The Supreme Deity Main
articles: Tetragrammaton, Trinity,
and Allah--Monotheistically-Nontrinitarianism.
Abrahamic
religion Contents
Abrahamic
religion is a term of Islamic/Muslim/Quranic origin,[1][2] commonly used to designate the three prevalent monotheistic
religions Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam[1][2] – which claim Abraham (Hebrew:
Avraham
אַבְרָהָם ; Arabic:
Ibrahim ابراهيم ) as a part of
their sacred history. Other, smaller religions that identify with this tradition
– such as the Baha'i Faith – are sometimes included.[3]
Judaism
and Islam worship a Supreme Deity which they conceive strictly monotheistically
as one being; Christianity agrees, but the Christian God is at the same time
(according to most of mainstream Christianity) an indivisible Trinity, a view
not shared by the other religions. It should be noted that a sizable minority
of Christians and Christian denominations do not support the belief in the
doctrine of the Trinity, suggesting that the Trinity idea was founded in Roman
religious culture, probably due to Rome's absorption of some Zoroastrian
and some Pagan ideology as
part of their homogenized culture, and was not part of the original, primitive
Christianity.
(See Nontrinitarianism.)
and Compare Sbt”s 58.htm
Main article: Judaism
11th century manuscript of the Hebrew Bible with Targum
Jewish theology is based
on the Hebrew
Bible, where the nature and commandments of God are revealed through the
writings of Moses,
the Torah,
and the writings of the prophets, psalmists and other ancient canonized scriptures, together with
the Torah known as the Tanakh. Additionally, it usually has a basis in its Oral Law, as
recorded in the Mishnah
and Gemora which form the Talmud.
This
Supreme Being is referred to in the Hebrew Bible in several ways, such as Elohim, Adonai
or by the four Hebrew letters
"Y-H-V (or W)
-H" (the tetragrammaton), which observant Jews do not pronounce
as a word. The Hebrew words Eloheynu (Our God) and HaShem (The Name),
as well as the English names "Lord" and "God", are also
used in modern day Judaism. The latter is sometimes written "G-d" in
reference to the taboo against pronouncing the tetragrammaton.
The
word "Elohim" has the Hebrew plural ending "-īm",
which some Biblical scholars have taken as support for the general notion that
the ancient Hebrews were polytheists in the time of the patriarchs; however, as the word itself is used with singular
verbs, this hypothesis is not accepted by most Jews. Jews point out
other words in Hebrew that are used in the same manner according to the rule of
Hebrew Grammar, and denotes respect, majesty and
deliberation, similar to the royal plural in English and ancient Egyptian, and
the use of the plural form "vous" for individuals of higher
standing in modern French. Jewish Biblical scholars and historical commentary
on the passage also suggest that Elohim in the plural form points to God in
conjunction with the heavenly court, i.e. the angels. The
pre-Christian era and early CE period Kabbalistic and later in the European
Chasidic movements after the Baal Shem Tov, such as Breslov and Chabad, all
point to the use of Elokim as denoting the multidimensional existence of
God on, in, and through every possible dimension of the created existence. See
Likutei Moharan and the Tanya, as well as the Zohar, Bahir, and the Kabbalistic
texts of Sefer Yitzirah, Sefer Refayim, and Sefer Malachim, to name a few.
Including the writings of the Ramchal (R. Moshe Chaim Luzzatto), Drech HaShem
and others such as the Rashbi (R. Shimon bar Yochai, author of the Zohar) all
explain the use of the Elokim as a pluralistic singularity, one essence
sustaining all levels of creation from the mundane physical to the sublime and
Holy spiritual.
[edit] Christianity
Main article: Christianity
The Christian cross is the best-known religious symbol
of Christianity.
Christians
believe that the God worshipped by the faithful Hebrew people of the
pre-Christian era has always revealed himself as he did through Jesus; but this was
never obvious until the Word of the Lord, the revelation of God, became flesh
and dwelt among us (see John 1). Also, despite the fact that the Angel of the
Lord spoke to the Patriarchs, revealing God to them, it has always been only by
the Spirit of God granting them understanding, that men have been able to
perceive afterward that they had been visited by God himself. After Jesus was
raised from the dead—according to Christian scriptures—this ancient Hebrew
witness of how God reveals himself as Messiah came to be seen in a very
different light. It was then that Jesus' followers began to speak widely of him
as God himself (see John 20:28), although this had already been revealed to
certain individuals during his Ministry, for example, the Samaritan woman in
Shechem, and his closest apostles.
