Expressing Beliefs

The Five Major World Religions and Daily Life

The Junior Cycle specification recognises five major world religions. Each has distinctive beliefs, a foundational sacred text, and a purpose-built place of worship:

Religious beliefs directly influence a member's day-to-day life:

• Food: many Jews eat kosher food and many Muslims eat only halal food.
• Rest: Jewish families keep Shabbat from Friday evening to Saturday evening, avoiding work.
• Dress: many Muslim women wear the hijab and many Jewish men wear a kippah as a sign of faith.

Diversity also exists within religions. For example, Roman Catholics and Church of Ireland members are both Christian, yet they express their traditions differently.

Prayer, Rituals, and Sacred Spaces

Believers express their relationship with the Divine through specific actions, ceremonies, and locations:

• Prayer is a mental or vocal expression directed towards God or a power beyond the person. Muslims pray Salah five times a day; Jews recite the Shema morning and evening.
• Prayer gives believers comfort and strength in difficult times, such as illness or bereavement.
• Prayer builds a sense of closeness to God and of belonging to a community when prayed together.
• A religious ritual is an ordered ceremony of symbolic actions with religious meaning, such as Christian baptism using water to signify cleansing and new life.
• A non-religious ritual is a repeated symbolic practice without spiritual purpose. Non-religious rituals mark important moments, create a sense of belonging and help people remember and honour others, for example a minute's silence or a humanist naming ceremony.
• A formal place of worship is a specially designed building where people gather to worship (church, mosque, synagogue, temple). A sacred space is any place considered holy that fulfils a religious purpose, including rivers (the Ganges), holy wells, and pilgrim paths like Croagh Patrick.

Development of a Sacred Text

You should be able to explain how one sacred text came to be written and why it still matters to believers today. The New Testament Gospels developed in four distinct stages:

1. Historical events: Jesus lived, taught, healed, died, and was believed by his followers to have risen.
2. Oral tradition: the apostles passed on Jesus's teachings and parables by word of mouth.
3. Written accounts: the four Gospel writers — Matthew, Mark, Luke and John — wrote down these accounts roughly 30 to 70 years after Jesus died.
4. Canonisation: early Christian communities collected and officially recognised these four Gospels as inspired scripture.

Today, believers read the Gospels at worship and apply teachings like the Good Samaritan to guide daily moral choices.

Contemporary Culture and Humanism

Religious themes such as forgiveness, redemption, suffering, and divine love appear across modern arts:

• Music: grime artist Stormzy explores praise, human flaw, and God's unearned love in Blinded by Your Grace. Irish rock band U2 retells biblical narratives in Until the End of the World.
• Film: the drama Breakthrough highlights a family's prayer and community support during a medical crisis.
• Literature: C.S. Lewis in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe explores Christian themes of sacrifice and resurrection through Aslan.

Humanism is a non-religious worldview based on reason, human experience, and scientific evidence rather than belief in God. Humanists believe in 'being good without God' and mark major milestones through secular ceremonies such as humanist weddings, namings, and funerals.

Beliefs in Action: Heritage, Dialogue, and Justice

Faith communities influence society, culture, and reconciliation in concrete ways:

• Irish heritage: Christianity shaped Ireland through early monastic sites like Glendalough, high crosses, illuminated manuscripts such as the Book of Kells, and placenames derived from cill (church), such as Kilkenny.
• Interfaith dialogue: structured discussions and co-operation between members of different religions to build mutual respect and peace.
• Ecumenism: work promoting understanding and unity among different Christian traditions. The Corrymeela Community in Northern Ireland brings Catholics and Protestants together to build peace and heal sectarian division.
• Faith-based justice: religious organisations put their founding vision into practice. Trócaire was established in 1973 by Irish Catholic bishops to tackle global poverty and injustice, putting Christian care into practical action.

Key terms

Beliefs

The ideas and convictions that people hold to be true, including religious and non-religious views.

Community of faith

A group sharing a religious tradition marked by shared beliefs, practices, and histories of interpretation.

Formal place of worship

A specially designed building where people gather to worship together, such as a church, synagogue, temple, or mosque.

Sacred space

A place considered holy that fulfils a religious purpose, including rivers, wells, shrines, and burial sites.

Religious ritual

A ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order with religious and symbolic value.

Sacred text

Authoritative writing considered foundational to a religion and believed to reveal the word of the Divine.

Humanism

A non-religious worldview based on reason, human experience, and scientific evidence rather than belief in God.

Interfaith dialogue

Respectful discussion and co-operation between members of different religious traditions to promote peace.