Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus. It may be the world's largest religion, with about 2.4 billion Christian follwers who adhere to the Holy Bible. Christians make up the majority of the population in over 157 countries/territories .
Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Holy Quran and the teachings called hadith. Its' estimated 2 billion adherents are referred to as Muslims. According to the Holy Quran, Allah is God and Muhammed (c. 570-632 CE) is his messenger {Hadith}.
Judaism is an Abrahamic ethnic religion based on the Torah, Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and Talmud along with the collective cultural, religious, and legal traditions of the Hebrew-Israelites. It is the expression of the covenant that God established with Israel.
Buddhism is an Indian religion based on a series of original teachings attributed to Gautama Buddha. It originated in ancient India as a Sramana tradition sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE and has 520 million Buddhist follwers.
Sikhism is an Indian Dhamic religion that orignated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent around the end of the 15th century CE. Sikhism is one of the world's youngest religions and has around 25-30 million Sikh follwers.
Taoism (Tao Te Ching) is a philosophical and spiritual tradition of Chinese origin which emphasizes living in harmony with the TAO. The "TAO" is the source of everything that exists and it teaches becoming one with the unplanned rhythms of the universe.
In the United States, thousands of faith leaders from many religous denominations are calling for federal economic and intellectual investment in several critical areas:
BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and other non-Black people of color] and low-income communities have been harmed the most by both this pandemic and our centuries of investment in fossil fuel infrastructure. Our understanding of justice demands that these communities must be at the center of our investments going forward. Specifically, we call for these communities, forced to bear an unequal burden of pollution and pandemic, to receive at least 40% of the investments. Additionally, to ensure a just transition, we must support dislocated workers and investment [must be made] in communities historically dependent on fossil fuels.
Too many communities, especially in low-income urban neighborhoods and in indigenous communities, do not have access to clean water. We must invest in lead pipe remediation, as well as programs that provide clean water to rural communities.
Now is the time to invest in American-made electric vehicles, build charging stations across the country, and make sure they are affordable to all. We can also connect our communities and reduce pollution by electrifying and expanding public transit.
We can accelerate the transition to clean energy by passing a national Clean Energy Standard that achieves 100% renewable, pollution free electricity by 2035, while also expanding investments in wind and solar power.
Oh Thou who art! The Book of Daniel calls thee "Ancient of Days"; Isiah calls thee Alpha / Omega; Ecclesiastes names thee the Almighty; Maccabees names thee Creator; the Epistle to the Ephesians names thee liberty; Baruch names thee Immensity; the Psalms names thee Wisdom and Truth; John names thee light; the Book of Kings names thee Lord; Exodus calls thee Providence; Leviticus, Holiness; Esdras, Justice; Creation calls thee God; Man names thee Father; but Solomon names thee Compassion, and that is the most beautiful of all thy names!
Consider the following four claims:
Traditionally, theists-people who believe in God-have accepted these four claims, but many philosophers have argued that they are incompatible. If God is all powerful, he could have made a world without evil.
And since a world without evil is better than a world with evil, how could a perfectly benevolent God knowingly create a world in which there is evil? { Cross Reference-KJV: AMOS 3:6}One solution is to deny that God bears reponsibility for the evil in the world. Supporters of this view argue that God created the world, but humankind created evil. People have free will, and the only way God could have prevented evil is by not giving them free will. But, the argument goes, a world in which humanity does not have free will would even be worse than the actual world. Therefore, God made the best possible choice. He created "Homo Sapiens" with free will, which led to there being evil. Of course, this theory does not resolve the problem of natural evil - earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis that cause death and suffering. God could have created a natural world with fewer disasters that kill innocent people. So why did he not?
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) responded to this question by famously claiming that this is the best of all possible worlds. Admittedly, there are features of this world that are bad-for instance, the existence of hurricanes. However, argued Leibniz, a world without deadly hurricanes would be worse than this world. For instance, it would lack the elegant natural laws that govern the behavior of weather.
According to the Bible (KJV) after a thousand years, Satan shall be summoned from the bottomless pit and set free upon the earth for a short while. But in order to free the creature from its chains and loosen the seal, there is a spell which must be recited. However, has anyone actually seen "SATAN" or does the creature simply exist as a figment of human imagination?
(20) And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. (2) And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, (3) And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Prince of Fire...We call upon the flame to summon you...We call out all the dark creatures of nature to summon you here to us...Prince of Fire... RISE...Hear us as we call to you...RISE...From the curling flames...We summon you in the names of the seven plagues...In the names of the charred and blackened stars that reigned at your beginnings...To rise out of the darkness of the bottomless pit...We call you forth...From the mouth of the dragon...And of the beast...And of the false prophet...We call you forth from the subterranean rivers of blood and the smoke of torment which rises forever and ever...We evoke you in the name of every evil spirit...Appear before us...RISE!
