Name: Christianity
Religious Text: The Bible
God: Jehovah or Yahweh
Place of Worship: Church
Festivals: Christmas and Easter
Number of Followers: Around 2 billion people worldwide
Beliefs: Christians believe in one god. They believe that God’s son, Jesus, came to earth to allow man to be forgiven of their bad deeds. Christians believe that God is in three parts: The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit.
Name: Islam
Religious Text: Qur’an
God: Allah
Place of Worship: The Mosque
Festivals: Ramadan and Ede
Number of Followers: Around 1.5 billion people worldwide
Beliefs: Muslims believe that in the 7th century, God revealed himself to Muhammad through the Qur’an. They believe in 5 main ideas: the importance of God and Muhammad, prayer five times a day, concern for the needy, fasting during the festival of Ramadan and a pilgrimage to Mecca.
Name: Hinduism
Religious Text: The Vedas, although Hindus have many texts the refer to.
God: Brahman
Place of Worship: Temple
Festivals: Diwali, Holi, Shivaratri
Number of Followers: Around 1 billion people worldwide
Beliefs: Hinduism views all religious paths as one way toward God. It does not believe in a concrete set of rules but generally speaking, Hindu will practice non-violence. In addition, they believe in reincarnation which is when your soul goes into something new after death.
Name: Sikhism
Religious Text: Guru Granth Sahib
God: Akal Murat
Place of Worship: Gurdwara
Festivals: Baisakhi, Holla Mohalla
Number of Followers: Around 25 million people worldwide
Beliefs: Sikh people believe that God is the same for all religions, that kindness is important and that all humans are equal. Sometimes, A Sikh will commit to Amrit which is five special rules: leaving hair uncut, keeping a comb in your hair, wearing the small sword, wearing a small metal wristband and wearing a long set of underpants.
Name: Buddhism
Religious Text: P Li Canon, Mahayana Sutras, Dhammapada
Religious Figure: Buddha
Place of Worship: Temple
Festivals: Wesak
Number of Followers: Around 400 million people worldwide
Beliefs: They believe in four main ideas: that all living things can suffer, suffering comes from selfish desire, suffering is preventable and you can stop suffering by following Buddhist teaching. Buddhist believe that their teachings came from Siddhartha Gautama, a person who became enlightened long ago. He is also called Buddha.
Name: Judaism
Religious Text: The Torah
God: Jehovah or Yahweh
Place of Worship: Synagogue
Festivals: Hanukkah, Yom Kippur
Number of Followers: Around 15 million people worldwide
Beliefs: Jewish people believe that there is only one God and that our relationship with that God was defined by a man named Abraham. They believe in peace and tight community which serve each other in a holy way. Many Jewish people only eat kosher food which restricts things that they can eat.