Focus on Words

planet. Understanding the religious beliefs of these people is one of the many steps
which mankind must take in order to prosper together in peace someday.
The major religious traditions are Christianity, Islam Judaism and Buddhism.
Christianity is the World’s biggest
religion. It has about 2.2 billion followers
worldwide. All Christians believe that God
revealed himself in Jesus Christ, that Christ
was crucified and resurrected. He came to
the earth to teach love to people.
The most important Christian Festivals
are Lent, Easter and Christmas. There are
three main branches of Christianity - the
Catholic Church, the Church of England and
the Orthodox Church. The Christian place of worship is a church, also a chapel and a
cathedral. Churches are usually beautifully decorated. Christian worship involves
praising God in music, speech and readings from scripture. The Bible, the Christian
holy book, is divided into the Old and New Testaments.
Islam is the second most popular religion in the world with over a thou-1 million
followers. Islam began in Arabia and was revealed to humanity by a holy man born in
Mecca to whom God told many things which are recorded in the Koran, the Holy Book
of Islam, translated as “the word of God”. Those who follow Islam are called Muslims.
They believe that there is only one God called Allah. The Muslim building for worship
is called a mosque. Very often mosques have a a mina ret, from which Muslims are
called to prayer. Mosques have bare walls and very little furniture. The main Muslim
holiday is Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic Lunar calendar. During Ramadan
all Muslims across the world do not eat during the hours of daylight.
Judaism, which has only about 12 million
followers, is around 3500 years old and is the oldest
of the world’s four great religions. The founder of
Judaism is Abraham who is considered as the father
of Jewish people. Jews see him as a symbol of trusting
and obeying. Moses is also an important figure in
Judaism as he gave the Jews the Torah, the Holy
Book. Moses was the leader of Jews who freed them
from slavery in Egypt. Jews believe in a single God
that created the universe.
Jews worship in synagogues. In most cases
worship takes place in Hebrew [´hi:bru:]. The Jewish
spiritual leaders are called rabbis. The most important
day of the week is the Sabbath which is a day made
holy. During the Sabbath, people do nothing that
might be counted as work. Pass over, the main Jewish
Festival, is the time when Jewish people remember
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