by Don Emery

Created on: September 01, 2008

The world is an interesting and diverse place that requires time to understand, this point couldn't be more true when it comes to world religion. Most people misunderstand the similarities and differences of the world religions this leads to conflicts to the point of exploding into war. If we understand these religions we may be able to bring peace to certain trouble parts of the world.

Judaism
Also known as the Jewish faith Judaism is the father of all of the western religions that people follow today. It is a monotheistic religion that means the religion follows around one god it follows the holy book of the Tanakh and it is the oldest religion followed in the west. The Jewish faith's holy land is Jerusalem in Israel and it's place of prayer is called a synagogue, but it is also known as a temple. Judaism places heavy emphasis on traditions and learning this is exemplified by the priest that is called a Rabbi that is seen as a learned man so he can better understand the ancient texts. Based upon Jewish beliefs the religion began when choose God choose Abraham as their prophet and created the Torah as a set of beliefs for the Jewish people to live by this is still followed by the reading of the Torah at a Bar Mitzvah which is required to become a man.

Christianity
This religion is a monotheistic religion that follows the life and teachings of Jesus Christ also known as Jesus of Nazareth. It uses the Holy Bible as it's text this is also known as the Old Testament. Christianity originally started as a sect of Judaism and it is also know as an Abrahamic religion because he is mentioned as one of their prophets. Christianity's holy land is also Jerusalem and their place of worship is called a church. Their moral belief structure is based upon the Ten Commandments much like the Torah in Judaism. Christianity has had a large impact on many aspects of western culture this is due to the Middle Ages. Offshoots of Christianity include Catholicism, Evangelism, and there are even diversions in Christianity in itself such as Methodist teachings or Trinity Christianity.

Islam
Islam is a monotheistic religion that revolves around the teachings of their prophet Muhammad Islam is an Abrahamic religion like Judaism and Christianity it even shares the same holy land as the other two religions. Islam is the second largest religion next to Christianity and is extremely popular in the Middle East. It's holy text is the Qur'an outlines the Five Pillars which outlines laws for everything

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