The Middle East is the birth place of the world's three major religions. These three major religions; Christianity, Judaism and Islam, share the belief of one god, the same god and because of this they are referred to as monotheistic. In the Islamic and Jewish religions, strict monotheism is practiced and the oneness of God and his being "alone" is very important and highly stressed. However, Christianity practices Trinitarian monotheism. The oneness of God in Christianity is sometimes misunderstood, because Christians believe that God is triune, the Holy Trinity (the father, the son and the Holy Spirit). Christianity's image of God is more complex than it is in Judaism and Islam. .
Because the adherents of these religions share one common ancestor named Abraham, they are also known as the Abrahamic religions. Abraham was urged by God himself to stop the practice and worship of multiple gods and to begin the worshiping of one. As far prophets go, Christians worship Jesus as their prophet and Moses as the prophet before him. The prophet of Islam is Muhammad and even though they view Jesus as the prophet before Muhammad, they feel like his message has been corrupted in Christianity. Judaism's prophet is Moses and Jesus is believed to be a human, not the son of God or holy in any way. .
In Judaism, as well as Christianity, the belief is that God created humanity "in his image". There has always been much debate about what is meant by the term, "in his image". However, a popular interpretation of this is that during creation, God designed humans to be able to reason and express free will. Humans are the highest creatures here on earth and have godlike characteristics within them but the human right to free will is bound to test those characteristics. All three major religions share the teachings that because of the special status as humans, there is a special duty to love and care for the earth.
