Different Kinds of Religions

Religion is a topic that varies from person to person and culture to culture. Although religion is broadly defined as “the belief or worship of a spirit or god” (Hopfe and Woodward ), each religion of the world has their own beliefs and worship strategies that defines that particular religion. Across the world, religions have their own beliefs and rituals; however, they are all commonly linked with the tradition of beliefs, holy places of worship, and celebrations. While each contrasting world religion will be discussed in this paper; they will collectively be centered around the question of how each religion practices their own beliefs, places of worship, and celebrations.

The first religion that I am going to discuss is Buddhism. Buddhism originated roughly 2,500 years ago in India. The story has it that a young prince, who lived the ideal life, began questioning the most glorious aspects of his life. Such as, why people had to suffer and what were the causes of their suffering. When he began his adventure for answers, he came across four men; a sick man, an old man, a dead man, and a monk. It is said that each man represented a different phase of anguish, including illness, suffering, and death. After his sighting of the monk, the prince realized that he needed to leave the palace in order for deeper answers to life. As he became a wandering holy man, he gained insight of the world and was later named Buddha. After Buddha was titled the “enlightened one”, he discovered the Three Universal Truths and the Four Noble Truths that he then spread to his believers. The Three Universal Truths included: everything in life is always changing, possessing things or people don’t lead to happiness, and there is no eternal, unchanging soul...

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Work Cited

1) Hopfe, Lewis, and Mark Woodward. Religions of the World. 12th ed. Pearson Education, 2012. Print.

2) White, Brian. "Buddhist Studies." . BDEA/Buddhanet, n.d. Web. 17 Jan 2014. .

3) "IslamiCity.com." Understanding Islam and the Muslims. IslamiCity, n.d. Web. 16 Jan 2014. .

4) "Religion Facts." Judaism. ReligionFacts. Web. 14 Jan 2014. .

5) "Religion Facts." Christianity. ReligionFacts. Web. 15 Jan 2014. .