old Testament.
Legend of Jesus
The Gospels and church traditions say that Jesus, or Joshua, was originally raised as a Jew. He observed the laws of the Torah, attended synagogue classes on Saturdays, and also celebrated holidays. As for the apostles and other early followers of Christ, they were Jews. However, several years after the church was founded, Christianity as a religion began to be preached in other nations.
As you know, there are now three world religions. From the very beginning, Christianity spread among Jews in Palestine and in the Mediterranean diaspora, however, starting from the first years, because of the preaching of the Apostle Paul, even more followers from other nations joined it.
Spread and division of Christianity
Until the fifth century, the spread of this religion was carried out on the territory of the Roman Empire, as well as in the region of its origin. Then - among the Germanic and Slavic peoples, as well as in the Baltic and Finnish regions. This is the specificity of world religions. Christianity has now spread beyond Europe due to colonial expansion and the work of missionaries. The main branches of this religion are Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Protestantism.
Christianity first became divided in the eleventh century. At that time, the two largest churches appeared. This is the western one, with its center in Rome, and the eastern one, whose center was in Constantinople, in Byzantium. As the table of world religions shows, Christianity also has its own directions.
Catholic Church
The first church began to be called Catholic (translated from Greek - universal, or universal). This name reflected the desire of the Western church to spread worldwide. The Pope was the head of the Western Catholic Church. This branch of Christianity preaches the doctrine of the “supernatural merits” of various saints before God. Such acts represent a kind of treasury, which the church can dispose of as it pleases, that is, at its own discretion.
The world's major religions have their adherents in many countries. Catholic followers in Europe, as a rule, are present in countries such as Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, France, Belgium, Austria, Luxembourg, Malta, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Poland. In addition, approximately half of the people in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands are Catholic, as well as the population of the Balkan Peninsula and parts of Western Ukraine and Belarus.
As for Asian states, the Catholic countries here are the Philippines, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, India, and Indonesia. In Africa there are Catholics in Gabon, Angola, Congo, Mauritius, Seychelles and other countries. In addition, Catholicism is very widespread in America and Canada.
Orthodoxy is the main direction of Christianity
World religions - Buddhism, Christianity, Islam - are known to all people. What can be said about Orthodoxy? It is another major branch of Christianity. As a rule, it is widespread in Eastern European countries. If we compare it with Catholicism, then Orthodoxy does not have a single religious center. Each more or less large Orthodox community exists separately, while forming an autocephaly, and it is absolutely not subordinate to any other centers.
Today there are fifteen autocephalies. According to church traditions, which take into account the time of their receipt, the official list of such churches is as follows: Constantinople, Serbian, Alexandrian, Antiochian, Russian, Jerusalem, Georgian, Romanian, Eliadian, Bulgarian, Cypriot, Albanian, American, Czechoslovakian and Polish. However, Orthodoxy has strengthened most of all in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, as well as in some Eastern European countries.
Protestantism - the third movement of Christianity
It's no secret that the world religions are Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. Protestantism is considered the third largest movement of Christianity. It represents a certain type of Christianity and is widespread in Western Europe, America, and also in Russia. Protestants include Old Catholics, Mennonites, Quakers, Mormons, Moravians, the so-called “Christian Commonwealth” and so on.
If we talk about the history of its origin, we can say that Protestantism appeared in the seventeenth century in Germany. This direction received this name because it represented a kind of protest of the believing states of Western Europe, aimed at the administrative forces of the Vatican and the popes.
The world's major religions have spread throughout the world. The first founder of such a movement as Protestantism was the German figure Martin Luther. This religion, when compared with Catholicism and Orthodoxy, represents many movements and churches, the most influential of which are Lutheranism, Anglicanism and Calvinism.
Today, Protestantism is very widespread in various Scandinavian countries, America, Germany, Great Britain, Canada and Switzerland. Its global center is the USA. Moreover, modern Protestantism is characterized by a desire for integration, and it found its expression back in 1948 in the World Council of Churches.
