Zackery Barker World Religions Fieldtrip Comparison Paper Although there are many religions in the world, they

all seem to come back to a common goal, to be a better person. During my World Religions class I had the opportunity to visit many three different spaces of worship, for three different religions. I was able to commune with the Sikhs from the Sikhism religion, the Catholics from the Christian denomination and the Muslims from the Islamic faith. I am going to explain several reasons these religions are similar in the fact that they are all using religion to get closer to God and be a better person. In all three religions they have a use of rituals in order to worship God and build a relationship. These rituals can include prayer, a communal partaking of sacrament, readings of sacred text, singing and quiet worship. The rituals performed are often times done in the appropriate sacred space but most often performed in their perspective households. Other sacred rituals can include ways to salvation, such as baptism and confirmation. Sikhism rituals are most often performed at the home and they also have the communal gathering each Sunday. Sikhs perform rituals but the spiritual leader guru Nanak stated also that there shouldn't be an emphasis on rituals (Matthews, 170). Which to me simply means that, ritual is not the only way to come closer to God and be a better person The rituals performed in the Sikhism religion are: the recitation of the Adi Granth, whether by reading or chanting/singing, Meditation, and service/charity. The Sikhs believe the Adi Granth to be the word of God and so it is so sacred that they treat it with upmost respect. During the Sunday worship, they gather together to sing/chant the words from the Adi Granth. The Adi Granth gives teachings from the ten gurus, for the members to live by in

order to live righteously. They also join in a prostration, which is similar to a prayer. This is the time for them to silently worship and reflect. In order to be saved in Sikhism you must be baptized. A ritual performed by Sikhs which is a sign of devotion. This ritual you are completely immersed underwater. This is a sign that you have committed your life to Sikhism. (matthews,170)

Catholicism is different then other Christian religions in ways of worship and ritual. I am going to use them as my example though. In Catholicism, rituals are a large part of how they come closer to God and better themselves. Each Sunday, members congregate for a Sunday service called mass, this service is filled with rituals. The Catholics meet at a cathedral, or chapel to perform the service. Similar to both other religions during the session they read scripture and pray. This is also time to give donations and charity. They also sing/chant hymns which are songs written by others, sometimes taken from scripture. The focus of Mass is to become pure and partake of the sacrament, this is a different ritual from the others, they believe it is through Christ alone that one can become pure and live with him again. God, Christ and the holy spirit being one in this denomination. They have memorized prayers that they recite to ask blessings, help or thanks to God. They read Scriptures from the Holy Bible in sermons; this is done to receive teachings and ways to better you. Most every part is to work with God to better you, and live

righteously. Similar to Sikhism, Christians are Baptized in order to show devotion, but also to be cleansed of sin. This is the ordinance performed to show devotion to Christ.

In the Islamic faith members can meet much more often than in the other religions, but they can also worship at their home. Ritual is a large part of this faith, they pray 5 times a day. In their prayers, they have recited movements and I believe some recited words, I

am not positive because I couldn't understand what was said. They pray to worship God (Allah) in submission and to ask for help. There is a congregational service where they meet together in the mosque to worship together. Here the Imam, a religious leader, guides the service and gives a type of sermon. In the words of the sermon, he provides teachings and insights from the Quran, Islamic sacred text, for the members to apply to their lives so they can better themselves. During the service all the members pray together, performing the recited movements and words. One Ritual performed solely in the Islamic faith is that of a pilgrimage to Mecca a sacred place, where the Ka'bah is. It is asked of every member to make this journey if it is within their means. They also perform a fast during Ramadan; this is where they refrain from drink, food, sex or anything that keeps them from God (Matthews, 366-367). How a religion views their deity or absence of deity, is a large part of its beliefs. I found that in these three religions that had somewhat similar views. The Deity was always someone/something they wanted to be close to. The goal was always to return to the Deity. The Deity was always perfect and magnified greatness and perfect characteristics. God is sometimes a creator of humans and other times he is nature itself. I am going to present the beliefs and views of God for these three religions

Sikhism's view of God is very personal; they believe it to be in our hearts. Meaning that each of us has God within and it is our goal to come closer and feel of it. It is also outside of our hearts; it is omnipresent and has no time or space. God is unreachable but we can feel it and grow closer to it. God has no body, but it has a name, Nam which is the divine name. We grow closer to God through reading the Adi Granth, its word. The Adi Granth is words and revelation given to Gurus so that we can go to God. When we do righteous

things we are closer to God. God can be worshipped by worshipping others, such as the gurus. God is the creator of nature. God can forgive us of our sins; we must turn our hearts fully towards God. When we focus our hearts on ourselves we are rejecting God. The goal for Sikhs is to one day or in one lifetime turn fully to God and return to it.

(Matthews, 169)

Catholics believe in the Trinity, which is a belief that God the father, his

son Jesus

Christ and The Holy Spirit are one entity, manifested in different forms. That they are one being but separate forms. This is not all Christian belief, although most believe in this, several Christians such as Mormons and Jehovahs witnesses believe that they are all separate beings. All Christians believe that God is the creator of humans, particularly our souls. They believe that the ultimate goal is to one day return to live with him in his

kingdom which is heaven. In Catholicism beliefs God came to earth manifesting himself as Christ, to teach the world and to provide a savior, a way to salvation through the atonement. Christ was perfect, and taught the world how to live in order to return to his presence after death. We can read his words and teachings in the Holy Bible. God

spoke ancient times to prophets such as Noah, Adam, Abraham, and Moses. We can find these teachings in the Old Testament. We can read Christ's teachings to the apostles in the New Testament. Each scripture provides commandments and guidance to live with

God again. The belief that God has a body is viewed differently throughout all Christian denominations. Christians believe that Christ had a body, they also believe that God is omniscient and omnipresent (all knowing and everywhere). Some Christians believe that God has a body, others believe he is formless. We can pray to God to receive help and blessings.

Allah or the God in Arabic is the word referenced by the Muslims. Muslims believe that God is perfect, in all senses of the word. There is only one God and he has ninetynine names. God is incomprehensible; he is all knowing and is everywhere. The ninetynine names are the characteristics of God. In Islam, the members try to acquire these attributes of God. Muslims Goal is to one day return to God after being judged worthy to do so. In order to be worthy we must live by the teachings of the prophets. We can pray to God and are required to do so five times a day. God speaks to us through the Qur'an, the Islamic sacred text. Some Muslims believe that God controls our lives, and those we have a destiny already planned, others believe that God allows us to do as we please. God leads his people through a prophet; he spoke with Adam, Abraham, Moses and most recently Muhammad. When God speaks to his prophets it is called revelation, Muhammad spoke these revelations and they were recorded later on, as the Qur'an. Allah is the Creator of all, including: humans, the earth and universe. (matthews,361,364) Each Religion has a different view of what happens after and before this life. Some

believe that we have several lives, one after the other and it is a continuous cycle. Others believe that nothing will happen. Then there are those who believe that this life is a test and we will live with God hereafter. Most all believe that life after is determined by how we live this life. If we live according to the religions teachings we will inherit the greater rewards.

Sikhism believes in reincarnation, which is that one will be reborn again on the earth. Your soul is somehow still connected to your next life. We inherit greater lives when we lives better previous lives. They also believe in a life after death where the bonds of reincarnation are broken and that we are no longer apart of the reincarnation cycle. Sikhs main goal is to return to God in a union and so in order to do that you must live a

great life to break the reincarnation cycle. Nobody knows when God will determine if one is ready to return to him. It is according to his will. (Matthews, 172)

Christianity believes in a life after this one. We will either return to live with God or be cast out of his presence into hell. This is all determinant on whether we obey God's commandments. No unclean thing can live in the presence of God, but it is through Christ's atonement that we can be saved and inherit the kingdom of God. Christians believe that Christ came down to help us, because we are all sinners and cannot return to God while having sinned. So Christ came to take upon him all of our sins. We must follow Christ's teachings and commandments, once we die, our bodies will be resurrected and we will have perfect bodies. Then we will be judged and God will choose whether or not we can live with him in heaven or if we must live in eternal damnation. So this life is a test to determine eternity. Some of the commandments that Christ gave us in order to be saved were baptism. And confirmation. We must also follow his teachings in the bible; if we do this we are saved. Christians are also asked to fast, depending on the denomination this can differ. All fast from worldly things for a certain period of time, such as food, drink, or for some it could be TV. Or other items of distraction from God. For the Catholic denomination, there is a large party mardi Gras or fat Tuesday in French the day before they give something up for 30 days.

Muslims believe in a life after earth. We will be judged by Allah after death, and if we lived a righteous life here on earth Allah will accept us to live with him. If we did not Allah will punish us and send us to Hell. Everyone will be resurrected and will be judged. There are five religious duties that must be fulfilled to live with Allah. A belief in The

One God and that Muhammad is his prophet. Give alms to the needy, pray five times a day, fast at Ramadan, and go to Mecca if possible (Matthews, 364) After learning of each religion and its views and beliefs, I have learned there are many similarities between each one. I found that the greatest similarities were the use of religion to become better people. They all had rituals that lead helped them in everyday life to be a better person than you were the day before. They all viewed this life as a time to be a good person. They all also wanted to come closer to their God, or their Deity. Their Main Goal in life between the three was simply to be obedient to the teachings of religious leaders and they believe that God wants only for the world to be a peaceful place so God has taught people how to be peaceful. If you learn to become a peaceful person and follow the teachings you can return to live with God. I liked doing this research and comparison because it gave another positive outlook on religion which showed that religion is simply trying to make its members a greater asset in society and bring peace to those around them. The main Goals presented by each were always those of love, peace and hope. I felt that this was a great opportunity to learn more about how others are trying to live a good life and be happy.

Works Cited Matthews, Warren. World Religions. seventh. Belmont, Ca USA: Wadsworth, 2013. Print.