... In the year of 998, the abbot of the monastery of Cluny in southern France, St. Odilo added a celebration on November 2nd called All Souls Day. The new celebration was a feast whose purpose was to recognize those in heaven and in purgatory. The tradition of dressing up in costumes on Halloween is derived from the Feast of All Souls Day in France. During the 14th and 15th centuries when Europe was hit by outbreaks of the bubonic plague, about half of its population was wiped out. Since life spans were greatly shortened because of the plague, Catholics began to focus on the after life. The number of Masses ...

... the years, its cultures, religions and beliefs poured out upon the continents, including the New World. The intent of this report is to show the transfer of Christianity from the Old World to the Americas; it is to outline its beginnings and show its impact on the Indian people. The Catholic Church during the Middle Ages played an all encompassing role over the lives of the people and the government. As the Dark Ages came to a close the ideas of the Renaissance started to take hold, and the church's power gradually began to dwindle. The monarchies of Europe also began to grow replacing the church's power. Monar ...

... to our father than ourselves, though we are many. Truly, our father is much mistaken. Let us slay Joseph, or cast him away in some far-off land, so that we may have no rivals in our father's love, and after that be honorable men" (Koran 1380). Reuben, one of Joseph's brothers, overheard this, and he delivered him out of their hands; he said, "Let us not kill him" (Genesis 37:21). Joseph is not killed by his brothers, but sold into Egypt. The Bible states Joseph was sold for twenty pieces of silver while the Koran does not tell of a specific amount. After Joseph was sold into Egypt, both accounts tell of how, ...

... make the important decision on controversial topics. In its doctrinal statements, “the Greek Orthodox church strongly affirms that it holds the original Christian faith, which was common to East and West during the first millennium of Christian history" (Meyendorff 18). More particularly, it recognizes the authority of the ecumenical councils at which East and West were represented together. These were the councils of Nicaea I (325), Constantinople (381), Ephesus(431), Chalcedon(451), Constantinople II (553), Constantinople III (680), and Nicaea II (787) (Encarta 1996). The power of teaching and guiding the commu ...

... and popular religious practices. However, Shintoism is probably not a native religion of Japan (since the Japanese were not the original “natives� of Japan). There really is no one thing that can be called “Shinto,� The name itself is a bit misleading because it is made up of two Chinese words meaning “the way of the gods�(Shen : “ spiritual power, divinity�; Tao : “the way or path�). The word for this in Japanese is kannagara : "the way of the kami ." Many things can be said about Shinto. First, it was a tribal religion, not a state one. However, even when the tribes were organized into ...

... peacefulness of the Tao (Wolcott 77). was slowly, but surely, starting to rise to be one of the greatest Chinese religions. is one of the most influential ancient Chinese religions. has influenced many religions as well as people. , Confucianism, and Buddhism all influenced each other with their ideas and beliefs (Gaer 170). is the belief that all natural things are good to man and that all materialistic things are a sin and can ruin one’s future in the afterlife (Hume 143-145). The Yin Yang is one of the most important symbols in . The Yin Yang symbol looks like two tadpoles. The Yin stands for female ...

... it� (Matt 16:18). Christ promised his followers that his church would not be destroyed and that his church would survive until his return. is the largest religion today. This religion has been seeing a lot of people leaving this religion and joining other churches. But even though many people are changing to other religions, there are also many people leaving their churches and converting to Roman Catholicism. It has been growing rapidly in the last few years. “Today we are seeing more than a hundred and fifty thousand converts enter each year in the United States� (Catholic Answers). From what I can ...

... and there he put the man he had formed. 9And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground--trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.� God gives Adam “dominion� over the garden and the animals within; he has everything he needs, even a wife. God gives them a simple command to not eat of “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,� but He told them they can eat from any other tree in the garden. What tree do they eat from? Of course, the “tree of knowledge,� which directly disobeys the LORD’s basic command. God gave Adam and Eve a paradise to dwell in and the oppor ...

... off and mated with a mortal, she became quite upset. Hera, in an attempt to exact her revenge, appeared to Semele and told her to ask Zeus to appear to her in his divine form. When Zeus obliged, Semele was immediately consumed in flames, for no mortal can look upon a god in his natural state. However, Zeus saved the unborn Dionysus by sewing him up in his thigh, thus incubating him. What happened next is different in every story. Some myths say he lived with a king and queen loyal to Zeus until Hera discovered him, and, in a jealous rage, warped their brains. In this version of the story, Dionysus was tur ...

... in Israelite religion. The prophets Ezekiel and Deutero-Isaiah believed that Yahweh had used the Babylonian Empire to punish the Israelites for their sins, and he therefore had the power to redeem them from captivity if they repented. A truly monotheistic religion developed the God of Israel now being seen as the God ruling universal history and the destiny of all nations. I'm not going to delve any further into the history of Judaism. At this point in time I will simply state that there are many differences in between Christianity and Judaism The Jews believe in "anointed prophets," or someone who ...