Religion Essay

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If there is one aspect of society that has endured the ages and is an integral part of society today is religion. There are currently about 7 billion people on earth and of those 7 billion more than half adhere to some form of organized religion. The world’s top religion with about 33% of the population or 2.1 billion followers is Christianity, followed by Islam and Hinduism with 1.3 billion and 851 million adherents respectively. These are just a few of the most well-known religions in the world but; what of the religions obscured in mystery and left in the background? The religions you don’t hear much about in your classrooms or in the media. What is their history? What are their beliefs? I hope to shed some light on these questions and bring to light some of the less popular religions in the world. I will be covering several different religions in this paper, Sikhism, Jainism, Confucianism, and Shinto
Sikhism:
Sikhism is a monotheistic organized religion founded in the 15th century in the Punjab region of India by Guru Nanak the first of 10 Gurus. Sikhism’s philosophy has evolved through the added teachings of each Guru over time. Each Guru would appoint a successor and this process continued until the 10th Guru, Goband Singh, declared he would be the last Guru of Sikh ism and the teachings of each Guru was recorded by the sixth Guru in scripture titled the Guru Granth Sahib. This is the central religious text of Sikhism and is considered by many Sikhs to be the final sovereign guru of the religion. The main teaching of Sikhism is the idea of the oneness of God. Sikhs believe that the spiritual and secular worlds are intertwined rather than separate. Sikhism teaches its followers that all religious traditions can help to enli...

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... kami are not perfect - Shinto texts have many examples of kami making mistakes and doing the wrong thing. This clear difference with faiths whose God is perfect is probably why Shinto ethics avoids absolute moral rules. The overall aims of Shinto ethics are to promote harmony and purity in all spheres of life. Purity is not just spiritual purity but moral purity: having a pure and sincere heart.
Understanding religious beliefs other than one’s own is a key element of tolerance, since faith traditions often define a significant part of a person’s identity. In the United States, the spectrum of religious diversity is a part of our culture as a whole, and religions can sometimes be at the center of political debate. By examining these different religions we can better begin to understand what motivates certain people and learn to hopefully live together in peace.

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