The Religious Life of Planet Earth - Essay Example

Therefore, I set criteria that helped me determine the devoutness of people on planet Earth: their one God, the prophet who serves as the people’s leader, the holy book which provides people spiritual guidance, and scriptures or teachings that impact people’s values and behaviors. Before I further describe the criteria which I established for my religious quest on planet Earth, I believe it would be necessary to endeavor to define what religion on planet Earth means. Different perspectives offer different definitions of the term “religion.

” In its very essence, religion on Earth symbolizes its people’s relationship with a supernatural being, or a deity, who is believed to have control over some aspects of living and of the world (Idinopulos, 1998). People call this supernatural being differently: some call it their “God,” while others call it their “Allah.” Nonetheless, this supernatural being helps people in understanding the world and the meaning and importance of human existence. This understanding provides structure and stability within their society, and exposits the undertakings and purposes for the humankind (Idinopulos, 1998). . They further believe that their God controls all forms of life on the planet and therefore has the ability to take all these life forms back.

As much as possible, people on the planet endeavor to live rightfully and spiritually to make their God happy and satisfied. In addition, for an institution to be considered as religion there needs to be a certain character, a prophet as they call it, that serves as the people’s leader. This prophet possesses supernatural abilities and extraordinary characters which allow the prophet to speak to their one God and provide guidance to the people. In short, the prophet is the messenger of God.

Apart from their God and prophet, another common criterion of religions on Earth is the holy book. Every religion on the planet has a holy book that provides guidance for humanity to the right direction for salvation that shows the way to paradise (Elsaie, n.d.). The holy book, in addition, outlines the actions and behaviors which are morally acceptable for the institution, and clearly summarizes the divine standards that people have to follow. Lastly, religious groups of people on Earth involve devotional and ritual teachings which contain the moral code governing the values and behavior of human matters.

In order to further scrutinize the truth behind the criteria I set for my religious investigation on Earth, I looked deeper at the three major religious beliefs on Earth based on number of adherents: Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism (Adherents.com, 2007). On planet Earth, there are approximately 1.9 billion Christians, or 33% of the world’s entire population (Adherents.com, 2007). It is believed to be the largest religion on the planet. Christianity believes