This
belief was gradually developed into the modern formulation of the Trinity, which is
the doctrine that God is a single holy God (YHWH), but that there
is a real threeness in God's single being that has always been evident but not
understood. This mysterious threeness has been described as, for want of better
terms, hypostases in the Greek
language (subsistences), and as "persons" in English. In
the traditional Christian conception, God the Father has only ever been
revealed through his eternal Word (who was born as Jesus, of the Virgin Mary),
and his Spirit (who after the resurrection was given to men, establishing the
Christian church).
Trinitarian
theology is developed from the Christian Bible (comprised by
the Old
and New
Testaments). As it was further elaborated by the early Church fathers, it was
later codified by the Ecumenical councils at Nicaea and Chalcedon. Another famous formulation is
called the Athanasian Creed. Some Trinitarian churches,
however, do not accept the Chalcedon council at all, in part because it claimed
to have excommunicated them. These are known as 'non-Chalcedonian', or Oriental
Orthodox Churches.
This
"trinitarian monotheism" has been rejected by several
Christian denominations and Christian-based religions, such as Arianism and Unitarianism.
Strict unitarian Christians believe that God the Father is the only divine
being, but the others believe that Jesus is a created deity. Another minority
viewpoint is that the personality expressed in earthly manifestation as Jesus
is in fact that of the one-and-only God; this belief system is usually
described as Oneness Pentecostal and is largely found in North
America.
[edit] Islam
Main article: Islam
Symbol of Islam, the name of Allah.
Allah is the standard
Arabic translation for the word "God." Islamic tradition also
describes the 99 names of God. See also: Islamic concept of God
Muslims believe
that the Jewish God is the same as their God and that Jesus is a divinely
inspired prophet, but not God. Thus, both the Torah and the Gospels are
believed to be based upon divine revelation, but Muslims believe them to have
been corrupted
(both accidentally through errors in transmission and intentionally by Jews and
Christians over the centuries). Muslims revere the Qur'an as the
final uncorrupted word of God or the last testament brought through the last
prophet, Muhammad.
Muhammad is regarded as the "Seal of the Prophets" and Islam is viewed as
the final monotheist faith for all of humanity.
[edit] Bahá'í Faith
Main article: Bahá'í Faith
The
belief in the Oneness of God is central to the Bahá'í Faith. According to
Bahá'í doctrine, God is one being, and has created all the creatures and forces
in the universe. He is also imagined by Bahá'ís as omnipotent and omniscient.
In order to educate humanity, Bahá'ís believe that God sends his messengers to
humanity. These messengers are known in Bahá'í literature as "Manifestations of God," the most recent
of whom Bahá'ís believe was Bahá'u'lláh. According to Bahá'í doctrine, these
Manifestations reveal the nature and will of God in their teachings and through
sacred texts, which (for Bahá'ís) include the Torah, the Christian Bible, the
Qur'án, the Aqdas and the Book of Certitude, and Buddhist
scriptures. Bahá'ís maintain that the older texts contain allegories that
should be interpreted in view of the most recent (and most perfect)
revelations. However, Bahá'í doctrine teaches that the Supreme Deity is too
great to be fully understood by humans.
[edit] Religious
scriptures
All
these religions rely on a body of scriptures, some of which are considered to
be the word of God — hence sacred and unquestionable — and some the work of
religious men, revered mainly by tradition and to the extent that they are
considered to have been divinely inspired, if not dictated, by the divine
being.
[edit] Judaism
Main article: Tanakh
A Sefer Torah opened for liturgical use in a synagogue service
The
sacred scriptures of Judaism are comprised of the Tanakh,
a Hebrew acronym that stands for Torah (Law or Teachings), Nevi'im
(Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings). These are complemented by and
supplemented with various originally oral traditions: Midrash, the Mishnah, the Talmud, and
collected rabbinical writings. The Hebrew text of the Tanakh, and the Torah in
particular, is considered holy, down to the last letter: transcribing is done
with painstaking care. An error in a single letter, ornamentation or symbol of
the over 300,000 stylized letters which make up the Hebrew Torah text renders a
Torah scroll unfit for use, hence a Torah scribe is a specialist skill and
takes considerable time to write and check.
