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Faith & Belief:Five Major

World Religions

T E A C H E R ' S G U I D E

Faith & Belief:Five Major World Religions

A video fromKnowledge Unlimited,® Inc.

T E A C H E R ' S

G U I D E

2 FAITH & BELIEF: FIVE MAJOR WORLD RELIGIONS

Permission granted to reproduce for classroom use only. © Knowledge Unlimited®, Inc. (800) 356-2303 www.knowledgeunlimited.com

Faith & Belief:Five Major World Religions

Copyright © 1992, 1996Knowledge Unlimited,® Inc.

ISBN 1-55933-101-1

Student activity sheets may beduplicated for classroom use.

FAITH & BELIEF: FIVE MAJOR WORLD RELIGIONS

G o a l sThe goals of the video Faith & Belief: Five MajorWorld Religions and this teacher’s guide are tohelp students understand and appreciate bothwhat is unique and what is common to five of themost historically significant of the world’s reli-gions — Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism,and Buddhism. The video presents a brief sum-mary of each religion and also traces the emer-gence and growth of all five. The teacher’s guideprovides a series of lessons that teach students toinvestigate and discuss some of the themes pre-sented in the video.

A u d i e n c eJunior high/middle school students andhigh school students.

L e a r n i n g O b j e c t i v e s

After viewing the video and completing the activ-ities in this guide, students should be able to dothe following:

1 Explain some of the most important conceptsunderlying Judaism, Christianity, Islam,Hinduism, and Buddhism.

2 Understand the contributions key religiousleaders made to the growth of these religions.

3 Appreciate the way that these religions haveresponded to deeply felt questions that confrontall human beings.

4 Make some initial comparisons among thesereligions and some other major world religions.


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i n t r o d u c t i o n

T h e V i d e oFaith & Belief: Five Major World Religionspresents an overview of the nature and origins offive world religions — Judaism, Christianity,Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. The videobegins with a series of philosophical questionsabout nature, existence, and human behavior,questions that all religions seem to address in oneway or another: Why are we here? Why is naturesometimes so bountiful and other times so cruel?How must we behave toward one another? Whathappens to us after death? The video then looks atthe way the five above-mentioned religions seekto explain some of the mysteries and hardships ofhuman existence. It deals first with the religionsthat arose in the Middle East (Judaism,Christianity, Islam) contrasting them in severalways, but also stressing their common features —monotheism, a view of history as linear and pro-gressive, etc. The focus then shifts to the East,with Hinduism and Buddhism presented asexamples of a very different tradition: non-monotheistic and with a more cyclical conceptionof history. The video concludes by stressing theimportance and continuing value of religion inthe modern world.

T h e G u i d eThe teacher’s guide consists of the following:

1 A brief introduction, stating goals and objec-tives and describing the video and guide.

2 The complete text of the video.

3 A readiness activity to be done before viewingthe video and four follow-up lessons to be doneafter viewing it.

4 Reproducible activity sheets accompanying thelessons.

5 A brief list of additional resources.


FAITH & BELIEF: FIVE MAJOR WORLD RELIGIONS4

t h e v i d e o a n d g u i d e


F a i t h & B e l i e f :Five Major World Religions

The world all around us is full ofmystery — of beauty and wonder.Yet even today, the forces of naturecan also easily overwhelm anddestroy us.

Volcanoes and earthquakes …Floods and storms … Disease,drought, and famine …

Why is nature so beautiful sometimes and so destructive othertimes? And what about humans?Our wars, our hatreds, our greedi-ness — these are also often thecauses of suffering. Why do inno-cent people suffer in this life? Howare we to live and treat others? Andwhat happens to us after death?

For thousands of years, people havestruggled to answer these ques-tions. Religion is an attempt toanswer these most difficult andmost troubling questions.

Religions have shaped faith andbelief for hundreds of millions ofpeople. And over the years, reli-gious beliefs have taken thousandsof forms. This is the story of five ofthe major religions that guide ourworld today.

Primitive peoples believed that spir-itual forces, unseen powers, andgods were the causes of many of themysteries of nature. Spirits or godsin trees, the sky, thunder, rain, thesun, and animals explained why theseasons changed …… why some got sick and othersstayed healthy …… why crops grew, or withered indrought … … why warriors succeeded in bat-tle, or fell in defeat.

People created rituals and sacrificesto please the gods — or apologize tothem. In ancient Sumer, in theMiddle East, people believed eachcity had its own god looking outonly for the residents of that city.Ancient Egyptians believed theirPharaoh, or king, was actually agod who had taken human form towatch over all of Egypt.

