We might find ourselves thinking or asking, what’s the point of knowing this stuff? Why shouldreligious content matter? Why should a “basic American” know the 10 Commandments of Judaism andChristianity, the 4 Noble Truths of Buddhism, the 5 Pillars of Faith of Islam, the 5 K’s of Sikhism, the 7Deadly Sins of Catholicism, or the 5 key relationships of Confucianism? So what? Prothero’s responseis simple and it is profound: “Content is the necessary means to understanding.” It is necessary for ourself-growth and development; moreover, knowledge and understanding are indispensable in the fightagainst ignorance, intolerance, and discrimination.Stephen Prothero Religious LiteracyWorksheet #1 Introduction and Chapter 1 “A Nation of Religious Illiterates”Page references are furnished for the blue-cover 2007 textbook edition, followed by the later version e-text pagination.Ballar Singh Sadhi was killed by a vigilante at an Arizona gas station because he thought the manwearing a turban was a Muslim and a terrorist. (p3 textbook; p6 e-text)What religion was the victim?Sadhi is actually a practitioner of Sikhism.Look up Ballar Singh Sadhi’s religious tradition in the dictionary section of Prothero (pp185-292textbook; pp163-252 e-text) and explain two things about it.Sikh comes from the Hindu word that means "learner", stemming from the Sikh principle that theirfollowers must learn from mentors called "gurus", the foremost of which is God himself whom theycall Sat Guru or "True Teacher". SInce it is a sortof amalgamation of Islam and Hinduism, it draws onthe monotheism of the Muslim faith and the practice of meditation and chanting which they have takenfrom Hinduism in order to connect with the Divine.In the textbook version on page 5 (p9 e-text) Prothero notes, “religion has always been a majorfactor in US politics, and international affairs.”Prothero quotes Diane Eck, who laments, “Christians in the US are…abysmally ignorant aboutthe religious traditions of the rest of the world.” List what Eck calls “the Big Five” majorreligious traditions of the world (pp8 textbook; p11 e-text). *Note: Daoism and Confucianism ofChina, and Jainism and Sikhism of India were not included by the author, though I definitelyinclude these in my religions of the world courses.The 'big five" religions are: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, and Buddhism.Name a number of issues, reforms, and debates in our culture that “are not comprehensible in areligious vacuum”—meaning that apart from a religious framework we cannot adequatelyanalyze issues. (p6 textbook; p9 e-text)These issues include: religiously - motivated extremist acts, the burning of draft records by Catholicpriests during the Vietnam War and self immolation of Buddhist monks in Vietnam that is motivated bythe Catholic Just War Theory and the Buddhist teachings on no - self and compassion, respectively, and