Third World Religion: Islam
The foundations of world religions say that Islam is one of them. This is the third and most recent world religion. It appeared on the territory of the Arabian Peninsula at the beginning of the seventh century. The word “Islam” comes from an Arabic term that means submission to God, that is, Allah, or his will. In general, Islam is Its followers believe that the very first person and messenger is the Prophet Adam. In addition, they are convinced that Islam is the first religion of mankind, and they worship One Single God. Absolutely all the prophets spread this religion and taught how to properly serve Allah.
However, over time, the faith was changed by people and lost its authenticity. That is why Allah sent the last prophet Muhammad, through whom religion was transmitted to all people as the true and perfect direction and faith of all Prophets. Muhammad is the last prophet to spread Islam. Here, like other world religions, there is no unity. This confirms the existence of two main directions - Sunni and Shiite. Sunnis predominate quantitatively, while the latter live mainly in Iran and Iraq.
Two schools of Islam
The culture of world religions is quite diverse. Sunnism is the first branch of Islam. It appeared in the tenth century in the Arab Caliphate and represented the dominant religious movement. His split was caused by the power in the caliphate. If we compare it with the Shiite movement, then the idea of the nature of Ali and the idea of mediation between the people and Allah were denied.
As you know, Islam is one of the world religions. Shiism is its main direction. It appeared in the seventh century as a group that advocated the protection of the descendants of Ali and his rights from Fatima. When Shiism lost the struggle for supreme power, it became a special movement in Islam.
Thus, there are now three world religions. When people talk about them (Christianity, Buddhism and Islam), they mean a rather complex collective concept, which includes some mythology, religious events, religious institutions, forms of relations between believers and religious organizations, and much more.
Moreover, for each direction of religion, such moments are characterized by their own specific semantic content, their own history of origin and further existence. And a specific study of all these semantic features in the development of many religions, as well as their historical types, is a special science called religious studies.
Every nation has its own religion, and mostly more than one. Now there are more than 20 thousand different religions, but there are religions whose adherents are found all over the earth. Such religions are called world religions, there are three of them.
What is a world religion?
Religions that have disciples among all the peoples of the world on any land, country and continent are called world religions.There are now three religions that are called world. We will talk about them in more detail below.
World religions
1. The most ancient world religion today is Buddhism. This religion arose in the sixth century BC. The founding country is India. The teachings of Buddhism teach that life is suffering. The cause of suffering is human passions and desires. That is why, in order to become happy and not suffer, you need to give up all earthly desires and passions. This religion prescribes that every believer needs to find his own path and become internally independent. In Buddhism there is no idea of God as a creator.2. The religion of Christianity originated in Palestine in the Roman Empire in the first century BC. The basis of this religious teaching is the hope of salvation from the Almighty - God. Such a savior is Jesus Christ, who was publicly crucified.
Ideas of the Christian religion:
The belief that the Holy Trinity with three persons: “father, son and holy spirit” is one and it is God who created the earth and everything living and non-living in it.
- The belief that the sacrifice made by the holy Jesus Christ is redemptive.
- Belief in the mercy and grace of God, which gives us liberation from our sins.
3. Islam originated in the seventh century BC in the Arabian Peninsula. The religion of Islam is the youngest of all world religions.
Religion is a specific form of reflection of reality. It still remains a significant force in the world. The religious worldview in the form of the three world religions is widespread in different countries of the world.
World religions include Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. Let's consider each of them separately.
Buddhism
Buddhism is the most ancient world religion. This religion originated in the 1st century. BC. in India. Currently, it is common in Burma, Vietnam, China, Japan and Korea.
Tradition connects the emergence of Buddhism with the name of Prince Siddhartha (Gautama), who was called Buddha, which means “enlightened by knowledge.” Gautama lived in luxury, married his beloved woman, who bore him a son. The impetus for the spiritual upheaval for the prince, as legend says, was three meetings. Gautama caught the eye of a decrepit old man, then a cruelly suffering patient, and finally he watched as they carried out the burial of the dead man. This is how Gautama first learned about old age, illness and death - the lot of all people. The prince secretly left the palace and family. At the age of twenty-nine he became a hermit and died as an eight-year-old man on the day of his birth.