[edit] Christianity
Main articles: Old
Testament and New Testament
The
sacred scriptures of most Christian sects are the Old
Testament, which is largely the same as the Hebrew
Bible, and the New Testament, which comprises four accounts of the
life and teachings of Jesus (the Four
Gospels, traditionally attributed to his apostles
Matthew and John and to Mark the Evangelist and Luke the Evangelist) and several writings by
the apostles and early Fathers such as Paul.
They are usually considered to be divinely inspired in some sense and together
comprise the Christian
Bible. Thus Christians consider the fundamental teachings of the Old
Testament, in particular the Ten
Commandments, as valid. However, they believe that the coming of Jesus as
the messiah and savior of mankind as predicted in the Old
Testament would shed light on the true relationship between God and mankind
by restoring the emphasis of universal love and compassion (as mentioned in the
Shema) above the
other commandments, also de-emphasising the more "legalistic" and material precepts of Mosaic Law
(such as the dietary constraints and temple rites). Some Christians believe
that the link between Old and New Testaments in the Bible means that Judaism
has been superseded by Christianity as the "new
Israel," and that Jesus' teachings described Israel not as a geographic
place but as an association with God and promise of salvation in heaven.
A Bible handwritten in Latin, on display in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire,
England. This Bible was transcribed in Belgium in 1407 for reading aloud in a
monastery.
The
vast majority of Christian religions (generally including Catholicism,
Orthodox Christianity, Anglicans and
most forms of Protestantism, but not Restorationism)
derive their beliefs from the conclusions reached by the First Council of Nicaea in 325, in a document known
as the Nicene
Creed. This describes the beliefs that God (as a Trinity of
distinct persons with one substance) became human on earth, born as Jesus pursuant to the
Old
Testament scriptures, was crucified by humanity, died and was buried, only
to be resurrected on the third day to rise and enter the Kingdom of Heaven and
"sit at the right hand of" God. Christians generally believe that
faith in Jesus is
the only way to achieve salvation and to enter into heaven, and that
salvation is a gift given by the grace of God.
Christians
recognize that the Gospels were passed on by oral tradition only to be set to
paper decades after the death of Jesus, and that the extant versions are copies
of those originals. Indeed, the version of the Bible considered to be most
valid (in the sense of best conveying the true meaning of the word of God) has
varied considerably: the Greek Septuagint,
the Latin Vulgate, the English
King James Version, and the Russian
Synodal Bible have
been authoritative to different communities at different times. In particular,
Christians usually consult the Hebrew
version of the Old Testament when preparing new translations, although some
believe that the Septuagint should be preferred, as it was the Bible of the Early
Christian Church, and because they believe its translators used a different
Hebrew bible to the ones that make up the current Masoretic Hebrew text as
there are some variant readings of the Dead
Sea Scrolls that are confirmed by the Septuagint. In the same sense that
the Jewish mystics viewed the Torah as something living and existing prior to any written
text, so too do Christians view the Bible and Jesus himself as God's "Word" (or logos in Greek),
that transcends written documents.
The
sacred scriptures of the Christian Bible are complemented by a large body of
writings by individual Christians and councils of Christian leaders. Some
Christian churches and denominations consider certain additional writings to be
binding; other Christian groups consider only the Bible to be binding.
[edit] Islam
"Muhammad" in a new genre of Islamic calligraphy started in the 17th century
by Hafiz Osman.[8]
Main articles: Qur'an and Origin and development of the
Qur'an
Islam's holiest book
is the Qur'an,
comprised of 114 suras
("chapters of the Qur'an."). However, Muslims also
believe in the religious texts of Judaism and Christianity
in their original forms and not the current versions which they believe to be
corrupted. According to the Qur'an (and mainstream Muslim belief) the verses of
the Quran were revealed from God through the Archangel Gabriel to the
Prophet Muhammad
on separate occasions. These revelations were written down during Muhammad's
lifetime and collected into one official copy in 633 AD, one year after
his death. Finally the Quran was given its present order in 653 AD by the third
Caliph.
