Asian Religions and their Countries

This chapter is about religions in Asia they start off with the oldest one called Hinduism. The word Hinduism actually means "Indianism" that the British probably were the ones to name it. They believe in the caste system a system that ranks people in social order the priest are on top and the untouchables are on the bottom of the scale. The cast system according to the book is loosing its use because India is becoming more industrialized. They believe in Reincarnation and that they will reach the last stage and not be reincarnated to reach Moksha it means to be one with the universe. The second religion they talk about is Buddhism and its spread from India to the East. The person who helped expand Buddhism was Emperor Ashoka who ruled from 269-232 B.C.E. it spread from India to Ceylon to Southeast Asia then Central Asia to China, Japan, and Korea. They also believe in reincarnation and they want to reach Nirvana the last point of reincarnation were people let go and be happy to Christians this would be like heaven their final destination. We have confucianism a very interesting religion that developed in China that keeps coming back up it is basically that everyone should follow the role that people are giving to. In China we have Daoism another religion that is different from confucianism this religion focus more on becoming one with nature. Then, we have Islam in Asia, but the book only talks about how it expanded through Arabian peninsula the middle east. We have Shinto a religion developed in Japan. http://tucson.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/religion/pope-brings-message-of-religious-ethnic-dialogue-to-asia/article_941a4fd2-60c1-5e8d-aca8-fd3ee990b036.html This article that I found is on religious tolerance and how Pope Francis is helping Sir Lanka to forget the injustices that were committed and start again fresh. I choose this article because when christianity was in its mid evil stage it was not a religion that was tolerant of other religions and now it is changing.