religions essay

           There are five major religions that we have talked about in class. The largest religion is Christianity, which consists of around 2.2 billion adherents. Founded by their savior, Jesus Christ, people following Christianity are considered Christians and they are mainly located in Europe, the Americas, and South Africa. Christianity holds a multitude of denominations including the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, Protestants, Lutherans, Baptists, and many more. They are known for believing that Jesus is both human and the divine Son of God. He lived a righteous life where he was crucified, died, buried, and resurrected. The stories of Jesus are written in the bible, which is the holy book of Christianity.
           The second largest religion is known as Islam, consisting of 1.5 billion adherents. These adherents, known as Muslims, are located in mainly Indonesia, the Middle East, and North Africa. The founder of Islam is Muhammad who lived from 570 to 632 and created two main denominations of Islam. These two denominations are the sunnies and shiites. Muslims follow the five pillars and believe their purpose in life is to serve their God, Allan.
           Hinduism is the third largest religion. There are 1.1 billion followers known as Hindus. These Hindus are typically located in the two countries of India and Nepal. They use their holy book called the Vedas. This book contains eternal truths that are uncovered to the ancient sages that are sung aloud. Hindus believe in points of view rather than strict beliefs and they have no distinct follower.
           The religion containing 500M to around 1.5 billion adherents is Buddhism. These Buddhists are located mainly in Southeast Asia, China, Nepal, and Japan. Siddhartha Gautama is their founder and they have different denominations including Tibetan, Zen, Theravada, and Amidist. Buddhists believe in the four noble truths and they follow the 8 fold path. The 8 fold path is to have the right views, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and dedication.
           The last religion we talked about in class was Judaism. This is one of the smallest religions with only 14-18M adherents. The founder of Judaism is Abraham and these Jews are located mostly in Israel and the United States. Jews' holy book is the torah, which is the first 5 books of the Old Testament. Jews believe in ethical monotheism, which means that there is only one God. They also believe in the 10 commandments and the 13 principles of Faith.