WORLD RELIGION UNIT 7 - What are the major similarities between Islam, Judaism, and Christianity

WORLD RELIGION UNIT 7
Question 1

1. What are the major similarities between Islam, Judaism, and Christianity?
Your response should be at least 150 words in length. You are required to use at
least your textbook as source material for your response. All sources used,
including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material
must have , APA style

1. # 2 There is often an assumption in the West that the Islamic religion is intolerant
of other religions. After reading this chapter, do you believe this to be wholly true?
Why or why not? In what ways have the Muslims been treated with intolerance?
Your response should be at least 150 words in length. You are required to use at
least your textbook as source material for your response. All sources used,
including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material
must have accompanying citations. APA style

Reading Assignment
Chapter 10 Islam
Unit Lesson
Food and clothing are essential to daily life and are mundane aspects of
everyday living, so one might assume that such ordinary aspects of everyday
living would be of no interest to religions. Every human being, whether religious
or not, needs food to sustain life and clothing for protection. So what could food
and clothing possibly have to do with religion? Sometimes, we assume too great

a division between the religious and the secular. Religions are, in fact, concerned
with the everyday aspects of life. There are basically two ways in which religions
are concerned with the materials and practices of everyday life: integrating those
materials into the ceremonies or rituals of the religious life, or keeping them from
profaning the religious life.
Food
One major concern of several religions is the eating of meat. One of the most
prevalent concerns of the Buddhist tradition is that practitioners live a violencefree life. This practice of non-violence is known as ahimsa. So, it makes sense
that vegetarianism is a regular practice of Buddhism. The practice of nonviolence
is so important to Jainism that a dedicated practitioner will try his or her best to
avoid killing any plants or insects. The ideal diet for them is to eat fruit that has
fallen from a tree. Of course, even a strict Jain will eat vegetables, but there are
some rules concerning which vegetables. For instance, they will not eat potatoes
because small insects are killed in the harvesting of potatoes (FaithandFood,
2009). Hindus also follow a fairly vegetarian diet because of the practice of
ahimsa. There are also concerns about meat in other religions, though perhaps
for purposes different than those of ahimsa. Both Judaism and Islam prohibit the
eating of pork. Scholars generally agree that this prohibition is due at least in part
to hygienic reasons. In ancient times, pork was particularly vulnerable to
contamination and was therefore dangerous to eat. Buddhists in general do not
take ahimsa quite as far as Jains. They restrict their beliefs about violence to be
in reference to breathing creatures. Also, Buddhist monks can eat meat in certain
situations—mostly if they did not kill the meat, prepare the meat, or know that
meat was being prepared specifically for them. In other words, they can eat meat
in order to not offend a host who has prepared a meal for them. This idea of
consideration for the host who has prepared a meal can also be found in
Christian scriptures. The teachings of Jesus in the New Testament scriptures
teach that relationships with people are more important than
UNIT VII STUDY GUIDE Food and Clothing

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title following the Jewish laws. It is important to know
here that Jesus was a Jew and many early followers of Jesus were Jews, but
Jesus and his followers were spreading their message to non-Jews, so the early
Christian church found it was struggling with how to bring the customs of the
Jews and the non-Jews together.
Judaism does not recommend a vegetarian diet, but it is concerned with the type
of animal, the manner in which the animal was slaughtered, and how the meat
was prepared. Basically, as far as land animals are concerned, they can only eat
the meat of animals that have divided hooves and chew the cud (Gwynne, 2009).

