10/12/12

Christianity was founded in the Levant region of the Middle East in the mid 1^st century. Christianity was a strange religion when founded because it was the 1^st monotheistic religion. The holy book used in the Christian religion is the Bible. Christianity claims around 2.2 billion followers, which is about a third of the world population. The central figure of Christianity is Jesus Christ whom is believed to be the Son of God. The largest concentration of Christians in the world is in the Western part of the world. There are over 246,799,000 in America. This takes up at least 30% of the Christians in the Western World.Also Jesus Christ is the founder of the Church , or by some accounts spawned 95% of all teaching.That is my summary of the Christian Religion.

Islam was founded in the year 622 AD in the City of Mecca. Although many Muslims believe that Islam was founded before Muhammad, Religious historians believe he is the founder. Islam is a monotheistic religion just like the rest of its fellow Abrahamic religions. The holy book of the Islamic religion is the Koran. There are an estimated 1.2 – 1.57 billion Muslims in the World. The central figure in Islam is their most sacred prophet “Muhammad”. The largest Islam population is in South Asia with majority of Muslims living in Indonesia (204,847,000). That is my summary of the Islamic religion.

Buddhism was founded in 460 B.C in modern day India. Which is strange to me is that Buddhism is not a religion in which “God or Gods” are involved in. “Buddhism chooses to focus upon practical ways of life that can lead to a blissful state of being (enlightenment) that includes compassion for beings.”(http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_Buddhism_monotheistic_or_polytheistic). Therefore, it is neither monotheistic nor polytheistic. In the Buddhist religion there is no one single book that is used. However, a book may help when trying to reach enlightened states of mind. This book is called the “Trip taka” “The Pāli Canon also known as the Tipitaka is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition”(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C4%81li_Canon)Buddha is the founder of Buddhism. There is an estimate of  489,807,761 Buddhists in the world with almost all of them living in Asia. The largest group of Buddhists in the world is in China (105,748,151-277,588,986). The central figure of the religion “Buddhism” is Buddha .That is my summary of the Buddhist religion.

Hinduism was founded in 1500-500 BC in modern day India. Hinduism is a polytheistic religion. There are many Holy books in the Hinduism faith but the main one is the “Vedas”. The Vedas are the common Holy Scriptures that all Hindus share. There are 950 million Hindus in the world. With most of them residing in Asia, (India). The most central figure In Hinduism is “Brahman”. “Braham is the ultimate essence of material phenomena (including the original identity of the human self) that cannot be seen or heard but whose nature can be known through the development of self-knowledge” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman). That is my summary of the Hindu religion.

Abraham founded Judaism in 1800 BC in the city of Ur in Babylonia. Judaism is a monotheistic belief. The holy book in Judaism is the Torah. There are currently 13,000,000 Jews in the world. The central figure in Judaism is Abraham. Most Jews in the World live in the United States. That is my summary of The Jewish faith.