The
Qur'an mentions and reveres several of the Israelite Prophets, including Jesus,
amongst others (see also: Prophets
of Islam). The stories of these Prophets are very similar to those in the
Bible. However the detailed precepts of the Tanakh and the New
Testament are not adopted outright; they are replaced by the new
commandments revealed directly by God (through Gabriel) to Muhammad and
codified in the Qur'an.
Like
the Jews with the Torah, Muslims consider the original Arabic
text of the Qur'an as uncorrupted and holy to the last letter, and any
translations are considered to be interpretations of the meaning of the Qur'an,
as only the original Arabic text is considered to be the divine scripture.
Like
the Rabbinic Oral
Law to the Hebrew Bible, the Qur'an is complemented by the Hadith, a set
of books by later authors that record the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. The
Hadith interpret and elaborate Qur'anic precepts. There is no consensus within
Islam on the authority of the Hadith collections, but Islamic scholars have
categorized each Hadith at one of the following levels of authenticity or isnad: genuine (sahih),
fair (hasan), or weak (da'if). Amongst Shia Muslims, no hadith is
regarded as Sahih, and hadith in general are only accepted if there is no
disagreement with the Qur'an.
By the
ninth century, six collections of Hadiths were accepted as reliable to Sunni
Muslims. Shia Muslims however, refer to an alternate tradition of authenticated
Hadiths.
The
Sunni Collections:
- al-Bukhari
(d. 870)
- Muslim b. al-Hajjaj (d. 875)
- Abu
Da'ud (d. 888)
- al-Tirmidhi
(d. 892)
- al-Nasa'i
(d. 915)
- Ibn Maja
(d. 886).
The
Hadith and the life story of Muhammad (sira) form the Sunnah, a
scriptural supplement to the Qur'an. The legal opinions of Islamic jurists (fiqh) provides another
source for the daily practice and interpretation of Islamic tradition.
[edit] Rastafari movement
Some Rastafarians use the King James Version of the Bible as
their main scripture, while many others disdain it. A great many nowadays make
special efforts to study the Orthodox Amharic version.
Rastas often claim that the Bible only has half of God's Word, and that the other
half is written in the heart of mankind. The teachings of Marcus
Garvey and the Holy Piby are among other important documents, as are the
writings and speeches of Emperor Haile
Selassie I.
[edit] The coming
Main
article: Millennialism
In the
major Abrahamic religions, there exists the expectation of an individual who
will herald the time of the end, and/or bring about the Kingdom
of God on Earth, in other words the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy. Judaism awaits the coming of
the Jewish
Messiah (the Jewish concept of Messiah differs from the Christian concept
in several significant ways despite the same term being applied to both). The
Jewish Messiah is not a "God" but a mortal man who by his holiness is
worthy of that description, he will make his appearance only during an era of
peace and holiness and his coming may not end history. Christianity awaits the Second
Coming of Christ. Islam awaits both the second coming of Jesus (in order to
complete his life and die, since he is said to have been risen alive and not
crucified) and the coming of Mahdi (Sunnis in his first incarnation, Shi'as
the return of Muhammad al-Mahdi). The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community believes that
both Mahdi and Second
Coming of Christ were fulfilled in Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Conversely, members of the Bahá'í Faith believe that these were fulfilled in the
persons of Báb
and Bahá'u'lláh. Rastafari awaits the return of Haile
Selassie.
[edit] Afterlife
Most
Abrahamic religions agree that a human being comprises the body, which dies,
and the soul, which need not do so. The soul, capable of remaining alive beyond
human death, carries the essence of that person with it, and God will judge
that person's life accordingly after they die. The importance of this, the
focus on it, and the precise criteria and end result differs between religions.
Reincarnation
and transmigration
tend not to feature prominently in Abrahamic religions. Although as a rule they
all look to some form of afterlife, Christianity and Islam support a
continuation of life, usually viewed as eternal, rather than reincarnation and
transmigration which are a return (or repeated returns) to this Earth or some
other plane to live a complete new life cycle over again.
