Religions+Vocabulary

** Vital Vocabulary **
Religion - A system of beliefs and practices that attempts to order life in terms of culturally perceived ultimate priorities.

Monotheistic Religions - Worship of a single deity.

Islam - Sect of Christianity inspired by the teachings of Muhammad.

Minarets - Architectural features signiture of Mosques that resemble large towers.

Hajj - Pilgrimage to Mecca.

Sunni - The great majority of muslims that interprets the Koran slightly differently.

Shi'ite - A minority sect of Islam centered in Iran that interprets the Koran differently.

Shari'a Law - A set of law codes based on Islam.

Jihad - An islamic holy war.

Judaism - Abraham founded this ancient nomadic semitic religion in order to worship just one god.

Diaspora - The spacial distribution of members of any ethnic group.

Zionism - The belief that jewish people should not be absorbed into other societies, Nazis made jewish people paranoid.

Christianity - Sect of Judaism that has branched out but still mostly follows the teachings of Joshua.

Eastern Orthodox Church - The great schism divided Eastern and Roman orthodox, traditions slowly changed over time.

Roman Orthodox Church - Largest denomination of christianity, follows the pope.

Protestant - A lumping of religions that spawned during a period many people believed the Catholic church was corrupt.

Polytheistic Religions - Worship of more than one deity.

Hinduism - One of the oldest still practiced religions in the world; there is no single founder, no single theology or any agreement on it's origins.

Caste System - A system that locks higher level classes into power and allows them to restrict and take advantage of the lesser classes.

Animistic Religions - Beliefs centered around inanimate objects.

Universalizing Religions - Religions that activly seek converts because they see themselves as offering belief systems of universal appropriateness and appeal.

Ethnic Religion - Adhererants are born into the faith and converts are not actively sought.

Buddhism - A religion that splintered from hinduism 2,500 years ago. Buddah is the founder and teaches that salvation can be acheived by anyone of any caste.

Shintoism - A mix of local Japanese myths and Buddism, Shintoism is mainly focused around ancestor worship and nature.

Taoism-Lao - Tsu philosophy; from the volume // Toa-te-ching //. It is lumped with other chinese philosophies.

Feng Shui - The art and science of organizing living space in order to channel the life forces that exist in nature in favorable ways.

Confucianism - A chinese philosophy founded by Confucius.

Shamanism - A community faith in which the people follow their Shaman.

Pilgrimage - Travel to a sacred site

Sacred Sites - Places or spaces people infuse with religious meaning.

Ritual Bathing - Hindus do not venture far from water because they believe their gods do not.

Interfaith Boundaries - Boundaries between the worlds major faiths.

Intrafaith Boundaries - Boundaries within a faith.

Genocide - An attempt to destroy a certain ethnic group by delibrately killing members of those ethnic group.

Ethnic Cleansing - The slaughter of a people within a certain area in a genocidal way.

Religious Fundamentalism - The return to the basics of a faith.

Religious Extremism - Fundamentalism carried to the point of violence.

Secularism - Indifference or rejection of organized religious affiliation and ideas.