Most early religions were ways todeal with the immediate fears andneeds of a single tribe or nation. Agod who protected one group of peo-ple was not seen as having any con-cerns about other groups. But intime, religions began to deal withbroader matters, with questions ofright and wrong, and with all ofhumanity.

Today, five such religions —Judaism, Christianity, Islam,Hinduism, and Buddhism — stillinfluence and guide billions of peo-ple all over the world. Judaism,Christianity, and Islam all began inthe same region of the world — theMiddle East. And all three religionsshare some of the same beliefs.

J u d a i s mJudaism began about 4,000 yearsago as the religion of a small MiddleEastern group of people calledHebrews or Jews. The Hebrewswandered the lands between two ofthe Middle East’s mighty civiliza-tions — Babylon in the valley of theTigris and Euphrates Rivers, andEgypt in the valley of the Nile.

Powerful gods were said to protectthese great empires and keep themstrong. The Hebrews, too, had aGod who watched over them. But intime, they developed a startling new, even revolutionary, idea aboutthis God — the idea of monotheism,that there is only one god for all ofhumanity.


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A group of ancient writings, calledthe Old Testament, tells how Godmade a special covenant, or agree-ment, with the Hebrews. He wouldprotect them and bring them into aland of their own — Canaan. Inreturn, the Hebrews must obey hislaws, especially the laws spelled outin the tablets God gave to Moses —the Ten Commandments. In time,the Hebrews came to see God as thecreator of the entire universe — andas the only true god.

He might show special favor towardthe Hebrews. But in fact, all humanbeings were his children. He caredabout all of them. For the followersof Judaism, history has a purpose.God is leading humanity to a betterfuture. History is the story of God’splan for humanity.

As we’ve seen, the three centralideas of Judaism are:

Monotheism — the idea of a singleGod.

Lawfulness — the idea that Godsets down moral laws and agrees tobe fair to those who obey them.

History — the idea that God ischanging the world and leadinghumanity to a better life.

Today, followers of Judaism live allover the world, but most live inIsrael, the U.S., and the formerSoviet Union. They worship God inspecial buildings called synagogues.

In Judaism the Shabbat, or Sabbath,is a special day of rest and prayer.This weekly holy day begins at duskon Friday and continues throughSaturday.

There are only about 17 millionJews in the world today. But fromJudaism grew two other religions— Christianity and Islam. Both ofthese religions have hundreds ofmillions of followers.

C h r i s t i a n i t yLike Jews, Christians also believe inone God, in God’s lawfulness andhis role in guiding human history.They accept the version of historydescribed in the Old Testament. Butfor Christians, the most importantevents took place later in history —the birth, life, death, and resurrec-tion of Jesus Christ.

According to the writings of theNew Testament, Jesus Christ was aHebrew who was born in Jerusalemabout 2,000 years ago, when theMiddle East was part of the ancientRoman Empire.

Christians believe that Christ isGod’s son, who was sent to Earth toteach people to love one another asGod loves them. Christ taught thatrich and poor, Jew and non-Jew, areall equally important in God’s eyes.

Some powerful leaders in Israel andin the Roman Empire disliked andfeared Christ’s teachings. And theyexecuted him as a criminal — theynailed him on a cross and left himto die. Yet Christ’s death was whatallowed his message to triumph.

According to the New Testament,after Christ’s death, he appeared tohis followers — the 12 apostles. Hetold them that those who had faithin him and followed God’s teach-ings would be forgiven their sinsand have everlasting life.

In the view of some historians,Christianity is centered around asingle image — an image of God, orhis Son, not as a glorious and pow-erful king … but as a human being… moreover, a humble, kind humanbeing.

Today, Christian religions takemany different forms. Catholics,Lutherans, Methodists, andBaptists are just a few religiousdenominations that follow a beliefin Christ.

They worship in churches, with joy-ous singing, with readings from theBible, and with silent prayers.Many Christians attend church ser-vices on Sunday, their day of rest.

From its beginnings in the MiddleEast, Christianity has spread to allparts of the globe. Today, more thana billion people belong to one of themany Christian churches.

T H E V I D E O S C R I P T


I s l a mIslam, the Muslim religion, isanother religion with roots in theMiddle East. Islam began in theancient city of Mecca, in the middleof the great desert that today makesup much of Saudi Arabia.

