Religious Education / Studies

 Islam

Muslims is a name of a follower of Islam Allah means god in Arabic Muslims believes in Allah Tawhid is the belief that there is one true god Muhammad is the prophet ( messenger from god ) The word given to Muhammad by the Angel Jibreel were written down to form the book-----Koran Muhammad was born in Mecca They have a Hajj Pilgrimage Journey

Buddhism

People who follow Buddhism are known as Buddhists Buddhists do not believe in god but believe in Buddha "The Buddha" means "the enlightened one" The founder of Buddhism is Prince Siddhartha (Siddhartha Gautama), who is the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama was born in Lumbini (Nepal) around the year 563 BCE. Before he was born, his mother, Maya, dreamed which a whte elephant holding a lotus flower dancing around her three times, and finally entered her womb through her side. Later the dream was interpreted by a priest, and said that she is going to ive birth to a son, who will either become a great leader or a great teacher. When Siddhartha was born, a sage (wise man) called Asita examined Siddhartha's birthmark and predicted he would become a Buddha. Prince Siddhartha's father --- a powerful king in India, tried to protect him from knowing sufferings (sicknesses, death etc). But when Siddhartha is in the age of 29, he went out to the village and he saw an old man, and then a sick man, a corpse, then a poor, and finally a calm monk. After he realised that there's sufferings in this world, he choose to give up his position as a ruler's heir, become a monk and go out into the world to find the truth about suffering. (For more information about suffering, go to the Suffering note) Siddhartha gave up his position, power, wealth and sources of pleasure. This is known as the 'The Great Rununciation'.  

Suffering

What is suffering? Sufferings, by the teachings of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, are challenges from God. Sufferings may lead some people to question their belief in God, or even reject their faith. This might be because they will think that prayers aren't heard by their God, and think that God isn't that powerful as he cannot prevent suffering to happen. Different religous have their own veiw about suffering, but are all either two kinds: The two different kinds of suffering:          Moral Suffering (Manmade)                      E.g.    War, Crime, Murder...          Natural Suffering (Occurs Naturally)                      E.g.     Tsunamis, Earthquakes, Wild Fire...           1) Christianity Christianity teaches that evil and suffering entered the world as a result of Adam and Eve disobeying God in the Garden of Eden (Eating the apple on the tree of knowledge). This switch from an utopia to a world full of sufferings is known as "the Fall".  

Hinduism

People who follow Hinduism are known as Hindus Hinduism has no founder but developed gradually over time. It starts somewhere between 2300BC and 1500BC in India Hinduism is a polytheism Hindus believe that there are only one supreme God, called Brahman. Brahman is eternal, almighty and is the creator of everything in the world There are three main aspects of Brahman:              -Brahma --- the creator (Has four head and four arms)             -Vishnu --- the preserver (Has blue skin and four arms)             - Shiva --- the destroyer (Has blue skin and carries a trident) These three Gods together are known as the Trimurti There are more Gods and Goddesses which all represent different kind of aspects of Brahman. For example:             -Krishna --- God of love             -Indra --- God of rain, thunder and heaven             -Mahadevi --- Goddess of power, energy, strength and protection             -Ganesh --- God of intelligence Hindus believe in reincarnation. This is a cycle of birth and rebirth. This cycle is called samsara Our actions in this life affect what happens to us in the next life --- good actions earn positive karma, but bad actions lead to bad karma. If you build up good karma during a lifetime, you will be born in a better situation in your next life. Oppositly, if you keep building up bad karma, you will end up with sufferings in the next life.