Kabbalic Judaism, however, accepts the concept of returning in new births
through a process called gilgul neshamot, but this is not Torah-derived, and
is usually studied only among scholars and mystics within the faith. It is a
mainstream belief of Hassidic Jews and many Orthodox Jews.
[edit] Judaism
Main article: Olam Haba
Judaism's
views on the afterlife ("the World to Come") are quite diverse and
its discussion is not encouraged. This can be attributed to the fact that even
though there clearly are traditions in the Hebrew
Bible of an afterlife (see Naboth and the Witch
of Endor), Judaism focuses on this life and how to lead a holy life to
please God, rather than future reward, and its attitude can be mostly summed up
by the rabbinical observation that at the start of Genesis God clothed the
naked (Adam and Eve), at the end of Deuteronomy He buried the dead (Moses), the Children
of Israel mourned for 40 days, then got on with their lives.
Many
feel that there is some sort of afterlife, maybe a return of the soul to God,
some say that there is some sort of reward for the righteous in Gan ‘Edhen (the
Garden of Eden) and (less agreed upon) punishment in Ge-Hinnom. Popularly it is
claimed that the maximum time of punishment for all but the most evil is one
year. The mystically inclined also claim the souls (or sparks of souls) may be
reincarnated, through Gilgul. If there is an afterlife all agree in Judaism that the
good of all the nations will get to heaven and this is one of the reasons
Judaism does not normally proselytize.
[edit] Islam
In
Islam, God is said to be "Most Compassionate and Most Merciful"
(Quran 1:1). However God is also "Most Just", Islam prescribes a
literal Hell
for those who disobey God and commit gross sin. Those who obey God and submit
to God will be rewarded with their own place in Paradise. While sinners are
punished with fire, there are also many other forms of punishment described,
depending on the sin committed; Hell is divided into numerous levels, an idea
that found its way into Christian literature through Dante's
borrowing of Muslim themes and tropes for his Inferno.
Those
who worship and remember God are promised eternal abode in a physical and
spiritual Paradise. In Islam, Heaven is divided into numerous levels, with the
higher levels of Paradise being the reward of those who have been more
virtuous, For example, the highest levels might contain the Prophets, those
killed for believing, those who help orphans, and those who never tell a lie
(among numerous other categories cited in the Qur'an and Hadith).
Upon
repentance to God, many sins can be forgiven as God is said to be the most
Merciful. Additionally, those who ultimately believe in God, but have led
sinful lives, may be punished for a time, and then ultimately released into
Paradise. If anyone dies in a state of Shirk (the association God in any way, such as
claiming that He is equal with anything or worshiping other than Him), then it
is possible he will stay forever in Hell; however, it is said that anyone with
"one atom of faith" will eventually reach Heaven, and Muslim
literature also records reference to even the greatly sinful, Muslim and otherwise,
eventually being pardoned and released into Paradise.
Once a
person is admitted to Paradise, this person will abide there for eternity.
[edit] Bahá'í Faith
The
Bahá'í Faith regards as symbolic the conventional description of the afterlife
(heaven and hell) as a specific place.[9] Instead the Bahá'í writings describe heaven as a "spiritual
condition" where closeness to God is defined as heaven; conversely hell is seen as a state
of remoteness from God.[9] Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, has
stated that the nature of the life of the soul in the afterlife is beyond
comprehension in the physical plane,[9] but has stated that the soul will retain its
consciousness and individuality and remember its physical life; the soul will
be able to recognize other souls and communicate with them.[9]
For
Bahá'ís, entry into the next life has the potential to bring great joy.[9] Bahá'u'lláh likened death to the process of
birth. He explains: "The world beyond is as different from this world as
this world is different from that of the child while still in the womb of its mother."[10] The analogy to the womb in many ways summarizes
the Bahá'í view of earthly existence: just as the womb constitutes an important
place for a person's initial physical development, the physical world provides
for the development of the individual soul. Accordingly,
Bahá'ís view life as a preparatory stage, where one can develop and perfect
those qualities which will be needed in the next life.[9] The key to spiritual progress is to follow the
path outlined by the current Manifestations of God, which Bahá'ís believe
is currently Bahá'u'lláh.