With regards to fowl, Jews are forbidden from eating predatory or scavenger
birds, so domesticated birds such as chickens and turkey are fine. And with
regards to marine animals, they may only eat those with scales and fins
(Gwynne, 2009). The Jewish texts go into great detail concerning the foods that
may and may not be eaten, and in some case, in what manner they must be
prepared. Foods that are approved by the Jewish sacred texts are called kosher,
which means proper or fitting, and a person who follows the food laws is said to
be keeping kosher. A Jew who is keeping strict kosher will only eat the meat of an
animal that has been well-drained of its blood as blood is the life force of the
animal and therefore not to be eaten. Also, they will never eat meat with dairy
products. This comes from the Torah passage, “Do not boil a kid in its mother’s
milk” (Exodus 23:19). Strict adherence to this rule means that meat and dairy
should not be prepared together and at least three hours must pass between
eating the two types of food. You will find in conservative synagogues two
different kitchens—one to prepare meat and one to prepare dairy products. In a
home where a Jew cannot afford two separate kitchens, they are encouraged at
least to have two sets of utensils and dishes for preparing the food. The purpose
for all of the ancient kosher laws has been attributed to discipline and God’s
divine holy purpose, and again, to hygienic reasoning.
Islamic food laws are quite similar to Jewish food laws. The term halal is used to
identify food that is appropriate for consumption by a Muslim. The laws regarding
meat are much like the kosher laws but there is a bit more wiggle room in the
types of animals they may eat. As with the Jewish custom, blood is to be strictly
avoided and the purposes of following the laws are both God’s divine will and
hygienic.
Food laws and customs in religions are not just about what people should not
eat. Food is also an important part of some religious ceremonies. In the Christian
tradition the Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and a few other
protestant denominations, share bread and wine (though some use grape juice)
during worship services known as the “Eucharist” in following the practice set
forth by Jesus when he shared bread and wine with his disciples just a few nights
before he was killed. This dinner is known as the Last Supper and is
remembered with reverence, as it was not only Jesus’ last supper but also a
Jewish religious custom called the Passover. According to the Torah it is a dinner
that remembers the night that God saved the Hebrew people from death and
delivered them out of Egypt the next morning. As we learned in Unit II, in the
Hindu tradition of Puja, that food is offered daily to a deity and that the deity eats
the essence of the food. The physical food that remains is known as the Prasad
and it has been bless by the deity (Gwynne, 2009). Prasad means mercy or
generosity. These Christian and Hindu traditions are similar in that they are key
elements in worship and there is a blessing upon the food and an
acknowledgement that the offering to God or the deities are really gifts from God
to the believers.

What most religions seem to have in common is that food has significance for the
religious life. While food is a blessing and essential to life, it can also cause
harm, physically or spiritually, if it is not treated properly. Most religious traditions
practice some form of fasting, abstaining from eating, in order to reflect discipline
in the presence of plenty, to be in solidarity with those who do not have enough,
or as a time of preparation and reflection. Food is recognized for its importance
to life especially by the religious because religions seek to reveal to believers the
precious gift that life is and the importance of living it with purpose and
awareness.
FaithandFood.com is an excellent quick reference for religious food norms if you
are planning to eat a meal with someone of a faith tradition with which you are
unfamiliar.
Clothing
Clothing is another mundane necessity of ordinary life for the religious and nonreligious alike, so why would it be of concern to the religious? Well, because
clothing conveys a message. It says something about the wearer. Like art, the
intended message might be misunderstood. The intent of religious clothing is
often misunderstood by people of other religions or the non-religious, but it is fair
to say that clothing rules in the various religions have significant meaning for the
wearers about their beliefs.

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title A fairly recent hot topic of discussion concerning
religious clothing is the veil. Some Muslims interpret certain passages of the
Qur’an as saying that women must cover up their faces in front of men who are
not in their family. Many non-Muslims believe that Muslim women are forced to
wear the veil and it is a sign of the oppression of women in the Islamic religion. It
is important to note first that requiring women to cover parts of their bodies in
public is not unique to Islam. Also, the Qur’an requires men to also cover parts of
their bodies in public. Like all sacred texts, there is room for interpretation, and
not all agree what parts of the body need to be covered. Some Muslim women
cover just their heads and necks with a scarf while others follow a stricter
tradition of covering the entire body with a one piece garment called a burca.
What many non-Muslims do not know about are the positive aspects of wearing
the veil. Some Muslim women argue that they are not enslaved by fashion and
the constant pressure to keep up with the latest style and to look appealing and
fit a certain body type. They argue that wearing covering helps to keep them from
being sexually harassed and exploited and actually gives them greater freedom
to participate in public life.
Many religions require specific dress for worship. In the Islamic tradition,
worshipers are expected to take off their shoes in the worship space as it is

