Religions?

Question

Okay, I'm in the process of writing a book on religions of the world. What are the different religions in the world? How do they differ from one another? What are their belief systems? Who (what) do they worship? I would like imput from people of different religions. Why do you worship they way you do? This is not meant to be a who's better then who discussion, I'm just trying to get a good baring on my subjects. Please be completely honest and open. What are the rituals of your religion? When do you meet? What does your holy book say? Do you have a holy book? Any information I should know to truthfully write on your religion.

Just for those who want to be negative, I am doing external research, I'm just trying to get people's impression on their religion. I want to know what people think about what they worhsip, why their religion is the one true religion!

Answer 1

I don't believe in religon i think religon is a form of separation in God the Bible says till they all come together one mind one accord in Christ Jesus. religon also is a form of bondage, Jesus said were my spirit is there is liberty, i believe in Gods rightousness which is knowing there truth , and the truth will set you free,but you have to know the truth hope that helps

Answer 2

This is a good question, I'll give you a star. :-)

Okay, well I am Asatru. Asatru is an Scandinavian term consisting of two parts: ASA (Genitive of Asir) referring to the Germanic Gods and Goddesses (of both the ASIR and the VANIR), and TRU meaning faith. Thus Asatru literally means faith in the Gods.

It's a Reconstructionalist Pagan religion. Which means that we (Asatruars) strive to practice it much like our ancestors did. I worship (more like honor and respect) the Norse Gods & Goddesses, as well as my ancestors and the land spirits. (I'm a Polytheist and a Animist.)

Rituals? The two main styles of ritual celebrations which are done to honor the Gods and Goddesses and to keep ones troth are called the blot and the sumbel. Blot is an Icelandic word meaning blessing, and involves pouring out mead, ale, or other drinks onto the Earth as a sacrifice to the Gods & Goddesses, as well as sharing that blessing with the participants by passing around a drinking horn with that mead or ale, or by sprinkling some of the mead or ale on the participants.The sumbel is a ritualized toasting in which a horn with mead or ale is passed around and each participant makes a toast, a boast, an oath, or says something significant over the drink. It is said that the words spoken at a sumbel echo throughout all the Nine Worlds so words spoken there should be thoughtful and meaningful.

Holy Books? There are written sources which are useful to us because they contain much of our sacred Lore in the form of myths and examples of right conduct, but we do not accept them as infallible or inspired documents. There are two books, the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, which tell the holy stories of the Asatru faith. But no one would ever decide these books were the literal, last word on the Asatru-folk's relations with their Gods. People evolve, after all.

Answer 3

A book on world religions. Why? Do we really need another one? There are millions of books out there already.

Your questions can't be answered here. You have to do the research yourself. Go to the millions of websites on the different religions.

I am a Roman Catholic. I read the Holy Bible. I have the NAB (New American Bible), and NIV for cross referencing and the Douey Reims Bible. I also have an English Qura'n and a Hebrew Bible for my own studies. I attend Mass on Sunday mornings and Holy Days of Obligations. I have received the Holy Sacraments of Baptism, First Reconciliation, First Communion, and Confirmation. I was married for 2 yrs but not in God's eye because we wre married before a judge. I follow what the pope says about the Holy Scripture. I would like to see Latin to come back into the mass. My son is an altar boy every other month.
That's all I can type because in order to answer your other questions, I would be typing for hours.

Good luck I guess. I don't see why we need another book on world religions. What is your point of writing it? For world peace or for world toelrance?

Answer 4

I follow Jainism. I will write in short about Jainism Philosophy.
1 - The only reality is the soul. The Soul (the eternal source of Joy and Happiness) is a small part of what everyone calls GOD (The purest and the holiest form known to anyone)
2 - The Soul, just like God, is eternal. It was neither created and nor can it be destroyed.
3 - Soul and Body are two distinct Identities. On Birth the soul gets connected with the body. On Death it gets disconnected.
4 - Each living being is rewarded or punished according to his deed in the past births.
5 - Achieving and Recognising your soul is the main purpose of Religion.
6 - Every action has either a positive or a negative affect on what you get in the future births.

Everything is moderated with respect to the points given above.

Answer 5

The Bahai Faith originated in Persia in the 19th century. We worship God, we believe there is only one God. We have no rituals. We do have celebrations every 19th day, where the community members gather together to pray and discuss the affairs of the community. The prophet Baha'u'llah wrote many books, the most important ones are the Kitab-i-Iqan and the Kitab-i-Aqdas. His writings were originally in Arabic and Persian. We believe in the concepts of progressive revalation, the harmony of science and religion. We ackknowledge the Prophets of the past. Our fasting period will start on March 2nd and last for 19 days, when we will abstain from eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset, then on March 21st we will end the fast and celebrate NawRuz, the Persian new year.

If you would like to know more about the Bahai Faith, you can look at the following websites:
To find Bahais in your area:
http://www.bahai.org/

To read Bahai scriptures and research on related topics:
http://bahai-library.com/index.php5

To download the scriptures of many religions including the Bahai Faith:
http://www.bahai-education.org/ocean/

Answer 6

I'm Roman Catholic, by-the-book type. The Vatican web site will answer most of my thinking, and views. As an American I have more freedom to live as you like issues, but that's political, not religious. Of course I'd never kill anyone if the Pope told me to, those days are over, I hope.
Good luck, you have a difficult task, as humans love to mix their free will with historical lore, and free thinking movements of the day. I'd be surprised your book contains less than a thousand religions - just in America alone. And your goal is the world! Ha - milllions of religions! You'll need a good editor. or a very very small font.

Peace.

Answer 7

I think you have taken on too large a subject to try to be explicit. There are too many religions with too many different isms to try to make sense of the differences. From what I know of the various religions they all have the same basic beliefs which pretty well parallel the ten commandments. They then vary and stray and add all sorts of legends and conditions.

Answer 8

We are but a speck of dust in the Universe.
Something could NOT have been around forever.
If your God would a benevolent he cure this insane world of super rich to abject poverty of barely sustain food and water, and rampant disease.
It makes no since that there would be a builder of a huge Universe take any special attention to us. These basic archaic beliefs that has, for the most part, led us into war

Answer 9

People always try to explain the unexplained. Before the finding of scientific method, people relied mainly on supernaturals for explanation. Even nowadays, some scientists are still undecided on whether any deity may exist.

Answer 10

I'm not sure Y!A R&S section is the best place to research a book on religions. A library would be a better starting point and searches on the internet.