The main content of Buddhist doctrine can be reduced to the following basic ideas.
1. Identification of life with suffering. Life is suffering, the cause of which is the desires and passions of people. To get rid of suffering, you need to renounce earthly passions and desires. This can be achieved by following the path of salvation indicated by the Buddha.
2. After death, any living creature, including a person, is reborn again, but in the body of a new creature, whose life is determined not only by its own behavior, but also by the behavior of its “predecessors”.
H. The desire for nirvana, i.e. to a higher being, which is achieved by renouncing earthly attachments.
Unlike Christianity and Islam, Buddhism does not have the idea of God as the creator of the world and its ruler.
The body of sacred books of the Buddhist religion is called Tipitaka, which means “Three Baskets”. A written statement of Buddhist teachings was compiled by the monks of the island of Ceylon in 80 BC.
Christianity
Christianity arose in the 10th century. BC. in the eastern part of the Roman Empire - in Palestine. The Christian religion is a religion addressed to all peoples. It is based on the ideas of messianism, associated with hopes for a divine deliverer, and eschatology, i.e. belief in a supernatural end to the existing world. The name Christ is a translation into Greek of the Jewish religious term “messiah” - “anointed one, savior of people.”
Christianity absorbed the ideas and ideas of a number of other religions, primarily Judaism, from which it borrowed several basic ideas (which underwent a certain transformation).
1. The idea of monotheism, i.e. recognition of one God who created the world and rules it. In Christianity, this idea is weakened by the doctrine of the Divine Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit).
2. The idea of messianism, the idea of a Divine messenger called to save people. Christianity develops the doctrine of the salvation of all people (and not just the Jewish people) through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
H. The idea of eschatology is the idea of the death of the existing world as a result of Divine intervention. In Christianity, this idea is associated with the belief in the second coming of Christ, which is borrowed from the ideological views of the Qumran community - a Jewish religious sect. Members of this sect believed that the Messiah was by nature a man whose first coming had already taken place and whose second was awaiting. The purpose of the first coming is to bring true religion to people and to atone for their sins. The Second Coming means the end of the world, the end of life on Earth, the resurrection of the dead and the Last Judgment.
The main tenets of Christian doctrine:
1. Dogma of the Trinity. One God exists in three persons. All persons exist eternally, but the Holy Spirit comes from God the Father (or, as Catholics believe, from the Father and the Son). One God in three persons is an image incomprehensible to the human mind.
2. The basis of Christianity is faith in the Savior - Jesus Christ. The second person of the Trinity, God the Son, is Jesus Christ. He has two natures at the same time (Divine and human).
H. The third dogma is related to the belief in an afterlife.
4. Recognition of the existence of supernatural beings, for example angels - disembodied good spirits, evil spirits, demons, and their ruler - Satan.
The holy book of Christians is the Bible. The origin of this word is often associated with the name of the city of Byblos, where papyrus was sold and where, perhaps, alphabetic writing was first used. The material for writing was called “biblion” in Greek - a book. Literally translated from Greek, “Bible” means “books.”
The Bible consists of two parts: the Old Testament (39 books) and the New Testament (27 books). The first books of the Bible were called Torah (Law) by the Jews; these books are also called the Pentateuch of Moses (it includes the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy).
The Old Testament is the oldest part of the Bible, the sacred books of Judaism. The New Testament, actually Christian works, includes the four Gospels (the story of the life of Jesus Christ, the Gospel of the Savior), the acts of the Holy Apostles, the Epistles and the Revelation of John the Theologian, or the Apocalypse. The Apocalypse dates back to 68 AD.
Already in the 4th century, Emperor Constantine declared Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire. Nowadays Christianity is not a single religious movement. It splits into many currents. In 1054 Christianity was divided into the Western, or Roman Catholic (the word “Catholic” means “universal”) Church, and the Eastern, Orthodox Church. In the XVI century. The Reformation began in Europe - an anti-Catholic movement. As a result, the third main direction of Christianity appeared - Protestantism.
