WORLD RELIGION UNIT 7 – What are the major similarities between Islam, Judaism, and Christianity

WORLD RELIGION UNIT 7Question 11. What are the major similarities between Islam, Judaism, and Christianity?Your response should be at least 150 words in length. You are required to use atleast your textbook as source material for your response. All sources used,including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted materialmust have , APA style1. # 2 There is often an assumption in the West that the Islamic religion is intolerantof other religions. After reading this chapter, do you believe this to be wholly true?Why or why not? In what ways have the Muslims been treated with intolerance?Your response should be at least 150 words in length. You are required to use atleast your textbook as source material for your response. All sources used,including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted materialmust have accompanying citations. APA styleReading AssignmentChapter 10 IslamUnit LessonFood and clothing are essential to daily life and are mundane aspects ofeveryday living, so one might assume that such ordinary aspects of everydayliving would be of no interest to religions. Every human being, whether religiousor not, needs food to sustain life and clothing for protection. So what could foodand clothing possibly have to do with religion? Sometimes, we assume too greata division between the religious and the secular. Religions are, in fact, concernedwith the everyday aspects of life. There are basically two ways in which religionsare concerned with the materials and practices of everyday life: integrating thosematerials into the ceremonies or rituals of the religious life, or keeping them fromprofaning the religious life.FoodOne major concern of several religions is the eating of meat. One of the mostprevalent concerns of the Buddhist tradition is that practitioners live a violencefree life. This practice of non-violence is known as ahimsa. So, it makes sensethat vegetarianism is a regular practice of Buddhism. The practice of nonviolenceis so important to Jainism that a dedicated practitioner will try his or her best toavoid killing any plants or insects. The ideal diet for them is to eat fruit that hasfallen from a tree. Of course, even a strict Jain will eat vegetables, but there aresome rules concerning which vegetables. For instance, they will not eat potatoesbecause small insects are killed in the harvesting of potatoes (FaithandFood,2009). Hindus also follow a fairly vegetarian diet because of the practice ofahimsa. There are also concerns about meat in other religions, though perhapsfor purposes different than those of ahimsa. Both Judaism and Islam prohibit theeating of pork. Scholars generally agree that this prohibition is due at least in partto hygienic reasons. In ancient times, pork was particularly vulnerable tocontamination and was therefore dangerous to eat. Buddhists in general do nottake ahimsa quite as far as Jains. They restrict their beliefs about violence to bein reference to breathing creatures. Also, Buddhist monks can eat meat in certainsituations—mostly if they did not kill the meat, prepare the meat, or know thatmeat was being prepared specifically for them. In other words, they can eat meatin order to not offend a host who has prepared a meal for them. This idea ofconsideration for the host who has prepared a meal can also be found inChristian scriptures. The teachings of Jesus in the New Testament scripturesteach that relationships with people are more important thanUNIT VII STUDY GUIDE Food and ClothingUNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title following the Jewish laws. It is important to knowhere that Jesus was a Jew and many early followers of Jesus were Jews, butJesus and his followers were spreading their message to non-Jews, so the earlyChristian church found it was struggling with how to bring the customs of theJews and the non-Jews together.Judaism does not recommend a vegetarian diet, but it is concerned with the typeof animal, the manner in which the animal was slaughtered, and how the meatwas prepared. Basically, as far as land animals are concerned, they can only eatthe meat of animals that have divided hooves and chew the cud (Gwynne, 2009).With regards to fowl, Jews are forbidden from eating predatory or scavengerbirds, so domesticated birds such as chickens and turkey are fine. And withregards to marine animals, they may only eat those with scales and fins(Gwynne, 2009). The Jewish texts go into great detail concerning the foods thatmay and may not be eaten, and in some case, in what manner they must beprepared. Foods that are approved by the Jewish sacred texts are called kosher,which means proper or fitting, and a person who follows the food laws is said tobe keeping