There, around 610 A.D., theprophet Muhammad began todescribe messages he said the AngelGabriel had given him from God. Intime, these beliefs were writtendown in Islam’s holy book — theKoran.

The Koran teaches all Muslims howthey are to worship. And it setsdown in detail all other importantrules for daily living. According toIslam, God, or Allah, demandsstrict obedience of all his laws.

All Muslims must follow five mainduties:

They must profess their belief inGod and in Muhammad as God’sprophet.

They must pray five times each day,facing in the direction of Mecca.

Muslims must give alms to thepoor.

They must fast during the specialmonth of Ramadan.

And if possible, at least once intheir lives, they must make a pil-grimage to the Muslim holy city ofMecca.

Muslims from all over the worldtravel to Mecca. For them, the pil-grimage is one of life’s most impor-tant events. During their pilgrim-age, they must follow many specialceremonies over the course of sever-al days. But before they enter themosque in Mecca, they must washand change into clean clothes.

One of the most important cere-monies involves walking or run-ning around a shrine, called theKaaba, seven times.

The Kaaba holds the sacred BlackStone in its walls. Pilgrims kiss orsalute the stone as they circle theKaaba, saying “God is the great-est.”

Like Christians, Muslims believe inlife after death. They believe Allahwill send the good to heaven, andthe bad to hell. Muslims have notset aside a weekly day of rest. Buton Fridays, all male Muslims mustattend prayers at a mosque.

Islam began with one group of peo-ple in the Middle East — the Arabpeople. Later, the religion spread farbeyond the Arab world — intoEurope, Africa, and Asia. Todaythere are more non-Arab Muslimsthan there are Arabs — about 800million believers in all.

Muslims, Christians, and Jews allfollow the belief in a single, all-powerful God. This God cares aboutpeople. He works through history tochange the world and to end suffer-ing and evil.

The problem of suffering and evilalso lay at the heart of religion inAsia. But in Asia, the major reli-gions — Hinduism and Buddhism,in particular — dealt very differ-ently with this and many otherproblems of life.

H i n d u i s mHinduism is one of the oldest livingreligions in the world.

It began about 4,000 years ago inthe villages and cities of India.

Since ancient times, Indiansbelieved that rivers — especially thesacred Ganges River — were giftsfrom the gods. The Ganges is apowerful symbol for most Hindus.

A river flows continuously. But itis always the same. In Hinduism,the river is a symbol for the soul —it is the same, endless, yet constant-ly being reborn, or reincarnated,from lifetime to lifetime.

Along with reincarnation, Hindusbelieve that our actions in this lifedetermine the human or animalform our soul takes in its next life.An evil soul, for example, might bereborn as a lowly insect. Someonewho lived a good life might bereborn as a prince, a priest, or a cow— an animal that is sacred toHindus.


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Hindus have long accepted theIndian idea of caste — a rigid wayof ranking people. People from allwalks of life belonged to one of fourcastes. People who followed theircaste’s rules and lived a good lifecould rise to higher castes in futurerebirths. Those who did not, riskedreincarnation as an untouchable —a person with no caste who isi g n o red and mistreated. To d a y,India has outlawed the caste system.

In any case, the ultimate Hindugoal is not a better caste. It is to win release completely fromthis endless round of rebirth andredeath — to achieve spiritual per-fection and to be free of the pain andsuffering of this world.

Hindus are polytheistic — theyworship many gods. The mostimportant are …

Vishnu — the preserver of theworld.

Shiva — the destroyer, and also thecreative force in the world.

And Shiva’s wife, who — like theothers — often appears in manydifferent forms. As Parvati or Uma,she is the goddess of motherhood.As Durga or Kali, she is the god-dess of destruction.

In Hinduism, all of the gods andgoddesses make up one universalspirit, called Brahman.

Most Hindus worship individually

— outdoors, in temples, or in thehome. Many Hindu homes havesmall shrines dedicated to a godchosen by the family. Today, morethan 700 million people follow thisreligion. Most Hindus live in India,but Hinduism has a strong follow-ing in other Asian nations.

B u d d h i s mLike Hindus, Buddhists believe thatexistence is a cycle of death andrebirth. Unlike other major reli-gions, Buddhism does not stress abelief in a supreme being or in pow-erful gods. Instead, Buddhists focuson the idea of spiritual enlighten-ment, which must come from with-in each person.

