What are the main types of religion and their main beleifs? (moral, beliefs)

[theMINI]

Hi everyone,

I've never taken a religious course at school (My mom always put me in Moral Ed.) and the last time I went to church was for my 1st communion. I know very little about religions in general and although I am trying to finish my HS after leaving 2 year prior, I plan to take a 3 year program in Religious studies in college.

I signed up on the website today and to get started I wanted to know the main types of religion. I know Jewish, Catholic, and Muslim are 3 big ones but are there more? What are the different branches within them? I heard of Evangelique, Christian, and some other stuff but what are the differences? Is there a website that might help me? What are their main beleifs and differences?

Thank you in advance.

[Green Gaia]

http://www.religiousforums.com/forum...isplay.php?f=3

[theMINI]

Note to self: Visit the subforums before posting a new topic.

Thank you very much.

[Green Gaia]

No problem.

[theMINI]

Hey Maize, perhaps you can answer this for me because I couldn't find a lot about Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox religions.

They are the 3 main christian branches but I wanted to know the difference between the 3.

[Feathers in Hair]

For things like that, it might be easiest to search for articles. It's a bit hard to summarize everything.

[Sunstone]

For a survey of the world's major religions, you might try googling Huston Smith, and looking for either "The Religions Of Man" or "The World's Religions". They're the same book, one is just an earlier title than the other. At any rate, the book is an excellent introduction to the main beliefs.

[theMINI]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

For a survey of the world's major religions, you might try googling Huston Smith, and looking for either "The Religions Of Man" or "The World's Religions". They're the same book, one is just an earlier title than the other. At any rate, the book is an excellent introduction to the main beliefs.

Thank you. I ordered it already.

[Mr. Hair]

http://www.religioustolerance.org/var_rel.htm

Go get 'em! *begins playing 'eye of the tiger'*

[James the Persian]

Originally Posted by theMINI

Hey Maize, perhaps you can answer this for me because I couldn't find a lot about Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox religions.

They are the 3 main christian branches but I wanted to know the difference between the 3.

You could try looking at the stickies in the Orthodox and Roman Catholic forums for an overview of what our churches believe. Protestants are a remarkably heterogeneous lot and about all they really seem to have in common is their origins in the Reformation movement which broke away from Rome, so an overview of Protestant beliefs is unlikely to be very successful (even if it's possible at all).

You can always post questions in the subforums and we'll do our best to answer, or you could try PMing us. I'd suggest asking Victor or Scott (Scott1, I believe, is his username here) about Roman Catholicism and myself or No*s about Orthodoxy. I am a convert myself from the Lutheran church to Orthodoxy so I can probably fill you in on some differences between Orthodoxy and Protestantism.

I believe that in the Catholic forum (which is a sort of parent forum for both us and the Roman Catholics - we call our church the Holy Orthodox Catholic Church, in actual fact) there is at least one thread outlining some of the differences between Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy. I can give you my opinions a to the difference but I'm quite likely to misrepresent the RCC in some way as I have never been RC myself.

James