Both Orthodoxy and Catholicism recognize seven Christian sacraments: baptism, worldview, repentance, communion, marriage, priesthood and consecration of oil. The source of the doctrine of Western and Eastern Christians is the Bible. The differences are mainly as follows: in Orthodoxy there is no single head of the church, there are no ideas about purgatory; Western and Eastern Christians do not accept the doctrine of the Trinity in the same way.
Catholics view purgatory as a place of temporary afterlife for souls who then go to hell before going to heaven. The head of the Catholic Church is the Pope (from the Greek “papas” - “ancestor, elder, paternal grandfather”). Pape is elected for life. The center of the Roman Catholic Church is the Vatican, a state that occupies several city blocks in Rome.
There are three main movements in Protestantism: Anglicanism, Calvinism and Lutheranism. Protestants consider the condition for the salvation of a Christian not the formal observance of rituals, but his personal atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. During the Reformation, Protestants proclaimed the principle of universal priesthood, which means that every layman can preach. Protestants are characterized by asceticism in rituals, for example, the number of sacraments is reduced to two.
Faith in God surrounds a person from infancy. In childhood, this still unconscious choice is associated with family traditions that exist in every home. But later a person can consciously change his religion. How are they similar and how are they different from each other?
The concept of religion and the prerequisites for its appearance
The word “religion” comes from the Latin religio (piety, sacredness). This is an attitude, behavior, actions based on faith in something that surpasses human understanding and is supernatural, that is, sacred. The beginning and meaning of any religion is faith in God, regardless of whether he is personified or impersonal.
There are several known preconditions for the emergence of religion. Firstly, from time immemorial man has been trying to go beyond the boundaries of this world. He strives to find salvation and consolation beyond his borders and sincerely needs faith.
Secondly, a person wants to give an objective assessment of the world. And then, when he cannot explain the origin of earthly life only by natural laws, he makes the assumption that a supernatural force is attached to all this.
Thirdly, a person believes that various events and incidents of a religious nature confirm the existence of God. The list of religions for believers already serves as real proof of the existence of God. They explain this very simply. If God did not exist, there would be no religion.
The most ancient types, forms of religion
The origin of religion occurred 40 thousand years ago. It was then that the emergence of the simplest forms of religious beliefs was noted. It was possible to learn about them thanks to the discovered burials, as well as rock and cave paintings.
In accordance with this, the following types of ancient religions are distinguished:
- Totemism. A totem is a plant, animal or object that was considered sacred by one or another group of people, tribe, clan. The basis of this ancient religion was the belief in the supernatural power of the amulet (totem).
- Magic. This is a form of religion based on belief in human magical abilities. With the help of symbolic actions, a magician is able to influence the behavior of other people, natural phenomena and objects from a positive and negative side.
- Fetishism. From among any objects (an animal or human skull, a stone or a piece of wood, for example), one was selected to which supernatural properties were attributed. It was supposed to bring good luck and protect from danger.
- Animism. All natural phenomena, objects and people have a soul. She is immortal and continues to live outside the body even after its death. All modern types of religions are based on the belief in the existence of souls and spirits.
- Shamanism. The tribal leader or priest was believed to have supernatural powers. He entered into conversation with the spirits, listened to their advice and fulfilled their demands. Belief in the power of the shaman is at the core of this form of religion.
List of religions
There are more than a hundred different religious movements in the world, including ancient forms and modern movements. They have their own time of occurrence and differ in the number of followers. But at the heart of this large list are the three most numerous world religions: Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. Each of them has different directions.
World religions in the form of a list can be presented as follows:
1. Christianity (almost 1.5 billion people):
- Orthodoxy (Russia, Greece, Georgia, Bulgaria, Serbia);
- Catholicism (Western European countries, Poland, Czech Republic, Lithuania and others);
- Protestantism (USA, UK, Canada, South Africa, Australia).
2. Islam (about 1.3 billion people):
- Sunnism (Africa, Central and South Asia);
- Shiism (Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan).