The
Bahá'í teachings state that there exists a hierarchy of souls in the afterlife,
where the merits of each soul determines their place in the hierarchy, and that
souls lower in the hierarchy cannot completely understand the station of those
above.[9] Each soul can continue to progress in the
afterlife, but the souls development is not dependent on their own conscious
efforts, but instead on the grace of God, the prayers of others,
and good deeds performed by others on Earth in the name of the person.[9]
[edit] Worship
Worship,
ceremonies, and religion-related customs differ substantially between the
various Abrahamic religions. Among the few similarities are a seven-day cycle
in which one day is nominally reserved for worship, prayer, or other religious
activities; this custom is related to the Biblical story of Genesis, where God
created the universe in six days, and rested in the seventh. Islam, which has
Friday as a day for special congregational prayers, does not subscribe to the
'resting day' concept.
Jewish
men are required to pray three times daily and four times daily on the Sabbath and most
Jewish holidays, and five times on Yom Kippur.
Before the destruction of the Temple, Jewish priests offered sacrifices there; afterwards,
the practice was stopped. Jewish women's prayer obligations vary by sect;
traditionally (according to Torah Judaism), women do not read from the Torah and are only
required to say certain parts of these services twice daily. Conservative Judaism, Reform
Judaism, and the Reconstructionist movement have different views.
Christianity
does not have any sacrificial rites as such, but its entire theology is based
upon the concept of the sacrifice by God of his son Jesus so that his
blood might atone for mankind's sins. However, offerings to Christian Churches and charity to poor are
highly encouraged and take the place of sacrifice. Additionally, self-sacrifice
in the form of lent, penitence and humbleness, in the name of Christ and
according to his commandments (cf. Sermon on the Mount), is considered a form of
sacrifice that appeals God.
The
followers of Islam,
Muslims, are to observe the Five Pillars of Islam. The first pillar is
the belief in the oneness of God and in Muhammad as His final prophet. The
second is to pray five times daily (salat) towards the direction (qibla) of the Kaaba in Mecca. The third
pillar is Zakah, is a portion of one’s wealth that must be given to the poor or
to other specified causes, which means the giving of a specific share of one’s
wealth and savings to persons or causes that Allah (God) mentions in the
Qur’an. The normal share to be paid is two and a half percent of one’s saved
earnings. and for able-bodied Muslims to fast in the month of Ramadan. Fasting is the
fourth pillar of Islam.
Finally, Muslims are also urged to undertake a pilgrimage, to Mecca at least once
in one's life. During this pilgrimage, the Muslims spend several days in
worship, repenting and most notably, circumambulating the Kaaba among millions
of other Muslims. At the end of the Hajj, sheep and other permissible animals are slaughtered to
commemorate the moment when God (Arabic:Allah) replaced Abraham's
(Arabic:Ibrahim) son, Ishmael with a sheep preventing his sacrifice. The meat from
these animals is then distributed around the world to needy Muslims, neighbors
and relatives.
Baha'is
do not have a strict worship regimen but do, however, follow guidelines for
prayer passed on by Baha'u'llah and Abdu'l
Baha. Baha'is are to perform ablutions before prayer and to recite at least
one of three obligatory prayers (written by
Baha'u'llah) daily. Prayer often takes the form of a a private activity during
which Baha'is may choose to face the Qiblih (the Shrine of Baha'u'llah). Many Baha'is also
host devotional meetings in their homes where prayers and holy writings are
read, sung, chanted or recited. Baha'i Devotional meetings are commonly open to
people of any faith. A Baha'i pilgrimage was laid out by Baha'u'llah,
but political conditions in Iraq and Iran prevent most Baha'is from visiting
these locations. Originally, Baha'is were to visit either the House of Baha'u'llah in Baghdad or the House of the Bab in Shiraz, Iran. Currently,
Baha'i references to 'pilgrimage' generally apply to a nine-day journey that visits Baha'i holy places
in Haifa, Bahji, and Akka, Israel. It should also be noted that aside from
prayer and pilgrimage, Baha'is put emphasis on grounding worship in daily life.
Work is considered a form of honoring God as is scriptural study.
[edit] Circumcision
Main articles: Circumcision in the Bible and History of male circumcision
Both
Judaism and Islam prescribe circumcision for males as a token symbol of dedication
to the religion. Islam also recommends this practice as a form of cleanliness.
