Home+Page+and+Basic+Info

=Freed's Religion Review Wiki G Period=

This will be the space for the Religion review assignment activities you did over the past week. Use this to review the religion content for the exam.
**MESOPOTAMIA!!!!!!!!!!** AHR Caroline Hamner and Lauren Bowling

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia was in the Middle East and was known as “The Land Between Water.” It included city-states. They depended on the rivers for trading, fishing, water, and irrigation to grow crops. Due to its arid lands, Mesopotamia had to use different resources to get what they needed.

Mesopotamia included Akkadians who spoke Hebrew and Arabic. The Mesopotamian religion posses different Gods and it was strict and ancient.

Gods: • They had polytheism which meant that they had many Gods • Nature oriented • An- God of sky and authority • Enlil- God of Wind, force, fertility, and storms

Ways They Worshiped • Animal sacrifices • Gods • Ziggurat- a place where they worshiped, and used for other spiritual events such as celebrations. • 1 God owned different city-states. Who they had reflected how they worshiped and their every day life.

Who discovered/made it grow/when it prospered • Mesopotamia religion started around 4000BCE • There were a lot of carvings/ cave marks, which is how they passed down information and religious guidelines. • Because they were so innovated with getting food and providing for themselves, they were able to make a living, art, music, inventing and religion. • They strived the most having Ur Nammu as King • Ur Nammu conquered more lands than any other Mesopotamia King. He created great laws and a good tax system. • Hammurabi was the most important king of the Babylonian Empire. • The Code of Hammurabi helped enhance the community with the code stating: “An eye for an eye”.

Sources: ~Laurens Notes!!! ~AHR Textbook!! ** Egyptian Religion ** Pharoah Ptah Gods Mummification When pharaoh are buried they are buried with their slaves and helpers in a big city built for them to live in in the afterlife
 * Ancient Egypt**
 * Egypt was an extremely religious place
 * They had almost no secular world
 * Which means that nothing that they did does not relate to religion
 * The Pharaoh there leader was considered someone to communicate with the gods for the people. Since he is their leader and was in charge of communicating with the gods he was very powerful and wealthy
 * Ptah was who the Egyptians thought created their world
 * It was believed that he dreamt it into existence
 * Egypt has a Ex Nihilo creation story
 * Atum
 * Atum was an extremely important god in Egypt. The people knew him as finisher of the world. He is also the god that is related to kingship.
 * Khepra
 * Khepra was known as the god of rebirth and the god of sunrise. This god is also associated a lot with the dung beetle.
 * Re
 * Re was know as the god of the sun. Re took many forms, but his most common form was a head of a falcon and a body of a human. The Egyptians thought of him for bringing light, warmth, and growth.
 * Amon-Re
 * In Egypt Amon-Re was known as the king of the gods. He wore a tall feather crown and was a very important god.
 * When people died in Egypt, the Egyptians mummified them. They did this by taking there organs out and putting chemicals in them to last longer. After this happened they wrapped them and cloth and either put them in a tomb or buried them.
 * Kings were sometimes put in pyramids. These were elaborate tunnel systems that were in a giant triangle pyramid shape. These were usually filled with things that the king would have at his personal belongings and rich jewelry and pottery.

**Ancient Judaism: Sydni Singleton and Madeleine Minotto**
 * //Sydni Singleton - 11/29/2011 10:59 AM//** __ [|Edit] __
 * Name:** Ancient Judaism


 * Founder:** Yaweh
 * Location:** Israel


 * Areas of worship:** The Synagogue


 * Number of current believers:** 13.3 million


 * The major deities:** In daily conversation, the majority of Jews use the name 'HaShem' when referring to their God.

**Major beliefs:** God, Humankind was created In the Divine Image, Community, Torah, The Ten Commandments, The Land of Israel, and Messiah.
 * Beliefs on the afterlife:** An early common theme is that death means rejoining one's ancestors. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and other patriarchs are "gathered to their people" after death. In contrast, the wicked are "cut off from their people". Other imagery emphasizes the finality of death: the dead are like dust returning to dust or water poured out on the ground.
 * Relationship between humanity and the divine:** Jews are close to their God, and pray to him almost very minute of every day. They have Morning Prayer, evening prayer, afternoon prayer, Sunday prayer, Friday Prayer, Saturday Prayer, and Saturday Afternoon Prayer. They basically pray at any chance the get. Which puts them really close to their God.


 * What should a good person do in a difficult world?** I believe that a good person should just keep doing what ever they are doing that makes them such a good person. They should also try to help other people with trying to be good. Follow their ten commandments, and just believe in God. All summed up they should be honest and live their life to the best of there abilities.

Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism: Religion of the Persians o Original religion was nature worship • Mithra – sun god of light and war • One of the big religious movement in the roman empire • Magi – priests who helped with sacrifices • Wandered in solitude • Becomes a prophet when an angel comes to him • His ideas started the religion Zorastrianism • Revelations of ahuramazda o Agonistic religion • Ahuramazda “the wise lord” and angra-mainyu/ ahriman “the spiritual enemy/ the prince of darkness.” • Ahura mazda sis all good, and no evil originates from him. • Contest for souls of the living • Humanity must choose which side they want to be • External or internal struggle of what is right o Zend avesta-text • Gathas – the songs to the lord o Principles of faith • Rewards in this life and the afterlife for doing good or bad • Unseen but omnipresent/ always here • Faith saves o Code of ethics – preserve life and fight for justice • Threefold path – thought, right, piety • Opposition – lie, falsehood, death o Connections to Judaism • Law based • Holy spirit – within you. • Apocalyptic – they are concerned about whats going to happen at the end. • Messianic – they believe there will be salvation. • Judgment – heaven and hell o Influence on Judaism: • Babylonian captivity – released by the Persians • Change in nature of Yhwh • Ezra – Babylonian sent by Persians to bring the law to the jews • Many laws are word for word identical to the Vendidad • Clean and unclean animals o Connections to Christianity and Buddhism • Salvation through faith and inner struggle • Mental training path to enlightenment • Siddhartha (buddah) born 660BCE o Followers • Currently, worldwide there are around 140,000-250,000 believers- mostly in Iran and India. In the United States, there are around 10,000 followers
 * • Zoroaster/ Zarathustra – 660 BCE

Hinduism Buddhism Buddhism o Hinduism turned into buddahism o Buddah- Prince Siddartha Guatama- 566 BCE o Four Nobel Truths • All Life is suffering • Reason for suffering- Reincarnation • End suffering by achieving Nirvana • Eightfold Path to Nirvana o Enlightoned Path • 1. Right views (wisdom)- To see and to understand things as they are and to relies the four noble truths • 2. Right Aspiration (wisdom)- Refers to the kind of energy that controls our actions • 3. Right Speech (Ethical Conduct)- To abstain from false speech, lies or harsh words • 4. Right Conduct (Ethical Conduct) -States that unwholesome actions lead to unsound states of mind • 5. Right Livelihood (Ethical Conduct)- One should earn ones living in a righteous way and wealth should be gained legally and peacefully • 6. Right effort (Mental Develop)- Achieved though mental energy • 7. Right Mindedness (Mental Develop)- Mental ability to see things as they are • 8. Right Rapture (Mental Develop)- The development of a mental force that occurs in natural consciousness o Two Branches • Threveda • South and South East Asia • Traditional Buddhism • Mahayama • China, Korea, and Japan • Buddha Worshiped as a god o Buddhism had many beliefs: • Karma was the idea that bad actions and bad deeds bring about bad consequences • Bad karma can not be forgiven but is paid for during the reincarnation process • Reincarnation is when right as you die, you are reborn
 * When and where Hinduism began
 * Hinduism is so old that no one knows exactly how it began
 * Most people think that it began about 3,000 years ago near the Indus river of northwestern India
 * Founder of Hinduism
 * There is no single founder of Hinduism because Hinduism was not founded originally as a religion
 * Current believers of Hinduism
 * Hinduism has grown to become the world’s third largest religion, after Christianity and Islam
 * It claims about 950 million followers which is about 14% of the world’s population
 * Areas of worship
 * Hinduism is the dominant religion in India, Nepal, and among the Tamils in Sri Lanka
 * The Hindu Temples
 * The Hindu Temples are used as a place of worship for the Hindu followers
 * They have statues of the Hindu god in which they worship
 * The triumvirate of the Hindu gods
 * Brahma: He is the senior god and his job was creation
 * Vishnu: He is one of most important characters the Indian belief
 * Shiva: He is the destroyer, but also the resource of both good and evil who combines many contradictory
 * Ganesh
 * He is an elephant head that removes spiritual and material obstacles
 * He is wise and is honored before the rituals and ceremonies
 * Reincarnation
 * In Hinduism, a person has to live many lives and under go many experiences before it attains perfection and becomes one with the Divine
 * Karma
 * If a person leads a good life, his or her soul will be reborn in a higher state, but if the person leads a bad life, the soul will be reborn in a lower state
 * Some other believes of Hinduism are moksha, mantra, yoga, meditation, Rig Veda, dharma, the caste system, and holy cows