Under anti-discrimination legislation you have the right to hold your own religious beliefs or other philosophical beliefs similar to a religion. You also have the right to have no religion or belief. It is unlawful for someone to discriminate against you because of your religion or belief in the following circumstances:
- In any aspect of employment
- When providing goods, facilities and services
- When providing education
- In using or disposing of premises
- When exercising public functions
More information is available on the Equality and Human Rights Commission Webpage (external link)
An overview of the main religions in Wigan.
Christian
Christianity is the worlds biggest religion with over 2 billion adherents. Christians believe:
- That Jesus was the Messiah promised in the Old Testament
- That Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
- That God sent his son to earth to save humanity from the consequences of its sins.
- That Jesus gave his life on the cross and rose from the dead after the 3rd day.
- There is only one God but there are three elements to this God. (God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit.)
Christians worship in churches, their spiritual leaders are called priests or ministers. The Christian holy book is the Bible and consists of Old and New Testaments.
Christian holy days such as Easter and Christmas are important milestones in the Western secular calendar.
Hinduism
Hinduism is one of the worlds oldest religions and has over 900 million adherents worldwide. Hindus believe:
- in a universal eternal soul called Brahman, who created and is present in everything, but they worship other deities such as Ram, Shiva, Lakshmi and Hauman, recognising different attributes of Brahman in them.
- that the soul passes through a cycle of successive lives and its next incarnation is always dependent on how the previous life was lived.
- that the texts were received by scholars directly from God and passed onto generations by word of mouth.
Hindu worship, or puja, involves images (murtis), prayers (mantras) and diagrams of the universe (yantras). Central to Hindu worship is the image, or icon, which can be worshipped either at home or in the temple.
The Vedas are the most ancient religious Hindu text and define the truth.
Hindus celebrate many holy days, but the Festival of Lights, Diwali is the most well known.
Islam
Followers of Islam are called Muslims.
Muslims believe:
- that there is only One God. The Arabic word for God is Allah. According to Muslims, God sent a number of prophets to mankind to teach them how to live according to His law. Jesus, Moses and Abraham are respected as prophets of God. They believe that the final Prophet was Muhammad (peace be upon him).
- that Islam has always existed, but for practical purposes, date their religion from the time of the migration of Muhammad.
There are five basic Pillars of Islam. These pillars are the declaration of faith, praying five times a day, giving money to charity, fasting and a once in a lifetime pilgrimage to Mecca.
Muslims worship in a building called a mosque. A Muslim can perform their daily prayers anywhere, but it is especially good to pray with others in a mosque.
Muslims base their laws on their holy book the Qur'an, and the Sunnah. The Sunnah is the practical example of Prophet Muhammad.
There are only two Muslim festivals set down in Islamic law: Eid ul Fitr and Eid ul Adha (Eid or Id is a word meaning festival). But there are also several other special days which Muslims celebrate.
Judaism
Jews believe:
- that there is only one God with whom they have a covenant (external link) In exchange for all the good that God has done for the Jewish people, Jewish people keep God’s laws and try to bring holiness into every aspect of their lives.
- that there is a single God who not only created the universe, but with whom every Jew can have an individual and personal relationship.
- that God continues to work in the world, affecting everything that people do.
Judaism has a rich history of religious text, but the central and most important religious document is the Torah (external link). Spiritual leaders are called Rabbis.
Jews worship (external link) in Synagogues (external link).
Some of the main holy days in the Jewish calendar include, the Days of Repentance or Days of Awe, Hanukkah or Chanukah (the Jewish Festival of Lights) and Passover, celebrated to commemorate the liberation of the Children of Israel who were led out of Egypt by Moses.
Further Information
For more information on different religions please go to the BBC religion webpage (external link).
Multi-Faith Calendar
To view Wigan Council's multi-faith calendar please click on this link - Multi-Faith Calendar 2008 (.pdf, 27kb)
Faith Quiz
