Considering that it is now December, and most of you are in the moods of the holiday season, we would like to talk to you about religion. Only about half of Americans that celebrate Christmas personally think of it as a religious holiday. Most of us actually think of Christmas as a cultural holiday. What do each of you think of when you think about Christmas? Family, friends, decorations, trees, The Grinch, Charlie Brown, "you'll shoot your eye out, kid!" Some of you probably think about the church, crosses and crucifixes, a manger, three wise men. What exactly is myrrh, anyway? It is some sort of gum resin, by the way, and it's used for chapped lips, canker sores or inflamed gums. Anyway, perhaps you considered a Yule log or the Winter Solstice, and you didn't think in strictly Christian or western ideals. Most religious traditions celebrate a Winter holiday. Earth based and feminine religions consider Winter a time of rebirth. Most worldwide interpretations of Winter holidays involve festivals and celebrations of varying impact, and most involve gift giving and exchanges.
Santa Claus, for example, is a cultural figure in Western Christian folklore. This character really only became ingrained after three popular culture events. The first event was the eighteen twenty three poem, "A Visit From Saint Nicholas," otherwise known as " 'Twas the Night Before Christmas." The second event was the eighteen eighty one illustration that created the modern version we all think of. The third event was a nineteen oh two children's book, "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus." That book was written by L Frank Baum, better known as the author of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz."
By comparison, Santa Claus is based on a variety of many older religious figures. Father Christmas was a sixteenth century English character that had a similar beard, clothing style and jolliness. Sinterklass, from the Netherlands, Belgium, and northern France, dates from the Middle Ages. He is also a big fan of giving gifts, although his gifts are exclusively for children. Sinterklass is most likely the primary source of our Westernized version. Saint Nicholas, the fourth century Christian saint, also had a legendary habit of giving gifts. He was a patron saint of children, but also merchants, brewers and repentant thieves, so he fits in well with our modern religions and Christmas traditions.
Catholicism is by far the largest Christian church, even though it differs quite a bit from other major
Christian churches such as those of Protestants, Baptists and Eastern Orthodox. Roman Catholics
make up about one point three billion members, which is greater than one out of every six people on Earth. Catholicism basically split from the Eastern Orthodox church in the year ten fifty four over theological differences such as the universal authority of the Pope.
Recently, the Catholic church has come under considerable fire because of its unwillingness to change with the times. In a diversity course, it must be mentioned that Catholicism has been criticized for its stance on homosexuality, contraception, the refusal to ordain women, as well as the multiple cases of sexual abuse and the shielding of guilty priests and bishops. The current Pope, the first from the Americas rather than Europe, seems to be more modern than his predecessors. Pope Francis, taking over in twenty thirteen, has been noted for his humility, actual concern for the environment and the poor, and a much less formal approach to the papacy.
But then, I'm sure most of you already knew all of that!
We have now discussed Christianity, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and smaller Chinese religions that were not covered in class. We also reviewed Judaism, Mormonism and Islam, which of course were all mentioned in class. Now we would like to compare and contrast some of the major laws and tenets. Christianity is the world's largest religion at two point four two billion followers. Second is Islam at one point eight billion, and third is Hinduism at one point one five billion followers. There is a large gap after the "big three," with Buddhism being fourth largest at just over one half billion followers. This makes the global population about thirty three percent Christians, twenty four percent Islamic, sixteen percent Hindus, and seven percent Buddhists. All remaining religions make up twenty percent!
Hinduism is most likely the oldest religion in the world, developing as early as five hundred B C E. It is regarded as a synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions. Buddhism is almost as old, where it originated in India before spreading to Asia around the fourth century B C E. Christianity grew out of Judaism, while Catholicism grew out of Christianity following the split between eastern and western churches. One interesting thing about Islam is that they use a different calendar than all the rest, called Gregorian. Their year is about ten days less than ours, and it is currently the year fourteen thirty nine A H in the Hijri year. Mormonism is a very young religion, founded in New York state in the eighteen twenties by Joseph Smith.
Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Mormonism are all monotheistic, meaning the belief in one single god that created the universe and everything in it. This is opposed to polytheism, or the belief in multiple gods and goddesses, such as the pantheon of Greek, Roman or Norse deities. Hinduism and Buddhism are religions that propose traditions and philosophies and eternal truths, with less emphasis on theism. Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and the savior of humanity as prophesied in the Old Testament. Islam believes that God is all-powerful and merciful and has guided mankind through prophets and the scriptures of the Quran. Hinduism is considered the "eternal tradition" or the "eternal way," and contains beliefs toward proper goals and ways of life for humanity. While Buddhism varies greatly according to specific practices, they all focus on a path to liberation, achieved through Dharma, meditation, compassion, renouncing possessions, and gaining and cultivating wisdom. Judaism believes that God revealed important laws and commandments to Moses in the form of the Torah. All in all, monotheistic traditions maintain a similar worldview in that mankind can only achieve important goals through acceptance and submission to the words and laws of their individual God figures.
