History: Assignments

Know Everyone Else's Religion

Are you Christian? Moslem? Hindu? Anything else? Well, it doesn't matter. There are at least 5,000,000,000 other people in the world who don't believe what you believe. Whether they're right or wrong is not an issue here: what is important is how they believe, how that affects the way they view the world, and how that influences the way they feel things should be.

Your assignment is to answer at a set of questions about each of eleven major world religions. Some religions will not have much of an answer to some questions, while others may have an elaborate and detailed response. Answer as appropriate. Try to not use over-simplified answers you may have learned elsewhere. Search for better answers, specifically at places of information regarding these world religions. You will find web sites devoted to these faiths will likely have the most comprehensive set of answers for the questions I ask. Do not seek answers from web sites or literature hostile to these religions, as they will most frequently present a distorted, and therefore useless, view.

Here is your list of religions, in order of appearance, sort of:

1. Hinduism
2. Judaism
3. Shinto
4. Zoroastrianism
5. Taoism
6. Jainism
7. Buddhism
8. Confucianism
9. Christianity
10. Islam
11. Sikhism

... and here are your questions about those religions:

1. Who is the founder of this religion?
2. Does this religion believe in one god, several gods, many gods, or no god?
3. What does this religion teach about the purpose of life?
4. What does this religion teach about life after death?
5. What does this religion teach regarding salvation? Is it strictly a personal journey, or can others, including a deity or deities, help?
6. What does this religion accept as official scripture? Does this religion have an open or closed canon?
7. What are the major denominations of this religion?
8. What is the status of women in this religion?
9. What is the status of the family in this religion?
10. What areas of the world or cultures are typically associated with this religion?
11. Does this religion have any dietary restrictions? If so, what are they?
12. What daily observances are required of the followers of this religion?
13. What restrictions or requirements does this religion have regarding apparel?
14. Does this religion have any monastic orders?
15. What does this relation teach regarding man's relationship to nature?
16. Does this religion have a moral code? If so, what does it require of its believers?
17. Does this religion draw on earlier religious traditions? If so, what are they?
18. According to this religion, how deep is God's (or the Gods') involvement in the lives of people and nations?
19. Does this religion have any holy sites? If so, what are they?
20. Does this religion have any initiation rites? If so, what are they?
21. What major festivals are associated with this religion?

Your answers need to be as complete as possible. For this assignment, group work might prove beneficial, but each student must have a complete version of this assignment for his own reference. I will not consider this assignment complete until after we have had class discussion on it. Mastery of the information in this assignment will be measured in a test. The test will be free-response and will include questions about each of the eleven religions. Information from this assignment is fair game on any future tests.