Need lots of opinions please :)

I'm afraid your understanding of Judaism and the Jewish view of G-d is completely wrong! We do not see G-d as wrathful- we see him as all loving, willing to forgive and quick to accept repentance. In fact, from the Jewish POV G-d is so loving that he would never sentence anyone to an eternity of punishment- there is no devil and no Hell in Judaism!

When it comes to the core principles of Judaism, Hillel, the leader of the Sanhedrin stated "The whole of Judaism is to love your neighbor as yourself. The rest is commentary".

A more comprehensive view is given in the summarisation of Rambam (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon also known as Maimonides) commonly referred to as the 13 principles of faith:

13 Principles of Faith:
I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, is the Creator and Guide of everything that has been created; He alone has made, does make, and will make all things.
I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, is One, and that there is no unity in any manner like His, and that He alone is our God, who was, and is, and will be.
I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, has no body, and that He is free from all the properties of matter, and that there can be no (physical) comparison to Him whatsoever.
I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, is the first and the last.
I believe with perfect faith that to the Creator, Blessed be His Name, and to Him alone, it is right to pray, and that it is not right to pray to any being besides Him.
I believe with perfect faith that all the words of the prophets are true.
I believe with perfect faith that the prophecy of Moses our teacher, peace be upon him, was true, and that he was the chief of the prophets, both those who preceded him and those who followed him.
I believe with perfect faith that the entire Torah that is now in our possession is the same that was given to Moses our teacher, peace be upon him.
I believe with perfect faith that this Torah will not be exchanged, and that there will never be any other Torah from the Creator, Blessed be His Name.
I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, knows all the deeds of human beings and all their thoughts, as it is written, "Who fashioned the hearts of them all, Who comprehends all their actions" (Psalms 33:15).
I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, rewards those who keep His commandments and punishes those that transgress them.
I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah; and even though he may tarry, nonetheless, I wait every day for his coming.
I believe with perfect faith that there will be a revival of the dead at the time when it shall please the Creator, Blessed be His name, and His mention shall be exalted for ever and ever.
—-Maimonides

mmmm

thanks :)

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I can't really give much of an opinion about Islam, Judaism, and Pagans, but I can talk about Christianity.
Love and forgiveness. First of all, God is love.

God created the world and people etc, but then we messed up, so we can't go to heaven on our own. So God sent Jesus so we CAN spend eternity in heaven.

God is forever patient and loving and forgiving. It's all about not judging other people and loving them for who God made them to be. That doesn't mean we excuse sin, but you love the person anyway. Does that mean tough love sometimes? Of course.

God has breathed the breath of life into everyone and we are ALL made in his image, a lot of it is if you are aware of it or not.

But essentially, love and forgiveness, so we can spend eternity in heaven and to share that love and forgiveness to the people around us while we are here on earth.

Emily

You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write. - Saul Bellow, a Canadian writer

NANOWRIMO '08: White As Snow- 51,720 words
NANOWRIMO '09: Drama!- ?????

The honoring and adoration of the Goddess and God of our faith is the primary concern of Wicca. I can't speak for other Pagan religions, but that's how it seems to me.

But perhaps that's not quite what you're asking. Another possible answer is that the core moral tenet of Wicca is that all actions leading to no harm or minimal harm are morally acceptable actions. No statement is made about necessary acts of positive harm in the phrase "If you harm none, do what you will".

Yet a third possible answer is that we believe that the universe is a set of complementary polarities -- pleasure and pain, life and death, creation and destruction -- and that the task of a Wiccan is to attune oneself to those polarities and strive to live in balance with them and within oneself.

Hope that helps.

<-- Wiccan for 16 years

Your pretty much right on the christian one! Yes I am a christian... sorry I don't know that much about the other three but here:

Christian- Forgiviness. God want's to be freinds with you and as an ultimate you get to go to be with him in hevan

Wiccan/Pagan- They are mostly into gaining power... the more power the better! And they go to "Mother Nature" to result in getting more power.... that pretty much is a sum of the entire thing!

You really shouldn't make wild statements about religions you clearly know nothing about. For example, Wicca is (generally speaking) about communing with and serving as clergy to our Gods -- "gaining power" isn't a factor, except in the sense of gaining knowledge, and mastery over oneself. Try to tell an Asatruar that they're into "gaining power" and they'd likely laugh in your face. And so on.

All religions attempt to answer "Questions of Ultimate Concern." So you might want to come at your research from a different angle. What question does each religion attempt to answer?

