The Five Principal Faiths Worldwide
The five principal faiths worldwide are Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. From the beginning of the world until today, these religions have formed the history development and profoundly impacted the human species' path. In the subsequent lines, you can read an in-depth summary of every one of these principal faiths.
Christianity
Christianity appeared around two thousand years ago in Judea (nowadays Israel) by Jesus Christ along with his supporters. At that time, Jews were ruled by Romans, who constrained them to historical persecution (Noss, David and Blake 78). The ruler of that land was a current Rome's emperor. Most of the Jews at that time were pagans, and the only hope they had was to conform to the new change brought by Christianity. Jesus Christ in his early thirties having the proper understanding of the Jewish law started moving from village to village preaching and healing the sick (Rubinstein and Murray 93). He taught about the kingdom of God and the one God people should believe in. It took less time for him to have a massive following starting with a group of faithful men who were known as the disciples. Christianity spread all over the world and it is now one of the major religions.
Islamic Religion
Islam dates back to the year 610 after Prophet Muhammad received the first revelation at the age of 40. Prophet Muhammad together with his followers spread the Islamic traditions throughout Arabian Peninsula (Benefiel et al. 175). After Prophet Muhammad’s death, military expeditions called “futuhat” emerged into Egypt as well as other parts of North Africa (Rubinstein and Murray 122). Islam spread to the other parts of the world through commerce and trading activities.
Hinduism
Hinduism does not present an exact time o when it emerged. It is a unique religion as it belongs to the people of India. Benefiel et al. (175), states that Hinduism is more than a religious conviction: it is a multifaceted and vast socio-religious form which replicates the convolution of the Indian society. Hinduism is believed to be among the oldest religions in the world (Noss, David and Blake 88). Hinduism presents various gods that are thought to play different and significant roles in the lives of the Indians. These gods include Vishnu, Indra, Brahma, Agni, Ganesha, and Shiva.
Buddhism
Buddhism was founded by Buddha Shakyamuni. He was born in 624BC as a high place at Lumbini, present-day Nepal. He spent his early years at his royal place but retired to the forest at the age of 29 for a spiritual life of meditation (Rubinstein and Murray 65). After six years of meditation, he received enlightenment under Bodhi tree. When he rose from meditation, he began with teaching the first Wheel of Dharma. He later on taught the second as well as third Wheel of Dharma. Among his teachings were the teachings of Buddhahood which encouraged the people to have oneness. Buddha’s chief compassion was to help people to find peace or nirvana.
Judaism
Judaism is the oldest religion dating from 4000 years ago. Judaism cannot be separated from the Jewish people. Its foundation dates back to the covenant between Abraham and God when God called Abraham to leave Ur and move to Canaan which was the land God had pledged to give his (Abrahams) descendants (Benefiel et al. 175). The second covenant was between Moses and God when Moses was leading Israelites from Egypt to Canaan. This is a time when the Jewish people were given Ten Commandments at mount Horeb marking the beginning of Judaism (Noss, David and Blake 98). Later, after Jewish civilization, temples, for worshipping God were erected in Jerusalem by the mighty rulers who emerged.
Works Cited
Benefiel, Margaret, Louis W. Fry, and David Geigle. "Spirituality and religion in the workplace: History, theory, and research." Psychology of Religion and Spirituality 6.3 (2014): 175.
Noss, David S., and Blake Grangaard. A History of the World's Religions. Routledge, 2016.
Rubinstein, Murray A. Taiwan: A new history. Routledge, 2015.