3. Buddhism (300 million people):
- Hinayana (Myanmar, Laos, Thailand);
- Mahayana (Tibet, Mongolia, Korea, Vietnam).
National religions
In addition, in every corner of the world there are national and traditional religions, also with their own directions. They originated or became particularly widespread in certain countries. On this basis, the following types of religions are distinguished:
- Hinduism (India);
- Confucianism (China);
- Taoism (China);
- Judaism (Israel);
- Sikhism (Punjab state in India);
- Shintoism (Japan);
- paganism (Indian tribes, peoples of the North and Oceania).
Christianity
This religion originated in Palestine in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire in the 1st century AD. Its appearance is associated with faith in the birth of Jesus Christ. At the age of 33, he suffered martyrdom on the cross to atone for human sins, after which he was resurrected and ascended to heaven. Thus, the son of God, who embodied supernatural and human nature, became the founder of Christianity.
The documentary basis of the doctrine is the Bible (or Holy Scripture), consisting of two independent collections of the Old and New Testaments. The writing of the first of them is closely related to Judaism, from which Christianity originates. The New Testament was written after the birth of religion.
Symbols of Christianity are the Orthodox and Catholic cross. The main provisions of faith are defined in dogmas, which are based on faith in God, who created the world and man himself. Objects of worship are God the Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit.
Islam
Islam, or Islam, originated among the Arab tribes of Western Arabia at the beginning of the 7th century in Mecca. The founder of the religion was the Prophet Muhammad. This man was prone to loneliness from childhood and often indulged in pious reflections. According to the teachings of Islam, at the age of 40, the heavenly messenger Jabrail (Archangel Gabriel) appeared to him on Mount Hira, who left an inscription in his heart. Like many other world religions, Islam is based on belief in one God, but in Islam he is called Allah.
Holy Scripture - Koran. The symbols of Islam are the star and crescent. The main provisions of the Muslim faith are contained in dogmas. They must be recognized and unquestioningly implemented by all believers.
The main types of religion are Sunnism and Shiism. Their appearance is associated with political disagreements between believers. Thus, Shiites to this day believe that only the direct descendants of the Prophet Muhammad carry the truth, while Sunnis think that this should be a chosen member of the Muslim community.
Buddhism
Buddhism originated in the 6th century BC. Its homeland is India, after which the teaching spread to the countries of Southeast, South, Central Asia and the Far East. Considering how many other most numerous types of religions exist, we can safely say that Buddhism is the most ancient of them.
The founder of the spiritual tradition is Buddha Gautama. This was an ordinary person, whose parents were awarded the vision that their son would grow up to be a Great Teacher. The Buddha was also lonely and brooding, and very quickly turned to religion.
There is no object of worship in this religion. The goal of all believers is to achieve nirvana, a blissful state of insight, to free themselves from their own shackles. Buddha for them represents a certain ideal that should be equaled.
At the heart of Buddhism is the teaching of the Four Noble Truths: about suffering, about the origin and causes of suffering, about the true cessation of suffering and the elimination of its sources, about the true path to the cessation of suffering. This path consists of several steps and is divided into three stages: wisdom, morality and concentration.
New religious movements
In addition to those religions that originated a long time ago, new faiths still continue to appear in the modern world. They are still based on faith in God.
The following types of modern religions can be noted:
- Scientology;
- neo-shamanism;
- neopaganism;
- Burkhanism;
- neo-Hinduism;
- Raelites;
- oomoto;
- and other currents.
This list is constantly modified and supplemented. Some types of religions are especially popular among show business stars. For example, Tom Cruise, Will Smith, and John Travolta are seriously interested in Scientology.
This religion arose in 1950 thanks to science fiction writer L. R. Hubbard. Scientologists believe that every person is inherently good, his success and peace of mind depend on himself. According to the fundamental principles of this religion, people are immortal beings. Their experience lasts longer than one human life, and their abilities are unlimited.
But everything is not so simple in this religion. In many countries it is believed that Scientology is a sect, a pseudo-religion with a lot of capital. Despite this, the trend is very popular, especially in Hollywood.
