Christianity

With 2.2 billion faithful, this is the first religion in the world.

It is the West that found most Christians:
False
In 1939, France, Italy and Germany reigned over the Christian world. Today, as Odon Vallet, a historian of religions, explains, the center of Christianity, demography obliges, has moved towards the South. "The largest Catholic countries are Brazil, Mexico and the Philippines. And after the United States, the second Protestant country in the world, is Nigeria!

On December 25, the birth of Christ is celebrated:
False
Nothing in the Bible evokes this date, or any other. It is the Church that in the 4th century arbitrarily fixed the birth of Jesus in winter to coincide with existing pagan festivals. On the 25th of December, the "sol invictus" was celebrated the undefeated sun.
Even worse, the beginning of our era would be wrong! Jesus would have been born seven years earlier, as Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged, so we would live in 2021 and not in 2013. So, are we shedding our calendars?

The Immaculate Conception refers to Mary's virginity:
False
In fact, this means that Mary was born without the original sin, like Adam and Eve. The Immaculate Conception is a grace that has been granted to him.

The Bible does not evoke carnal love:
False
In the Song of Songs, physical love is praised in a sensual way: "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth." Some convents have even forbidden reading to avoid titillating the flock.

The woman descends from the coast of Adam:
False
Not rewarding and especially fanciful. "The Hebrew word means that the woman was born" on the side "of Adam, explains Christine Pédotti, co-chair of the Committee of the Skirt, Catholic feminists, so she is her equal". Spread the word !

What is the richest parish in the world?
No, it is not the Vatican but an Episcopalian (Protestant) church located in New York near ... Wall Street!

Lent is the Ramadan of the Christians? :
False
Lent is the preparation for the feast of Easter. Originally, this was a 40-day fast, from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday. "Today we only fast on Good Friday (and again ...)," recalls Frederic Mounier, Correspondent of the Cross in Rome, and the believers mark this period by depriving themselves of something important: the car, the tv, or…. Facebook !
Ramadan, a practice commanded by the Koran, refrains from eating and drinking, cigarettes and having sex all day long for a month in order to obey God.

Protestants do not believe in Mary: True and false
The Protestants do not devote themselves to it in particular, do not pray to it, but consider the Mother of God as an exceptional Christian.

* Odon Vallet published "Small lexicon of misconceptions about religions" (in pocket book)

The Judaism

there are 14 million Jews in the world, a stable figure since the last century.

The Jewish people are the chosen people:
True
In the Bible, there is a question of a people "chosen" by God. According to Delphine Horvilleur, one of the two rabbinic women of France, this distinction means not a superiority, but rather a responsibility, that of being the bearer of a universal message.

One is Jewish by his mother:
True
Unlike the Muslims who are the father or the Christians who become with baptism, it is the mother who gives religion. Some still recognize the transmission by the father when the child receives a Jewish education.

We do not become Jewish, we are not born:
False
Salomon had 700 wives, some of whom were non - Jewish, whom he converted ... Today conversion still exists, but it is a long and difficult process.

Pork is banned as it is potentially harmful to health:
False
The Bible makes the sort between the pure and the impure. "Eating, especially the animal, is not trivial," says Delphine Horvilleur. Judaism must think of its food. "One feeds on fish with scales and fins and ruminating mammals whose hoof is split. The cow is therefore allowed but the pig, not ruminant, forbidden. These laws of obedience to God apply to all and also make it stand out from others. The neighboring peoples used pork.

Judaism encourages carnal love:
True
Jewish law sees celibacy as a source of frustration. The husband must satisfy his wife sexually and pass his pleasure before his own ....

Islam

With one billion 500,000 Muslims, Islam is the second religion in the world.

The Muslims are Arabs:
False
Only one in six Muslims is Arab and the largest Muslim countries are Indonesia, India and Bangladesh. Moreover, the Arabs are not all Muslims; some are Christian. The confusion arises from the fact that the Koran was written in Arabic and that Mecca is in Saudi Arabia.

The Quran imposes the wearing of the veil:
False
Mahomet advises women, bothered by men, to cover their heads. According to Véronique Rieffel, director of the Institute of Islamic Cultures, this is a recommendation, not an obligation. At the same time, Christians and Jews also wore the veil. "Today the situation is contrasted and varies according to the states and the social strata.

Islam forbids alcohol:
False
The Prophet contented himself with forbidding prayer to those who were drunk. In paradise "There will be rivers of wine". The Islamist movements are making war on alcohol, a symbol of decadence, but in the Mediterranean area wine is produced, as in Turkey, anisette (raki) is consumed.

Islam proscribes images:
False
The Qur'an never evokes drawing or images, but its exegetes forbid the representation of God to avoid the cult of idols. Some mosques, like the Umayyads in Damascus, recall Véronique Rieffel, possess mosaics, frescoes, calligraphies sometimes carnal. Caricatures have always had their place in Egypt. The affair of the caricatures of the Prophet has wounded the Muslim world, which saw in it an insult to religion.