Western Christianity replaced that custom by a baptism ceremony
that varies according to the denomination, but generally includes immersion,
aspersion or anointment with water. Because of the decision of the Early
Church (Acts 15, the Council of Jerusalem) that circumcision is not
mandatory, it continues to be optional, though the Council of Florence[11]
prohibited it and paragraph #2297 of the Catholic Catechism calls non-medical
amputation or mutilation immoral[12].[13]
Many countries with majorities of Christian adherents have low circumcision
rates (with the notable exception of the United
States[1],
and the Philippines).
Coptic Christianity and Ethiopian Orthodoxy still observe circumcision.
See also Aposthia.
[edit] Food restrictions
Main articles: kashrut, halaal, and ital
Judaism
and Islam have strict dietary laws, with lawful food being called kosher in Judaism
and halaal in
Islam. Both religions prohibit the consumption of pork; Islam also
prohibits the consumption of alcoholic beverages of any kind. Halaal
restrictions can be seen as a subset of the kashrut dietary
laws, so many kosher foods are considered halaal; especially in the case of
meat, which Islam prescribes must be slaughtered in the name of God.
Protestants have no set food laws. Catholic Christianity however developed
ritual prohibitions against the consumption of meat (but not fish) on Fridays,
and the Christian calendars prescribe abstinence from some foods at various
times of the year; but these customs vary from place to place, and have changed
over time, and some sects have nothing comparable. Some Christians oppose the
consumption of alcoholic beverages, while a few Christians also follow a kosher
diet, sometimes identified as a "What Would Jesus Eat?" diet.[citation
needed] Some approaches to practice have developed in
Protestant denominations, such as the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which
strongly advise against certain foods and in some cases encourage vegetarianism
or veganism.
Adherents to the Baha'i Faith are prohibited from drinking alcohol. They are
also prohibited from using opiates and other recreational drugs, unless
prescribed by a competent physician.
[edit] Sexuality in
Abrahamic religions
It may
be that a distinguishing characteristic of the Abrahamic religions is their
generally negative stance on homosexuality,
zoophilia
and, in some cases, human sexuality in general, notably outside of
marriage and in non-procreative contexts. This contrasts the Abrahamic
traditions strongly against the backdrop of the views of their immediate
neighbors. In the regions surrounding the geographical homelands of Abrahamic
religions (i.e. the Near east and Aegean),
sexuality was considered in a more positive light (positive in the sense that
it was not recommended by their Non-Abrahamic religions to legislate death
punishments for the practices of homosexuality
or prostitution.)
It
seems to be a mark among some versions of the rise of Abrahamic traditions that
all sexuality was eliminated from the concept of the divine. Notable exceptions
include Judaism (i.e. Song of Songs, Kabbalah, Hassidism),
and within Islam.
By the
time of the triumph of Christianity, in the late 4th century CE this was
generally true throughout the realms of the declining Roman
Empire. For example, within territories where Christianity and Judaism held
political power the presence of femininity in local deities as well as the
Godhead was eliminated. Contrastingly, the Non-Abrahamic religions accepted
female high-priestesses. They also believed in the existence of many powerful
female divinities like Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, and Isis, who was
worshipped as the archetypal wife and mother. In general Abrahamic Religions
negate the possibility of sexual openness with respect to the divine nature.
[edit] Homosexuality
Many
of the sacred texts of the Abrahamic Religions refer to homosexual
behavior as an abomination, deriving from the Holiness Code of the book of Leviticus and
an interpretation of the legend of Sodom and Gomorrah. By the first century, the
writings of Philo Judaeus and Flavius
Josephus evolved it into a fully developed form. Thus the condemnation of
homosexuality in all Abrahamic religions has a single Old
Testament source in addition to any separate reference in other holy books.
While the Abrahamic religions unequivocally condemn male homosexuality,
lesbianism
is nowhere explicitly mentioned in the Old Testament or the Qur'an. However
some scholars have argued the passage in Romans 1:26-27, "...God gave them up
unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that
which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of
the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that
which is unseemly," is a New Testament reference to it.