Buddhism began about 2500 yearsago in northern India, with theteachings of one man. This manwas a prince named SiddharthaGuatama. Siddhartha felt some-thing was missing in his comfort-able palace life. He was saddened bythe death, the disease, and the suf-fering he saw in the world. He lefthis luxurious palace and gave awayhis belongings. At first, he deniedhimself all comfort and pleasure.

But in the end, he decided that suf-fering and denial were no betterthan luxury and laziness. He beganto meditate. According to legend, hefinally attained enlightenmentwhile meditating under a bodi tree.He then became the Buddha, whichmeans “the enlightened one.”

Today, millions of people in Asiafollow the teachings of Buddha.They have built hundreds of tem-ples in honor of Buddha — but theydo not worship Buddha as a god.

Some of the most devout Buddhists,monks and nuns, live in separatecommunities, away from the com-plexities and distractions of theworld at large.

All Buddhists follow what they callthe “Middle Way” — a path ofmoderation, neither giving in todesires and wants, nor strugglingto deny them. Instead, they seekcontrol over their inner lives.

Buddhists believe that by control-ling the mind and spirit they willachieve “nirvana” — a perfect stateof peace and happiness. Buddhistsbelieve that those who achieve nir-vana can escape the weary round ofdeath and rebirth. Only then canthey achieve a profound and inde-scribable joy in life.

Though Buddhism began in India,it did not remain strong there.Instead, several forms of it spreadthroughout other parts of Asia — toChina, Tibet, Korea, and Japan.Today, there are more than 300 mil-lion Buddhists.

For Buddhists and Hindus, historyand nature move in endless cycles.Life is a circle, a constant repetitionof birth and rebirth. Peace and hap-piness come from within.



In Judaism, Christianity, andIslam, history moves in a line.There is progress. God has a plan tosave human souls from suffering.

All of these religions have impor-tant ideas to teach. And all havemade terrible mistakes, as well.

Followers of many religions, forexample, have done cruel things inthe names of their religions. Theyhave declared “holy wars” in whichpeople of different faiths wereimprisoned or killed. They haveaccused innocent women of witch-craft and sentenced them to death.

Today, some say the traditional reli-gions no longer offer answers forthe problems of the modern world.But others disagree. They say thatreligion is needed now as neverbefore, as a guide and solace to peo-ple in a very confusing era.

The ideas of the great religiousteachers — Christ, Muhammad,Buddha, and many others — havenot been lost. Their ideas about howto live and how to treat others stillplay an important role in people’slives. People everywhere — evenpeople who do not follow any reli-gion — follow religion’s basicteachings of good and evil. Thesebasic lessons continue to inspireand guide the faith, belief, andactions of our world.


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Meditating Buddha

U n d e r s t a n d i n g W o r l d R e l i g i o n s

O b j e c t i v e :To better enable students to understand some of the main terms,

explanations, and historical references in the video.

1 Split your class into four or five smaller groups.

2 Reproduce and pass out copies of the Readiness Activity Sheet (see opposite), which con-tains a list of terms and vocabulary words.

3 Give each group about 15 minutes to discuss the terms and try to agree on definitions. Ask one person in each group to act as secretary and record each of the group’s definitions inone or two sentences.

4 As a whole class, have the secretaries read their definitions and discuss them. Try to supplyaccurate definitions where necessary. Then tell the class that they will be viewing a video about five major world religions that will make use of and expand on the terms on theirlists.

5 Show video.



r e a d i n e s s a c t i v i t y(Do this activity before viewing the video.)


F a i t h & B e l i e f :F i v e M a j o r W o r l d R e l i g i o n s

In a small group, discuss the following terms. Have one member of the group act as secretary andrecord an agreed-upon definition for each of the terms in the space provided.

Monotheism

Moses

Jesus Christ

Salvation

Mecca

Muhammad

The Koran

Reincarnation

Caste

Buddha

Nirvana


r e a d i n e s s a c t i v i t y s h e e t

L e s s o n 1

O b j e c t i v e :To enable students to better appreciate the

relative size and geographical extent of the fiveworld religions reviewed in the video.

1 Ask students to use history texts and encyclopedias to find out where most of the followersof Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism live.

2 Reproduce and hand out copies of Activity Sheet for Lesson 1 (see opposite), which con-tains an outline map of the world.

3 Ask students to create a key for the five religions and color in the areas where each religionis dominant. In the case of Judaism, areas of greatest concentration will overlap with other religions.

4 On a separate piece of paper, have students create a bar graph illustrating the estimatedtotal number of adherents of each of these five faiths.



c l a s s r o o m a c t i v i t i e s(Do these activities after viewing the video)

L e s s o n 2

O b j e c t i v e :To enable students to recognize that religions evolve in part

because of the efforts of important religious leaders and thinkers,who have influenced millions with their words and deeds.