considered to be holy ground. Men and women in both the Islamic and Jewish
traditions cover their heads during worship. Jewish men wear a kippah, which is
a small round cap. Many know the kippah by its Yiddish name, yarmulke. The
cap serves as a reminder that God is over you (Gwynne, 2009). It is common for
Hindu men to wear only a simple loin cloth during worship in the temple. In fact
when a Hindu male has travelled far along his spiritual journey and has begun to
live the life of an ascetic, a lack of clothing is common. Appearance is no longer
important, so you will find the man very unkempt, dirty, and sometimes naked. In
the Christian church, the worship leader wears a robe in certain denominations.
Some might assume that the robe is to set the leader apart from the
congregation—make him or her stand out. That is not exactly what is going on.
The purpose of the robe is to cover up the minister’s clothing and to give the
minister a simple look, so that the rituals he performs and the words he speaks
are what the congregation pays attention to. The priests or ministers in the
Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran traditions wear a white collar
and a black shirt under the robe, or even on a daily basis. Most of the newer
Christian denominations do not have any separate clothing for the ministers in
daily life or worship, though they might wear a simple robe. Many Christian
churches also have choirs that wear robes to cover up their clothing to keep from
distracting from the music. As recently as 50 years ago, it was common for
Christians to dress in their nicest clothes for Sunday, their Sunday best, and for
women to wear hats or scarves to church. Though many people still wear their
best clothes to church, it is also common in many churches to dress very
casually in order to encourage people to be comfortable and to not exclude those
who cannot afford to dress in expensive clothing.
Buddhist monks and nuns and Christian monks and nuns wear uniforms of sorts.
The Buddhist monks receive their robes as a gift from lay Buddhists who in return
receive good karma. While lay Buddhists do not wear anything distinctive to set
them apart as Buddhists, the monks’ robes are quite distinctive. The Buddhist
robe is called the tricivara and consists of three basic garments: a waistcloth, an
upper robe, and an outer robe. The most common colors are saffron and ochre
(Buddha Dharma Education Association and Buddha Net,-2008).
The robes serve not just as a kind of uniform to remind the wearer that he or she
is a member of a larger universal community, but is itself an object of reflection to
be worn "properly considering them: only to ward off cold, to ward off heat, to
ward off the touch of insects, wind, sun and reptiles; only for keeping myself
decent" (M 1:10). Above all, they remind the wearer that he or she has committed
him or herself to high spiritual ideals—to master the Dharma, liberate oneself and
show others the Way. (BDEA, 2008, para. 11)
The Christian monastic clothes vary by order. A religious order is a community of
religious people who live by a set of vows particular to their order. The garments
are usually simple in design and cover the entire body from the neck down.

Some nuns’ garments also cover the head, and possibly the neck, but not the
face.
Clothing really varies from one religion to the next, but one can find several
points of similarity—a sense of modesty, simplicity, a reverence for God, or a
reminder to focus on others rather than on one’s own fashion.
Note: The lectures in this course focus on overall religious concepts. Be sure to
complete the readings for the week for knowledge of specific religions. Both
overall concepts and specific religious knowledge will be assessed in the
assignments and assessments throughout the course.

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title
References
Buddha Dharma Education Association and Buddha Net. (2008). The Monastic
Robes. Retrieved from http://www.buddhanet.net/elearning/buddhistworld/robe_txt.htm
FaithandFood. (2009). FaithandFood fact files—Jainism. Retrieved from
http://www.faithandfood.com/Jainism.php
Gwynne, P. (2009). World religions in practice: A comparative introduction.
Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing