October 12, 2012

Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism - and answer these questions about each one.

• When and where was this religion founded?
• Is it monotheistic or polytheistic?
• If they have a holy book, what is it?
• How many followers does this religion claim?
• Who is the central figure of this religion?
• What is the geographical concentration of this religion?

Christianity approximately began around 30 AD in Palestine (http://library.thinkquest.org/28505/christianity/print.html). The belief of Christianity is that there is one overall God, therefor it is monotheistic. The Christians worship one God and one God only so He is their central figure of their religion along with His son, Jesus Christ. There are over two billion Christians all around the world all and they all study the books of the Bible containing sacred writings of events in their faith (http://www.pewforum.org/christian/global-christianity-exec.aspx). Christianity is mainly practiced geographically in North and South America.

The founder of the Islamic religion was the Prophet Muhammad in 622 in Saudi Arabia (http://www.religioustolerance.org/isl_intr.htm) The Islamic worshipers are know as Muslims and they are monotheistic  They believe in one God and they call him Allah (http://www.nicheoftruth.org/pages/who_do_muslim_worship.htm). He is the central figure of their religion and they follow only him. The Muslims believe in the Quran, which is a sacred book authored by Allah that was made known to Muhammad (wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn). The Islamic religion takes approximately 23% of the world's population with over 1.6 billion believers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_world). The Islamic religion is mainly practiced North of Africa.

Buddhism was founded in Northern India around the fourth or fifth century (http://answerplease.infoplease.com/node/33571). Buddhists are neither monotheistic nor polytheistic because they do not believe in a God or gods. Some of the Buddhists can believe in a God, gods, or no God and still be a Buddhist follower. Buddhism is most popular in the center of Asia.
Hinduism was founded in 1500 BC in India (http://www.religionfacts.com/hinduism/fastfacts.htm).Hinduism is polytheistic meaning they have many gods (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_gods_are_there_in_Hinduism). Hinduism has four vedas which are the holy books they study, the Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/). There are 900 million Hindus in the world and they all worship twenty-eight main gods (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_Gods_do_Hindus_have). Hinduism is mainly practice South of Asia.
Abraham founded Judiasm in Isreal around 2000 BC (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/When_was_Judaism_founded). Judiasm is a monothestic religion because Jews only believe in one God (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_Judaism_monotheistic_or_polytheistic). Jews have a holy book called Torah and there are approximately 13.4 million Jews in the world (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Does_judaism_have_any_holy_books). Jews only follow one God but they have several names for Him such as Adonay or Elohim (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_do_Jews_call_their_God). Judiasm is practiced mostly in Israel.