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Middle Eastern Religions
Middle Eastern religions originated in the Middle East; namely Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) and Iranic religions. Smaller minority religions, such as the Bahá’í Faith, Druze, Nusairism, Manichaeism, Sabianism, Bábism, Yazidism, Mandaeism, Gnosticism, Yarsanism, Samaritanism, Shabakism, Ishikism, Ali-Illahism, Alevism, Yazdânism and Zoroastrianism are also present in the Middle East.
The smaller, religiously unaffiliated population is forecast to grow 56%, from about 2 million to more than 3 million. Hindus, adherents of folk religions and Buddhists are expected to experience the greatest growth as a percentage of their modest 2010 counts, with each group more than doubling in size by 2050.
Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath (שַׁבָּת) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest, as God rested from creation. The practice of observing the Sabbath (Shabbat) originates in...
Sabbath in Christianity Sabbath in Christianity is the inclusion or adoption in Christianity of a sabbath in the sense of a day set aside for rest and worship, a practice that within Judaism was expressed through the commandment of the Mosaic Law to “remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy” in line with God‘s blessing of the seventh...
Apostles’ Creed The Apostles’ Creed (Symbolum Apostolorum or Symbolum Apostolicum), sometimes titled the Apostolic Creed or the Symbol of the Apostles, is an early statement of Christian belief—a creed or “symbol”. It is widely used by a number of Christian denominations for both liturgical and catechetical purposes, most visibly by liturgical Churches of Western tradition, including the Catholic Church, Lutheranism and Anglicanism. It is also used by Presbyterians, Moravians, Methodists and Congregationalists....
Jehovah’s Witnesses and salvation Jehovah’s Witnesses believe salvation is a gift from God attained by being part of “God’s organization” and putting faith in Jesus‘ ransom sacrifice. They do not believe in predestination or eternal security. They believe in different forms of resurrection for two groups of Christians. One group, the anointed, go to heaven while the...
Eschatology of Jehovah’s Witnesses Eschatology of Jehovah’s Witnesses is central to their religious beliefs. They believe that Jesus Christ has been ruling in heaven as king since 1914 (a date they believe was prophesied in Scripture), and that after that time a period of cleansing occurred, resulting in God’s selection of...
Jehovah’s Witnesses Beliefs Jehovah’s Witnesses Beliefs are based on the Bible teachings of Charles Taze Russell—founder of the Bible Student movement—and successive presidents of the Watch Tower Society, Joseph Franklin Rutherford, and Nathan Homer Knorr. Since 1976 all doctrinal decisions have been made by the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses, a group of elders at the denomination’s headquarters....
Assyrian Church of The East The Assyrian Church of the East (ʿĒḏtā ḏ-Maḏnḥā ḏ-ʾĀṯūrāyē, كنيسة المشرق الآشورية), officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East (Ēḏtā Qaddīštā wa-Šlīḥāytā Qāṯōlīqī ḏ-Maḏnḥā ḏ-ʾĀṯūrāyē; كنيسة المشرق الآشورية الرسولية الجاثلقية المقدسة), is an Eastern Christian church that follows the traditional christology and ecclesiology of the historical Church of the East....
Christianity and Other Religions Christianity and other religions documents Christianity‘s relationship with other world religions, and the differences and similarities. Christian views on religious pluralism Classical Christian view Evangelical Christians believe that religious pluralism is heresy and contradicts the Bible. Some Christians have argued that religious pluralism is an invalid or self-contradictory concept. Maximal...
Christian Democracy Christian democracy is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching, as well as Neo-Calvinism. Christian democratic political ideology advocates for a commitment to social market principles and qualified interventionism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ideas and traditional Christian...
Christian Mission A Christian mission is an organized effort to spread Christianity to new converts. Missions involve sending individuals and groups, called missionaries, across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such as educational or hospital work. Sometimes individuals are sent and are called missionaries. When groups are sent, they are...
Mennonites The Mennonites are members of certain Christian groups belonging to the church communities of Anabaptist denominations named after Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings, Simons articulated and formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders. The early teachings of the Mennonites were founded on the belief in both the mission and ministry of Jesus, which the...
Church of the Brethren The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination with origins in the Schwarzenau Brethren (“Schwarzenau New Baptists”) that was organized in 1708 by Alexander Mack in Schwarzenau, Germany, as a melding of the Radical Pietist and Anabaptist movements. The denomination holds the New Testament as its only creed. Historically, the church has taken a strong stance for nonresistance or pacifism—it is one of the...
Peace Churches Peace churches are Christian churches, groups or communities advocating Christian pacifism or Biblical nonresistance. The term historic peace churches refers specifically only to three church groups among pacifist churches—Church of the Brethren; Religious Society of Friends (Quakers); and Mennonites, including the Amish, Old Order Mennonite, and Conservative Mennonites—and has been used since the first conference of the peace churches in...
Progressive Christianity Progressive Christianity is a “post-liberal movement” within Christianity “that seeks to reform the faith via the insights of post-modernism and a reclaiming of the truth beyond the verifiable historicity and factuality of the passages in the Bible by affirming the truths within the stories that may not have actually...
Free Christians The term Free Christian refers specifically to individual members and whole congregations within the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches. Free Christians do not subscribe to any officially written doctrinal or creedal statement, as found in other churches. Because of their connections with British Unitarianism, they...
Cappadocian Fathers The Cappadocian Fathers, also traditionally known as the Three Cappadocians, are Basil the Great (330–379), who was bishop of Caesarea; Basil’s younger brother Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335 – c. 395), who was bishop of Nyssa; and a close friend, Gregory of Nazianzus (329–389), who became Patriarch of Constantinople. The Cappadocia region, in modern-day Turkey, was an early site of Christian activity,...
Glossary of Islam The following glossary of Islam consists of notable concepts that are derived from both Islamic and Arab tradition, which are expressed as words in Arabic or Persian language. The main purpose of this list is to disambiguate multiple spellings, to make note of spellings no longer in...
What is Dhimmi? A dhimmi (ذمي ḏimmī, collectively أهل الذمة ahl ul-ḏimmah/dhimmah “the people of the dhimma“) is a historical term referring to non-Muslims living in an Islamic state with legal protection. The word literally means “protected person”, referring to the state’s obligation under sharia to protect the individual’s life, property, and freedom of religion, in exchange for loyalty to the...
Consultation and submission Question: When a consultation committee makes a decision but the decision seems to contradict some of the participants’ minds and opinions, then what would be the best attitude for them to take moving forward? Submission – to use the dictionary definition – would be fulfilling the rulings, determinations,...
Hadith of Gabriel In Sunni Islam, the Hadith of Gabriel (ḥadīth Jibrīl) is the single most important hadith (report on the words and actions of the Prophet Muhammad), of the last prophet of Islam. Its narrative contains the best summary of the core of Islam: Islām (إسلام), which is described with the “Five Pillars of Islam,” Īmān (إيمان), which is described with the...
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