Religious Belief in Christianity
Different religions attach differing degrees of importance to belief. Christianity puts more emphasis on belief than other religions. The Church has throughout its history set out creeds that define correct belief for Christians and which identify heresy. Luke Timothy Johnson writes that "Most religions put more emphasis on orthopraxy (right practice) than on orthodoxy (right belief). Judaism and Islam have each created sophisticated systems of law to guide behaviour, but have allowed an astonishing freedom of conviction and intellectual expression. Both have been able to get along with comparatively short statements of belief. Buddhism and Hinduism concentrate on the practices of ritual and transformation rather than on uniformity of belief, and tribal religions express their view of reality through a variety of myths, not a 'rule of faith' for their members." Christianity by contrast places a peculiar emphasis on belief and has created ever more elaborate and official statements in its creeds.[16] Some Christian denominations, especially those formed since the Reformation, do not have creeds, and some, for example the Jehovah's Witnesses,[17] explicitly reject them.
Religious belief in Judaism
Whether Judaism entails belief or not has been a point of some controversy. Some say it is does not,[18] some have suggested that belief is relatively unimportant for Jews. "To be a Jew," says de Lange, "means first and foremost to belong to a group, the Jewish people, and the religious beliefs are secondary."[19] Others[who?] say that the Shema prayer, recited in the morning and evening services, expresses a Jewish creed: "Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One."[Deut. 6:4] Maimonides's Thirteen Principles of the Faith are sometimes taken as the statement of Judaism' fundamental beliefs, especially by Orthodox Jews. They may be summarised as follows:
God is the Creator.
God is a unity.
God is incorporeal.
God is the first and the last.
It is right to pray to God and to no other.
The words of the prophets are true.
The prophecy of Moses was true.
The Torah was given to Moses.
The Torah will never change.
God knows all the deeds of human beings and all their thoughts.
God rewards those who keep His commandments and punishes those that transgress them.
The Messiah will come.
The dead will be resurrected.
