Christianity
What is the largest Christian denomination in the world?
The Roman Catholic Church.
According to Judaism, who was the first person to realise there is only one God?
Who was the founder?
Mohamed
Who are the two founder figures of the Bahai Faith?
The Bab and Baha'u'llah.
What is the defining, unique feature of African Traditional Religion?
Ancestral veneration.
What is the largest Christian denomination in South Africa?
The Zion Christian Church (ZCC).
What are the names of the two largest Jewish cultural groups?
Ashkenazim and Sephardim
What's the difference between the Kaaba and Karbala?
The Kaaba is the shrine in the Great Mosque in Mecca which is the focus of pilgrimage for Muslims on Hajj. Karbala is a city in Iraq where Shia Muslims make pilgrimage to the shrine of Imam Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Prophet.
The headquarters of the Bahai faith are found in which city and country?
Haifa, Israel.
Name two African cultures which practise a form of polytheism.
Zulu and Khoisan cultures.
What is the Apocrypha?
It is a collection of books which Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians recognize as part of the Bible, but which most Protestants reject.
Explain what a Covenant is.
A Covenant is a promise made by God to the Jewish people that He will or will not do something. It is usually accompanied by an obligation on the part of the Jewish people.
What is mutta?
It is a form of temporary marriage practised by Shia Muslims.
What do Bahais believe about other religions?
They believe that all religions are valid in that they all represent a partial understanding of the true nature of the divine.
Describe the organisational structure of African Traditional Religion
Is the following statement true?
"Martin Luther wanted to break away from the Roman Catholic Church"?
No. It is false. Martin Luther wanted to reform the Catholic Church from within, but was excommunicated by the pope, forcing him and his followers to break away and form the Lutheran Church.
What is political Zionism?
It is the belief that all people of Jewish descent should 'return' to the land of Israel and settle there in the historical homeland of the Jewish people.
What is the difference between the Quran and the Hadith?
The Quran is seen as the direct word of God (Allah), while the Hadith are the recorded wisdom of the Prophet.
What is the Bahai response to perceived conflict between Science and Religion?
Explain the role of the ancestors in relation to the living.
The ancestors protect the living from misfortune.
If ignored, they will bring suffering to their descendants.
They are consulted by a diviner to find out if misfortune originates with the ancestors or a witch.
They communicate with the living through dreams and animals.
Explain the nature of the filioque controversy which led to the Great Schism.
The Roman Catholic Church added the phrase "and from the Son" to describe how the Holy Spirit proceeds within the Trinity. The Eastern Orthodox churches disagreed with this as it made the Holy Spirit "less God" than God in their view.
Identify the three theological denominations of Jews in the modern era. How do their approaches to the Torah differ?
Orthodox Jews believe the Torah is the direct Word of God and should be understood literally.
Conservative Jews believe that the Torah was given by God through ideas which humans mediated.
Reformed Jews believe that the interpretation of the Torah needs to be adaptable to modern times.
Name the Five Pillars in Arabic with English translations
Shahadaah (declaration of faith)
Saum (fasting)
Salah (ritual prayer)
Zukat (almsgiving)
Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca)
What are the three core beliefs of the Bahai Faith?
All religions worship the same God.
One day, all people will worship God within the Bahai Faith.
When all people are united under the same religion (Bahai), there will be universal peace and justice.
Explain the concepts of ubuntu and ilima.
These concepts relate to the focus on communal living and interdependence in African Traditional Religion. Ubuntu means "I am because you are", and so people in ATR live in community, respect their elders, and help those less fortunate than themselves (ilima).