For Christians it might be, How do I live my life so that I will go to Heaven at the End of Times?

For Jews it might be, What does it mean to have a covenant with God and be God's Chosen People.

For Muslims maybe, How do I submit to the Will of God?

For Pagans maybe, How do we live in the web of Nature where everything is sacred and imbued with Divinity?

Please feel free to substitute a question...

"Paganism" is not a monolithic religious entity -- it is a cluster of widely different religions.

For a follower of the Pagan religion Asatru, for example, the question you pose would be meaningless. Their question would more likely have to do with how to conduct oneself in an honorable fashion while revering one's ancestors. (Perhaps an Asatruar can weigh in on this.)

I must admit, though, that many Wiccans would agree that your "Question of Ultimate Concern" as stated would fit Wicca as they practice it. Nicely pegged. :-)

I'm not Jewish, but I've been to synagogue and studied Judaism some, and I'm going to chime in with marclipshitz. Judaism has always struck me as an incredibly thankful and joyful religion, actually. One sermon (are they called sermons in synagogue?) I heard a rabbi give particularly struck me - it was on blessings, and the importance of calling a thing by its name (any thing, like a food or an action or whatever) and blessing it. This was over a year ago, so I'm butchering even my summary of the sermon, but I was just struck by the idea of going through one's day from morning until evening and having the presence of mind to bless the things around you every step of the way. I can't imagine a more thankful way to live.

I'd say the key word for Christianity is grace, e.g. "His grace is sufficient for me, and his power is made perfect in my weakness." Forgiveness doesn't quite cover it for me, because while forgiveness redeems us from our sin, grace both redeems us for our weaknesses or sins, and then uses us, in our weakness, for His glory. It's like... hm, okay. Forgiveness is like taking a broken vase and patching it up again so that it's good as new. Grace is like taking a broken vase and creating something so new and so beautiful that the old vase couldn't have conceived of it.

It's also hard to characterize Christianity as having a core belief of "forgiveness" - as *opposed* to Judaism - when Judaism has, well, a Day of Atonement. Which is all about forgiveness (as far as I can tell, but please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).

Edit:
And MAN am I harping, but re: vengeful/wrathful God, you should read some of the midrash. There are some stories where God is practically bantering with the rabbis - I read one two days ago that ends with God giving up the argument and saying, "My sons have defeated me! My sons have defeated me!" It's rather sweet, and humorous, and portrays a God who is close to his people and who also has a sense of humor... - although I'll admit I don't know how much such stories are used in modern Judaism, or if they're more like folktales... maybe someone on the forum can enlighten me.

I wouldn't say our (Christians') core belief and philosophy is forgiveness. Yeah, forgiveness is a big part of it, but really I'd say the most basic part of Christianity is relationship with God.

Here's what I mean by that. I believe humans were created to live in relationship with the Creator. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Adam and Eve did walk with Him in the garden each evening, which meant they spent time with Him. They were in relationship with God, without shame. Then, when they sinned, they were cast out of the garden and away from that easy place with the Lord, since God cannot abide with sin. The next five thousand years were spent atoning for sin by giving the Lord the only sacrifice that would cover their sin: blood from the animals that they made their living from. Even then, people were not fully allowed to enter into relationship with God. This is shown by the fact that only the High Priest could enter into the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, where the Lord's presence resided. Enter Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, and a third of the Trinity. When He was crucified, several things happened, not the least of which was the veil that seperated the Holy of Holies from the outer corridor was ripped. This was significant because it manifested that the people were allowed to enter into the Holy of Holies(the Lord's presence, where Adam and Eve once walked) once more. Because the blood of Christ covers us, we are able to enter into relationship with God with confidence because our sins are forgiven.

You asked for opinions, and that's my opinion. I could be completely, totally wrong, but that's what I'm staking my eternity on. : )

(OK, actually, the core belief of Christianity is that Jesus is the Son of God, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on the cross for the sins of the world, rose from the dead 3 days later, and ascended to the right Hand of the Father, thus defeating death and the grave. But I don't think that's your question here.)

NaNoWriMo2009: Son of the Father (first attempt!)

I'd like to explain this comment further, as I didn't write it well the first time.

I meant to say more that from an outsiders point of view it seemed to me that the role of the Jewish faith is to placate or appease a seemingly vengeful God. Obviously the experience is different from the inside of the religion.

The reasons why I thought that it seemed strict or vengeful was the many incidents in the Old Testament, where there are dietary restrictions, behaviour modifications, turning people into pillars of salt, wiping out towns and killing hoards of first born sons.

