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FLAME TEEN HANDOUT

Week 17-

Abrahamic Religions

The panel tonight talked about

their faith. Take a moment to

think about the questions that

they answered and discuss them

as a class.

How is your faith important to you?

How do you live out your faith in your

daily life?

What is one element that you value from

your faith? Why?

How can we support each other on our

faith journeys? Did anything surprise you?

What questions do you still have?

Before you start… What do you know about the religion and beliefs of Islam?

What do you know about the religion and beliefs of Judaism?

Have you ever visited a mosque or synagogue? Describe

what you experienced. What was similar to our Church?

Were there any differences?

Do you have friends or family who are not Christian? What

faith, if any, do they follow? What do you know about these

faiths?

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Check out

Genesis 17!

Look at

Romans 4!

What the heck is an Abrahamic religion??

Abrahamic religions, emphasizing and tracing their common origin to the tribal patriarch Abraham or recognizing a spiritual tradition identified with him.

All the major Abrahamic religions claim a direct lineage to Abraham:

Abraham is recorded in the Torah as the ancestor of the Israelites through his son Isaac, born to Sarah through a promise made in Genesis.

The sacred text of Christianity is the Christian Bible, the first part of which, the Old Testament, is derived from the Jewish Bible, leading to similar ancestry claims as above, although most Christians are gentiles who consider themselves as grafted into the family tree under the New Covenant.

It is the Islamic tradition that Muhammad, as an Arab, is descended from Abraham's son Ishmael. Jewish tradition also equates the descendants of Ishmael, Ishmaelites, with Arabs, as the descendants of Isaac by Jacob, who was also later known as Israel, are the Israelites.

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Take a few minutes to write down some misconceptions and stereotypes that you

believe exist about the religions we have discussed tonight.

Share some of the stereotypes with your small group. Where do you think the stereotypes

come from? How do these stereotypes spread? How much, if any, of an impact do the media

have in the cultivating stereotypes? What dangers exist when we assume that stereotypes are

true? What can we do to change these perceptions?

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Five Pillars of Islam

1. Profession of faith. The first of Islam’s five pillars is

the ultimate profession of their faith: “There is no god but

Allah, and Mohammad is the prophet of Allah.” This

statement is repeated at least five times each day by the

muezzin in the minaret of every mosque around the world

as an invitation to prayer.

Just as it is impossible to exaggerate the importance of

the Quran for a devout Muslim, so it would be hard to

exaggerate how central this first pillar of belief is. The

belief in the One, transcendent God is the pole around

which the whole religion orbits. There is no other like God,

no modifier. God, simply, is God.

2. Prayer is carried out five times a day: at dawn, noon,

midafternoon, sunset, and after the fall of darkness or at

bedtime. The actual prayers are accompanied by ritual

cleansing, hand gestures, body bows and prostrations,

and prescribed rubrics that apply whether praying alone or

with others.

The practice of regular prayer throughout the day gives to

time nothing more or less than graciousness. The practice

turns time inside out. What in my early years of monastic

life was an interruption to my day (all that stopping for

prayers and starting again) turned into a ceaseless and

seamless way of being in time.

3. Almsgiving. The third pillar of Islam involves a serious

redistribution of wealth. Since all is given by God, then

nothing of what I own is mine, unless it is shared

according to God’s will. Muslims traditionally give 2.5

percent of their wealth to the poor, although this tithing

sometimes has taken the form of a tax if the government

is Muslim. Nevertheless, the intent remains the same: to

give to the poor and to be a just and peace-filled society.

4. Ramadan. The fourth pillar of Islam is the fast that

takes place during the holy month of Ramadan. All

Muslims all over the world during Ramadan are called on

to fast from sunrise to sunset for 30 days, unless they are

sick or on a journey. Generally, those 12 or older rise early

for a meal before the sun rises, then break their fast after

sunset.

5. Pilgrimage. The fifth pillar of Islam also bonds a

community of believers. It is the pilgrimage (hajj) to

Mecca. This obligation does what all great pilgrimages do.

It restarts the conversion experience by returning the

devotee to the point of origin. A religion is not just a

collectivity, but consists of many clusters of individuals.

They must take on themselves again the beliefs and

practices of the founder and the dictates of the religion’s

scriptures. To take a sacred journey, along with other

believers, is to personally accept and immerse oneself in

the culture of that religion and make it your own.

Judaism began with Abraham in the 19th century BC. The Old Testament history of the Jews is the same as for Christians. Jesus was seen as a prophet but not the son of God… hence Jews are still waiting for the coming of the Messiah.

The most significant development to come from Abraham and Jewish beliefs is that there is only one God.

The Jews consider themselves God’s chosen people.

The exodus story celebrates the liberation of the Jews from slavery in Egypt. Moses led the Jews to the “promised land”. Passover celebrates this great event.

The history of the Jewish people is one of exile and

persecution. This hatred towards Jews is called anti-

Semitism. In 70 AD, the Romans destroyed the city of

Jerusalem. The Jews were exiled from Jerusalem until

the middle of the 20th century (1948). They returned to

Israel, the land of the exodus. What remains of the

destroyed temple from 70 AD is called the Western

Wall (or “wailing wall” by some). These are in modern

day Israel. For centuries, Jews were forced to live in

other people’s countries, mostly in Europe. The

greatest persecution took place in the Holocaust

during World War II. Six million Jews were killed, a

third of the population. The Catholic Church has

persecuted Jews during the Crusades and the

Inquisition as well. Because Jewish faith is tied very

much to culture and practice, even the most horrible

atrocities could not wipe out the faith.

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The Golden Rule is a moral

principle found in virtually all of

the major world religions,

usually explicitly.

If the Golden Rule is part of so

many religions, why are there

so many problems in the world

based on difference of religion?

The Golden Rule

One should behave towards

others as one would have

others behave towards oneself.