kosher. A Jew who is keeping strict kosher will only eat the meat of ananimal that has been well-drained of its blood as blood is the life force of theanimal and therefore not to be eaten. Also, they will never eat meat with dairyproducts. This comes from the Torah passage, “Do not boil a kid in its mother’smilk” (Exodus 23:19). Strict adherence to this rule means that meat and dairyshould not be prepared together and at least three hours must pass betweeneating the two types of food. You will find in conservative synagogues twodifferent kitchens—one to prepare meat and one to prepare dairy products. In ahome where a Jew cannot afford two separate kitchens, they are encouraged atleast to have two sets of utensils and dishes for preparing the food. The purposefor all of the ancient kosher laws has been attributed to discipline and God’sdivine holy purpose, and again, to hygienic reasoning.Islamic food laws are quite similar to Jewish food laws. The term halal is used toidentify food that is appropriate for consumption by a Muslim. The laws regardingmeat are much like the kosher laws but there is a bit more wiggle room in thetypes of animals they may eat. As with the Jewish custom, blood is to be strictlyavoided and the purposes of following the laws are both God’s divine will andhygienic.Food laws and customs in religions are not just about what people should noteat. Food is also an important part of some religious ceremonies. In the Christiantradition the Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and a few otherprotestant denominations, share bread and wine (though some use grape juice)during worship services known as the “Eucharist” in following the practice setforth by Jesus when he shared bread and wine with his disciples just a few nightsbefore he was killed. This dinner is known as the Last Supper and isremembered with reverence, as it was not only Jesus’ last supper but also aJewish religious custom called the Passover. According to the Torah it is a dinnerthat remembers the night that God saved the Hebrew people from death anddelivered them out of Egypt the next morning. As we learned in Unit II, in theHindu tradition of Puja, that food is offered daily to a deity and that the deity eatsthe essence of the food. The physical food that remains is known as the Prasadand it has been bless by the deity (Gwynne, 2009). Prasad means mercy orgenerosity. These Christian and Hindu traditions are similar in that they are keyelements in worship and there is a blessing upon the food and anacknowledgement that the offering to God or the deities are really gifts from Godto the believers.What most religions seem to have in common is that food has significance for thereligious life. While food is a blessing and essential to life, it can also causeharm, physically or spiritually, if it is not treated properly. Most religious traditionspractice some form of fasting, abstaining from eating, in order to reflect disciplinein the presence of plenty, to be in solidarity with those who do not have enough,or as a time of preparation and reflection. Food is recognized for its importanceto life especially by the religious because religions seek to reveal to believers theprecious gift that life is and the importance of living it with purpose andawareness.FaithandFood.com is an excellent quick reference for religious food norms if youare planning to eat a meal with someone of a faith tradition with which you areunfamiliar.ClothingClothing is another mundane necessity of ordinary life for the religious and nonreligious alike, so why would it be of concern to the religious? Well, becauseclothing conveys a message. It says something about the wearer. Like art, theintended message might be misunderstood. The intent of religious clothing isoften misunderstood by people of other religions or the non-religious, but it is fairto say that clothing rules in the various religions have significant meaning for thewearers about their beliefs.UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title A fairly recent hot topic of discussion concerningreligious clothing is the veil. Some Muslims interpret certain passages of theQur’an as saying that women must cover up their faces in front of men who arenot in their family. Many non-Muslims believe that Muslim women are forced towear the veil and it is a sign of the oppression of women in the Islamic religion. Itis important to note first that requiring women to cover parts of their bodies inpublic is not unique to Islam. Also, the Qur’an requires men to also cover parts oftheir bodies in public. Like all sacred texts, there is room for interpretation, andnot all agree what parts of the body need to be covered. Some Muslim womencover just their heads and necks with a scarf while others follow a strictertradition of covering the