It was not meant to upset people. I was hoping to see people take my comment as a catalyst. :)

thanks for the answers so far :) I love that I can learn at least as much about myself as I can about my questions.

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" I read one two days ago that ends with God giving up the argument and saying, "My sons have defeated me! My sons have defeated me!" It's rather sweet, and humorous, and portrays a God who is close to his people and who also has a sense of humor... "

This not actually from the Midrash but from the Talmud. The full story behind this relates to a debate between one Rabbi and the majority within the Sanhedrin. The single Rabbi creates miracles to support him stating that the fact they happen proves he is correct- for each one he countered anda statement is brought from the Tprah that shows we follow the judges of the day's ruling and that "The Torah has been given to us here on Earth and miracls from the Heavens cannto alter it". After three such incidents, the ruling follows the majority on the Sanhedrin a sis required in the Torah. At this point some of the angels complain to G-d that the sanhedrin should have listened to the lone Rabbi who performed miracles to which G-d replies ""My sons have defeated me! My sons have defeated me!" in praise of the ruling of the Sanhedrin. The point of the story is to emphasize that a court rules according to the majority.

As for how much it is used- it is studied and used. Every Beis Din (Rabbinical Court) follows this ruling- the majoirty view is considered authoritative. The same applies to the rest of the Talmud- the only time it is not used is when the means is no longer available (thus no sacrifices because there is no Temple and other similar matters)

@marclipshitz - Spiffy, thanks for the clarification!

@KosmosStar - No worries, not upset (I figured you were responding at least in part to me) - just wanted to make sure you get a picture of the different facets of a religion's view of God. If no one talks about Islam I'll ramble about that in a bit.

Non-denomination Christian here. Our core beliefs?
1. Love Jesus.
2. Love God.
3. You don’t have to love everyone else, (though it’s highly recommended) but you have to at least forgive them if they wrong you.

And that's it, though not necessarily in that order.

Couple mentions of Asatruar throughout this one, and though I consider myself simply "heathen" and am in no way trying to speak for any other practicing Asatru, heathen, or pagan, my personal take on the initial question is this:

The core philosophy as I know it is to respect all the gods of Asgard and Vanaheim and all the beings of the Nine Worlds, all the Disir and our ancestors, and all the wights and the lands they watch over, and to be good and respectful stewards to the lessons they've passed down onto us. This can apply to everything from learning (really learning, not just throwing them around like toys) the runes to following the Havamal (or Odin's Guide to Etiquette, as it might be seen) to simply being aware of one's presence and place in this world. This particularly includes always strengthening the bond of kinship, by blood or otherwise, as one of the very most important facets of the faith.

The idea, as someone said above, that it's about "power" is hysterical. It's SO not about power. It's about using the past to learn about the present, and using the present to carry on the past. I'm not saying our gods can't lay a mean smackdown, but I'm certainly not foolish enough to want any part of that. ;) To quote the Havamal (Hollander trans.) -

The fool who fancies he is full of wisdom
While he sits by his hearth at home.
Quickly finds when questioned by others .
That he knows nothing at all.

That's because there really isn't one... Since "paganism" all by itself isn't a religion, but is more of an umbrella term. And as the posters above me have pointed out, Wicca and other pagan traditions are vastly different. Hellenic Reconstruction (religion of the ancient Greeks), for example - is not about having respect for the Earth and Mother nature. We're not tree huggers! ;) It's kind of a trickle down effect from being a good host/guest and honoring the gods, but that's no where near being a chief concern.

A better general philosophy for Pagans would be having respect and honor for the gods, and respecting your fellow human beings.

Well, since nobody talked about Islam, I guess I should try. Just note that I'm not a very religious person. Also note that I learned about Islam in a particularly Islamic country (Indonesia), so some of the descriptions here might be rather extreme.

The core belief in Islam is submitting to God. The first requirement to be a Moslem (or a Muslim? I'm not sure about the English word) is to say, in arabic, "I testify that there is no God but Allah and I testify that Muhammad (or Mohammed? Again, I'm not sure about the English word) is the Messenger of God."

Allah's words are absolute. The Qur'an (or Koran) is, according to our beliefs, his words that He dropped. Every laws in Islam is always based on the laws written in the Qur'an.

As the holy book of Islam, the Qur'an is very respected. According to my school, placing the Qur'an on the same level as one's feet is regarded as dishonoring the Qur'an. Stepping on the Qur'an is a sin, unless incidental, in which the Moslem must immediately ask for forgiveness while kissing the Qur'an. The strictest Moslem (that I know) does not allow Qur'an to be stacked in anything, even amongst other Qur'an.

Muhammad is the Messenger of God, and the most important prophet in Islam. His words (called Hadith) support the laws based on the Qur'an. While he is important, the teachings of Islam strictly said that Muhammad is a simple human and devotion to the man must not be equal to the devotion of Allah.

One of the most important rule (at least that my school teach me) is that painting Allah and Muhammad is FORBIDDEN. Which is one of the reason why that Danish caricature shook the Islamic world.

I think the core of our religion is:
1. Submit to Allah, follow His words.
2. Don't disturb those who believed in other Gods or more than one God, as it was His business and He will take care of it in the afterlife. This is why I hate those Al-Qaeda guys so much.
3. Don't eat pork. Seriously, don't eat pork. Or dog meat.
4. Don't even DARE to touch dogs or pigs.

So, yeah. Hope that helps.

Thanks to all so far :)

I need a list of Holy Places/Cities for any religion please..

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You're welcome. :-)

Wiccans create sacred space as and where needed by "casting circle", creating a spherical temple of energy in which to worship. Beyond that, any natural setting -- a forest, a beach, the desert, etc -- would usually be considered a holy place, since the natural world is the living body of the God/dess of our faith.

Places like Stonehenge, while awe-inspiring because of the weight of history that they carry, would be (to me anyway) not particularly attractive as a Wiccan place of worship, in part because the people who created them would not recognize our religion (a modern construct) and might be offended by our attempts to use their sacred structures. And Avalon, being mythical, would obviously not count as a holy place or place of worship.

I look forward to seeing what Pagans of different faiths have to say on the subject.

Arguably, the Vatican is important inasmuch as Rome itself was a site of many early martyrdoms for the Christian faith. The ground's soaked with holy blood, in a manner of speaking. So while St Peter's matters, and matters greatly, it matters not simply for being St Peter's, but for being on the place of St Peter's burial.

I would add Mount Sinai, as that was where Torah was given. Medina, for Muslims, as well as Mecca, those are the two major holy cities. Catholicism has many, many points of pilgrimage around the world, but Lourdes and Fatima come to mind immediately. Bethlehem is also a sacred site for Christians.

As winterbloom said, in Islam there are two holy cities, Medina and Mecca. In each of them lies the two most important and holy mosques, 'Masjidil Aqsa' in Medina and 'Masjidil Haram' in Mecca.

Masjidil Haram, however, is far more holy than Masjidil Aqsa. In the center of Masjidil Aqsa lies the most important object next to Qur'an, the Kaaba. The Kaaba is the spot where every Moslem had to direct his/her body at when praying. There's a period in Islamic calendar (a month long) where thousands of people walk around the Kaaba. It is very rare that anyone is allowed to enter the Kaaba.

I actually think that the core of Christianity is Grace. It may seem the same as forgiveness, but it goes beyond forgiveness. Forgiveness is God saying to us 'you've come to me and said sorry, your sins are blotted out'. That's important, certainly, but to Christians Grace is so much more than that. Grace is God saying 'you're still sinful, but you know what, I'm still going to reach out to you and try to save you'. Thing is, Grace can seem so unfair sometimes (see the parables of the Prodigal Son or of the Workers in the Vineyard) and can be difficult to reconcile with the idea of Justice, so it's a tricky one to handle, but the key thing is that Grace actually is unfair - the thing is that its unfair in our favour - hurrah :) I hope that made some semblance of sense.

I can't comment on the other religions and I don't think it's my place to as it would only be the opinion of an outsider - what you need is comments from people within those faiths.

Do you want to add Hindu to the list, too (and Buddhism too, maybe?)

Actually, yes why not add any known currently available religion in case anyone knows the same information for a religion I have not named. I was thinking it would help my plot to stay simple if I restricted it to a small group of partly related religions (in my mind I can see a relationship between them all, no offence meant to anyone) but now I think it would be better to expand it.

I am seriously touched by the kind people in the NaNo forums who have helped me here and in other categories with my weird and wonderful questions.

I find it encouraging to know the human race can largely work together if they choose to. :) Which perhaps explains why I am more agnostic than atheist. ;)

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Heathen chiming in again! I believe, without exception (please correct me if I'm wrong, anyone!!) all of our "holy" places were destroyed centuries ago. Now our sacred places are in our homes and the homes of our kin. However, time and again throughout Scandinavia and Germania, when our original holy places and temples were razed, churches were built on top of the remains in the same locations. So, in a sense, places like the stave churches of Norway (which are replete with heathen iconography, for all that) are still our sacred places, even if they've now got a Christian face on them.

Edited because it's too early to try adventurous things like "thinking" and "typing."

Religion means literally to re League yourself with the supreme being.

Christians: - Teachings:
- God sent Jesus who didn't sin.
- We should suffer in hell because of our sins.
- We don't have to suffer if we accept the gift of salvation from Jesus
Holy Places:
- "Via Dorado" The path Jesus walked on the way to die in Jerusalem.
- Bethlehem: Jesus birth place
- Lourdes: Fatima vision and healing spring waters
- Vatican: For Catholics only. Just another church for Protestants
GREETING= "Peace be with you"

Islam: - Teachings
- The One God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob gave the land of Israel to Jacob, who was called ISRAEL (Victor of Faith)
- The had to make the land Holy for the coming of the Messiah (anointed one, like a King)
- Until He comes, 10 Commandments guide them
- There were 12 tribes, but after attacks, only the 2 tribes of Judah (Jews) and Benjamin remain with the priest tribe, Levi.
- The other 10 (Lost) tribes scattered and are thought to be the ancestors of Gypsies, and even some American Indian tribes.
- Instead of revenge, punishment is equal payment. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, life for a life
Holy Places:
- Jerusalem with the Wailing Wall (all that remains of Solomon's temple)
- Masada: Site of final resistance before Rome took over Israel
- Israel (From north of the Sea of Galilee to south of the Dead Sea and to the coast)
GREETING = Shalom (Peace)

Islam: Teachings
- There is one God, they call Allah
- Allah sent many prophets (including Jesus, Moses, and the last was Mohammed)
- Follow the traditions (Believe there is one God; Pray 5 times a day; Fast during Ramadan)
- Strong family values
Holy Places:
- Jerusalem: Dome of the Rock is where Abraham made an offering to Allah
- Mecca where Mohammed escaped to. To be a "Haj", you have to visit Mecca once in your life time.
- Medina
GRRETING = Salam Allekum (Peace friends)

I am in an interfaith group, www.geelonginterfaith.com with over a dozen faith groups meeting each month.

slightly.fantastic - you ought to rename yourself to totally fantastic :)

thanks a million for your help

Location : Somewhere on the far side of crazy, past the dark side of the moon, and on my way to becoming comfortably numb.

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Another opinion ... I'm a Christian, but I think the basic concept comes from Taoism, but it's the same everywhere.

Something like "The Tao you can describe ... is not the Tao."

A single human being is deep, full of mystery and unique beauty. As you add people to form a religious group, the vast unique diversity of them all makes it impossible to describe the human element accurately - 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 100, 1000, and on, the totality of what people believe, hope, hunger for, and how they relate to and think about God becomes so diverse that no sentence can capture what human beings know as faith. And then one must imagine that God is infinitely more complex.

We can develop some generalities, and I hope whatever people offer is helpful to you in writing your novel, but the scope of the real thing just can't be put into words.

Somehow it reminds me of the phrase "one size fits all" - which doesn't - but it does fit some people somewhere.

I guess I can't put it into words either.

I'm assuming the first "islam" there is meant to be Judaism- and it needs some corrections:
ISRAEL (Victor of Faith)- wrong "Israel means to "Strive against G-d"
The had to make the land Holy for the coming of the Messiah (anointed one, like a King)

- Nope we had to live in the Holy Land because it is the and designated by the Torah. In fact, the Tprah only has afew very cryptic references to the Mashiach- nothing in the Torah is designated as having to be done until he comes

- Until He comes, 10 Commandments guide them - wrong- we have 613 commandments,t Aseret HaDibrot (ten utterances at Mt SInai) are seena s Chapter headings under which all the other commandments in the Torah fit. They are NOT the only commandments!

- The other 10 (Lost) tribes scattered and are thought to be the ancestors of Gypsies, and even some American Indian tribes.- complete speculation. jews do not see the 10 tribes in them. There are many others claiming to be from the 10 triibes including the Lemba in Lesotho

Masada: Site of final resistance before Rome took over Israel- Wrong, Masada is NOT a holy place at all.

Simply put...

As a Christian I am a forgiven servant.

How can I help you...how can I show you God's love?

I want to be the merciful feet, hands, eyes, and ears of Christ. I want to feed the hungry, heal the sick, lift up the sorrowful, turn the other cheek, and give Glory to God in all that I do.

How can I serve you? In order to be first I must first be last.