tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5797167685438817562.post-41682927095301884112008-06-13T19:22:00.001-07:002008-06-13T19:22:51.018-07:00The 4th principle of Unitarian Universalism is the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Part of that responsible search is to become religiously literate. According to Stephen Prothero, in his book Religious Literacy, there is a core set of concepts that a religiously literate person should know. I will be periodically describing these concepts on this blog and I will be tagging these items "Dictionary of Religious Literacy."<br /><br />The first concept is "5 pillars of Islam."<br /><br />The five pillars of Islam are:<br /><br />Shahadab - There is no God but God and Muhammad is the messenger of God.<br /><br />Salat - prayer in the direction of Mecca 5 times per day.<br /><br />Sawm - fasting from sunrise to sunset during the month of Ramadan<br /><br />Zakat - almsgiving to the poor<br /><br />Hajj - pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in one's lifetime.<br /><br />One of the criticisms of UU is that there are no distinctive disciplines of religious practice except coffee hour. Islam is a religion that emphazises practice and behavior more than credal beliefs. When you consider the 5 pillars only the first one has to do with theology or belief. All the rest prescribe behavior and practice.<br /><br />If UU was to learn this lesson of a world religion from Islam what might some of its prescribed and unique practices be?<br /><br />Video lasts 48 seconds<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BnIW2W74auM&hl=en"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BnIW2W74auM&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>David G. Markhamnoreply@blogger.com