entire body with a one piece garment called a burca.What many non-Muslims do not know about are the positive aspects of wearingthe veil. Some Muslim women argue that they are not enslaved by fashion andthe constant pressure to keep up with the latest style and to look appealing andfit a certain body type. They argue that wearing covering helps to keep them frombeing sexually harassed and exploited and actually gives them greater freedomto participate in public life.Many religions require specific dress for worship. In the Islamic tradition,worshipers are expected to take off their shoes in the worship space as it isconsidered to be holy ground. Men and women in both the Islamic and Jewishtraditions cover their heads during worship. Jewish men wear a kippah, which isa small round cap. Many know the kippah by its Yiddish name, yarmulke. Thecap serves as a reminder that God is over you (Gwynne, 2009). It is common forHindu men to wear only a simple loin cloth during worship in the temple. In factwhen a Hindu male has travelled far along his spiritual journey and has begun tolive the life of an ascetic, a lack of clothing is common. Appearance is no longerimportant, so you will find the man very unkempt, dirty, and sometimes naked. Inthe Christian church, the worship leader wears a robe in certain denominations.Some might assume that the robe is to set the leader apart from thecongregation—make him or her stand out. That is not exactly what is going on.The purpose of the robe is to cover up the minister’s clothing and to give theminister a simple look, so that the rituals he performs and the words he speaksare what the congregation pays attention to. The priests or ministers in theRoman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran traditions wear a white collarand a black shirt under the robe, or even on a daily basis. Most of the newerChristian denominations do not have any separate clothing for the ministers indaily life or worship, though they might wear a simple robe. Many Christianchurches also have choirs that wear robes to cover up their clothing to keep fromdistracting from the music. As recently as 50 years ago, it was common forChristians to dress in their nicest clothes for Sunday, their Sunday best, and forwomen to wear hats or scarves to church. Though many people still wear theirbest clothes to church, it is also common in many churches to dress verycasually in order to encourage people to be comfortable and to not exclude thosewho cannot afford to dress in expensive clothing.Buddhist monks and nuns and Christian monks and nuns wear uniforms of sorts.The Buddhist monks receive their robes as a gift from lay Buddhists who in returnreceive good karma. While lay Buddhists do not wear anything distinctive to setthem apart as Buddhists, the monks’ robes are quite distinctive. The Buddhistrobe is called the tricivara and consists of three basic garments: a waistcloth, anupper robe, and an outer robe. The most common colors are saffron and ochre(Buddha Dharma Education Association and Buddha Net,-2008).The robes serve not just as a kind of uniform to remind the wearer that he or sheis a member of a larger universal community, but is itself an object of reflection tobe worn "properly considering them: only to ward off cold, to ward off heat, toward off the touch of insects, wind, sun and reptiles; only for keeping myselfdecent" (M 1:10). Above all, they remind the wearer that he or she has committedhim or herself to high spiritual ideals—to master the Dharma, liberate oneself andshow others the Way. (BDEA, 2008, para. 11)The Christian monastic clothes vary by order. A religious order is a community ofreligious people who live by a set of vows particular to their order. The garmentsare usually simple in design and cover the entire body from the neck down.Some nuns’ garments also cover the head, and possibly the neck, but not theface.Clothing really varies from one religion to the next, but one can find severalpoints of similarity—a sense of modesty, simplicity, a reverence for God, or areminder to focus on others rather than on one’s own fashion.Note: The lectures in this course focus on overall religious concepts. Be sure tocomplete the readings for the week for knowledge of specific religions. Bothoverall concepts and specific religious knowledge will be assessed in theassignments and assessments throughout the course.UNIT x STUDY GUIDE TitleReferencesBuddha Dharma Education Association and Buddha Net. (2008). The MonasticRobes. Retrieved from http://www.buddhanet.net/elearning/buddhistworld/robe_txt.htmFaithandFood. (2009). FaithandFood fact files—Jainism. Retrieved fromhttp://www.faithandfood.com/Jainism.phpGwynne, P. (2009). World religions in practice: A comparative introduction.Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing