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Religion and Culture
Respect for Religious and Racial Diversity

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1. Religion and the Great Civilizations


2. Colonialism, Globalism and Religion

3. Buddhism

4. Confucianism

5. Hinduism

6. Mandate of Heaven

7. Minority Religions in China

8. Christianity in Latin America

Judaism

is a religious legacy to the world, starting with Abraham and monotheism, which is the affirmation of the unity of the universe based on supernatural reality. Judaism is the oldest of the great religious traditions, more than 4000 years old. The history of Jews and Judaism is the history of a people, the unique religious covenant, and a struggle understanding the supernatural and how it fits in everyday life. Jewish religious experience can be based on questioning and discussion (the Torah and Talmud), or it can be based on the mystical wonder of the Kabbalah (The Zohar).

Christianity

is the world’s largest religion with over two billion followers. As a creed based religion, the central beliefs are that Jesus was the Son of God, divine and human and the Messiah who was predicted in the Hebrew Bible by the prophets. Christians are concentrated in Europe, the Americas, and Africa. Over the centuries, Christianity was identified with the culture of Europe, so that it was sometimes referred to as Christendom. As Christianity has expanded beyond Europe over the centuries, Latin America now has the largest Christian population in the world.

Islam

started in the mind of Allah, and it was then that He created Adam and Eve. The history of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity coincide until the birth of Ishmael, the first born son of Abraham, who is the father of the Arabs. Later, Ishmael and his mother Hagar left Abraham’s camp and traveled to Mecca where Ishmail built the Ka'aba. Over time Arabs forgot their religious origins until Muhammad, the prophet once again brought the word of God to Arabs. A Muslim is “a person who submits” to God, no matter what his or her ethnic, racial, or national origin. The word Islam comes from the same Arabic root for salaam, or peace.

 

The Institute for Tolerance Studies Guides to Religion and Culture series includes Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism, and Hinduism.
These full text manuscripts are published with the purpose of providing education and understanding of the religions traditions in the world to English reading audiences. We have made every effort to state the beliefs, practices, and histories in words that are consistent with each religious tradition and reflect those traditions as accurately as possible. To the extent possible we have discussed and reviewed these materials with religious scholars and believers from each tradition although we recognize that there are internal differences in belief and practice within religions, and we have tried to reflect those in a correct manner.
Belief and behavior are at the heart of our self definition as human individuals and the emotional core of our identity. Our religious and/or ideological identity is so important that it can move us to life and death decisions. This series is published recognizing the powerful importance of religious belief and practice among us as humans, respecting and honoring the uniqueness of the spiritual nature that defines us.


These programs have been made possible in part with support of the New Mexico Humanities Council.
Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in these programs do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities or the New Mexico Humanities Council.

   
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