1 Reproduce and hand out copies of Activity Sheet for Lesson 2 (see opposite). This activitysheet lists several important figures in the history of religion.

2 Point out that what we know about some of these figures depends entirely on accounts of them in religious writings. Our knowledge of others is more extensive and historically grounded.

3 Give each student the task of learning more about the figures on the list. Have them com-plete the activity sheet using resources in the library and elsewhere.

4 Divide the class into four groups. Assign each group responsibility for one of the four fig-ures listed on the activity sheet. Pass out copies of all of the completed activity sheets toeach group. Have each group use the activity sheets to prepare a short presentation on thereligious leader it has been assigned.



c l a s s r o o m a c t i v i t i e s


L e s s o n 2


The names of four important religious figures are listed here. Use history textbooks, encyclopedias, orother resources to fill in the information below in a few sentences.

MosesWho he was

His most important teachings

MuhammadWho he was


JesusWho he was


Siddhartha GuatamaWho he was



a c t i v i t y s h e e t

L e s s o n 3

O b j e c t i v e :To enable students to make some initial

comparisons and contrasts among the writings found in some of the world’s great religious texts.

1 Reproduce and hand out copies of Activity Sheet for Lesson 3 (see opposite). The activity sheet lists the names of two groups of sacred writings.

2 Have students choose two of the writings listed in the activity sheet. One choice must comefrom Group A — writings belonging to religions that arose in the Middle East. The other choice must come from Group B — religious writings from Asia.

3 Give students time to locate and read parts of the two writings they have chosen. Thenhave them complete the activity sheet. Select some of the activity sheets as the basis for aclass discussion.





L e s s o n 3


Below are two groups of sacred writings from some of the religions discussed in the video Faith &Belief: Five Major World Religions. Those in Group A are from religions that arose in the Middle East.Those in Group B are from religions that arose in Asia. Choose two of these sacred writings, one fromGroup A and one from Group B, and read parts of each of them. Find a passage in each that you espe-cially like. Copy each passage and answer the two questions that follow. You may use additional paper.

Group A The Old TestamentThe New TestamentThe KoranThe Talmud

Group B Bhagavad-GitaMahabharataRamayanaVedas

Passage from Group A

Passage From Group B

How do the two passages differ?

How are the two passages alike?



L e s s o n 4

O b j e c t i v eTo give students a chance to compare

what they have learned about the five religions in the videoto other major religions of the world.

1 Reproduce and hand out copies of Activity Sheet for Lesson 4 (see opposite). This sheet asks for information on one of several other major religions.

2 Give students time to research one of the religions listed in the activity sheet.

3 Have each student complete the activity sheet.

4 Use some of the activity sheets as the basis for class discussions on some of the other majorworld religions.





L e s s o n 4


S o m e O t h e r W o r l d R e l i g i o n s

Choose one of the religions listed below and complete the following information as it pertains to thatreligion. (Use additional paper if necessary.)

Bahai Confucianism

Jainism Rastafarianism

Shinto Sikhism

Taoism Zoroastrianism

Founder, if any

Sacred Writings or Myths

Major Beliefs





Fisher, Mary Pat and Robert Luyster. Living Religions. London: I.B. Tauris Co. Ltd., 1990.

Grim, Keith, ed. The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1989.

Moktefi, Mokhtar. The Rise of Islam. Silver Burdett.

Religions Around the World: The Story of the Christians. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Religions Around the World: The Story of the Jews. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Religions Around the World: The Story of Islam. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Religions Around the World: The Story of the Hindus. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Religions on File. New York: Facts on File, 1990.

Ross, Floyd H. The Great Religions By Which Men Live. New York: Fawcett.

Thompson, Jan and Mel. World Religions in Maps and Notes. Edward Arnold, 1986.

Ward, Hiley. My Friends’ Beliefs: A Young Reader’s Guide to World Religions. New York: Walker, 1988.

Additional Teaching Resources from Knowledge Unlimited

World Religions Posters. Set of five. Knowledge Unlimited,® Cat. No. 7088PWorld Religions Map and Timeline. Knowledge Unlimited,® Cat. No. 7186P

To order, write to Knowledge Unlimited® Inc.P.O. Box 52, Madison, WI 53701-0052,or call toll-free (800) 356-2303, or fax (800) 618-1570

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