The
enforcement of this prohibition took different forms in each religion. Early
Judaism referenced Leviticus and later Talmudic law in
prescribing the death penalty. However, high legal hurdles, such as requiring
two witnesses of the act following a previous warning by at least two people,
made executions extremely rare. Early Christian emperors also advocated the
death penalty: Theodosius I ordained death by the sword, and the Byzantine emperor Justinian, in
his summary on Roman law, prescribed burning at the stake. Islamic jurists
prescribe a death by stoning or crushing with a wall; however, this specific
form of punishment has almost never been enforced.
[edit] Proselytism
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The Sermon on the Mount by Carl Heinrich Bloch.
Christianity
encourages evangelism,
as Jesus did —
convincing others to convert to the religion; many Christian organizations,
especially Protestant
churches, send missionaries to non-Christian communities throughout the
world. See also Great Commission.
Forced
conversions to Catholicism have been documented at various points throughout
history. The most prominently cited allegations are the conversions of the
pagans after Constantine; of Muslims, Jews and Eastern Orthodox during the Crusades; of
Jews and Muslims during the time of the Spanish Inquisition where they were offered the
choice exile, conversion or death; and of the Aztecs by Hernan
Cortes. Many Hindutva organizations in India allege that some Christian missionaries
in India are converting the illiterate Dalits (the so-called low castes of the Hindus) by
"fraudulent means" (sic). Forced conversions are condemned as sinful
by major denominations such as the Roman Catholic Church, which officially state
that forced conversions pollute the Christian religion and offend human dignity,
so that past or present offenses are regarded as a scandal (a cause of
unbelief).[14]
W.
Heffening states that in Qur'an "the apostate is threatened with punishment
in the next world only" however "in traditions, there is little echo
of these punishments in the next world ... and instead, we have in many
traditions a new element, the death penalty."[15]
Heffening states that Shafi'is interpret verse 2:217
as adducing the main evidence for the death penalty in Qur'an. The Qur'an
has a chapter (Sura) dealing with non believers (called "Al-Kafiroon")
(Q 109).
In the chapter there is also an often quoted verse (ayat) which reads,
"There is no compulsion in religion, the path of guidance stands out clear
from error" [2:256] and [60:8]. This means that no one is to be compelled
into Islam and that the righteous path is distinct from the rest. According to
this verse, converts to Islam are ones that see this path. The Muslim expansion
during the Ummayad
dynasty held true to this teaching, affording second-class citizenship to People of the Book instead of forced conversion.
Nevertheless, it should be noted that pagan Arab tribes were given the choice
of 'Islam or the sword.'[16] Another notable exception is the en masse forced
conversion of the Jews of Mashhad in 1839. In the present day, Islam does not
have missionaries
comparable to Christianity, though it does encourage its followers to learn
about other religions and to teach others about Islam.
While
Judaism accepts converts, it does not encourage them, and has no missionaries
as such. Only a few forced conversions to Judiasm have been recorded for
example the Idumeans,
were forced into conversion to Judaism by the Hasmonean
kings. However Judaism states that non-Jews can achieve righteousness by
following Noahide Laws, a set of seven universal commandments
that non-Jews are expected to follow. In this context the Rambam (Rabbi Moses
Maimonides, one of the major Jewish teachers) commented, "Quoting from
our sages, the righteous people from other nations have a place in the world to
come, if they have acquired what they should learn about the Creator."
Because the commandments applicable to the Jews are much more detailed and
onerous than Noahide
laws, Jewish scholars have traditionally maintained that it is better to be a
good non-Jew than a bad Jew, thus discouraging conversion. Most often, converts
to Judaism are those who marry Jews; in the United
States, the number of such converts is estimated at 10,000-15,000 per year.
See also Conversion to Judaism.
The
Baha'i Faith puts special emphasis on not proselytizing. It is actually
prohibited. Baha'is do accept converts from all religious and ethnic
backgrounds and actively support personal investigation into faith. Baha'is
have special "pioneers" and "traveling teachers" that will
move to areas where Baha'i communities are small to help strengthen and expand
them. Believers of other faiths are held in high regard and seen in many ways
as spiritual equals. While Baha'is view the Baha'i laws and revelation as
unique, they do not discourage believers of other faiths in their spiritual
endeavors and are leaders of interfaith efforts.
[edit] See also
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