What are the main religions of the world

Christianity is one of the most important religions in the world. The name of it comes from the word “Christ”, the messiah, the person sent by God to spread his word among humans. His belief is based on the existence of God, the creator of the Universe and of all life that we find on planet Earth.

The origin of Christianity comes from Judaism and contains different forms although, yes, among all of them they obey the same scriptures, the Bible, worship God and believe that Jesus is Christ, the savior of humanity. The churches or sacred temples are also an essential element within this religion and practitioners should go to these spaces to hear the teachings of Christ through different preachers: priests, bishops, elders or pastors. In OneHowTo we tell you how to study the Bible.

Next we are going to differentiate the different branches of Christianity:

The Catholicism

The Roman Catholic Apostolic Church was the one that created Catholicism, one of the branches of the Christian religion and whose center is in the Vatican. The highest authority is the Pope of Rome and, in addition to worshiping the figure of Jesus, also worships the Virgin Mary and other saints.

Through the study of the Bible the teachings of Christ can be reached and its maximum symbol is the cross since it recalls the crucifix in which Jesus was martyred. The objective of this religion is to prepare the faithful for the eternal salvation that is found after life, in the kingdom of heaven or paradise.

The Orthodox Religion

When the Catholic Church was founded, it was divided between that of the West and the Eastern Orthodox which took place in 1054. So, we can say that the Orthodox religion drinks from the source of the Catholic but with some differences that are worth noting. . It is followed by approximately 300 million faithful and among its differences we highlight the following:

• They don’t believe in purgatory: when men die, they do not stay in Purgatory but go to a final judgment, at which time all the acts of their lives will be valued before entering the kingdom of heaven.
• There is no Original Sin: in this religion, the act committed by Adam and Eve in paradise did not take place, what they believe in is “ancestral” sin, which is the capacity for free will that humans have and that, therefore, allow us to choose the path of good or evil.
• They do not believe in the virginity of the Virgin: they consider that the Virgin Mary became pregnant by natural means, that is, by having sexual intercourse.
• They don’t believe in the pope: the figure of the Pope of Rome, who is so venerated in Catholicism, in this religion does not have the same value because, in the eyes of God, no one except the Holy Father can know the whole truth.
• Clergymen do not fulfill celibacy: the preachers of the divine word do not have to fulfill the order of chastity and, in fact, they can be married and have a family.

Protestantism

In the 16th century, this new aspect of Christianity appeared due to the reforms that Luther initiated in the Catholic Church. One of the main reasons this movement emerged was to reject the authority of the Pope of Rome and he managed to reform the beliefs of some European countries thus creating new sub-religions such as Lutheranism in Sweden, Anglicanism in England and Calvinism in Scotland and Geneva.

An approximate number of 700 million people are Protestants and their conceptions come from the ecclesiastical reform, therefore, they present some notable differences with respect to Catholicism. Next we will highlight the most outstanding ones:

• They only believe in the bible: Catholics base their faith on the teachings in the Bible but also on Roman Catholic traditions such as, for example, venerating the Virgin, the existence of Purgatory, and so on. Protestants only believe in the word that is in the holy book and, therefore, reject all those acts that do not appear in this text.
• Nor do they believe in the figure of the Pope: In the same way as the Orthodox, Protestants do not believe in the Pope since they consider that only God has the knowledge of the world.
• They don’t believe in the Seven Sacraments: Catholics have to perform these seven sacraments during their life to be saved, however, Protestants already have salvation by the mere fact of believing in the divine word. The sacraments are baptism, communion, confirmation, penance, extreme unction, the priestly order, and marriage.

Judaism also bore the fruit of the birth of another religion, Muslim or Islamist. In fact, the word “Islam” is Arabic and means “submission” to Allah who is God. It is also a religion that only believes in a single God (monotheistic) and whose prophet was Muhammad who was born in Mecca in 570.

Anyone who accepts the faith that Islam preaches is called a “Muslim” and, as such, has the Quran as its holy book and in whose writings we find the teachings that Muhammad preached in order to spread the word of God among humanity. This religion also has temples or centers of worship that are called mosques and where they have to go to pray and venerate divine worship.

At least once in their life Muslims must go to Mecca on pilgrimage during the Ramadan fast, to arrive pure and clean at the sacred place. Ramadan consists of fasting for a whole month when the sun is in the sky and with a completely pure body, that is, without being able to shower, use hygiene products (cologne, deodorant, etc.), drink water or eat absolutely nothing . It will be in the night hours when Muslims will be able to do it.

Another of the major world religions is buddhism that, unlike the previous ones, is non-theistic, that is, they do not believe in the existence of God but focuses on the teachings that were spread by Siddhartha Gautama in the 5th century BC and that deal with humanitarian aspects, kindness and love to all living beings on Earth.

Its starting point was in India and, today, it is one of the most revered religions in many Asian countries; In recent years, his teachings have spread to the Eastern world and, today, his ideology is part of continents such as Europe and America.

The main objective of Buddhism is overcome human suffering, Only in this way can internal happiness be achieved, which is the basis for peace in the world. The thought of this religion is that you cannot work for a better world if the people who are part of it do not try to cultivate positive thoughts and energies, for this reason, change begins within us. To achieve spiritual peace, practices like meditation In this way, we can control negative thoughts and impulses and learn to be masters of ourselves.

Through self-knowledge and the projection of energy in the cosmos, we will be able to become wiser and we will overcome what makes us suffer. Achieving happiness is just a matter of awareness of the present, of attention, of control and, above all, of leading a prosperous and respectful life with everything around us, both animate and inanimate.

The Karma It is one of the essential elements within Buddhism since it considers that all the acts that we commit, whether good or bad, are returned by the wheel of life and, therefore, it is important to always lead a correct life to collect good fruits, not only in this life, but also in those to come, as another of the key elements of this doctrine is reincarnation. In this OneHowTo article we tell you what Karma is so that you understand its meaning.

14 million people in the world are Jewish, the mother religion of both Christianity and Islam. In fact, it is the oldest monotheistic religion of the world and believes in the existence of a God who is the creator of the Universe.

People who are Jewish, in addition to having a strong belief in God, also perform religious practices giving great importance to the role of the family as …