I DREW THIS CARTOON FOR EZRA TO HELP INSTILL A SENSE OF ACCEPTANCE FOR OTHERS
WHO MAY NOT SHARE SIMILAR BELIEFS. THE MESSAGE OF THE DRAWING IS EVERYONE BELIEVES
IN SOMETHING AND EACH PARTICULAR BELIEF IS VALID IN THE EYE OF THE BELIEVER.

THE ILLUSTRATION FEATURES KEY FIGURES FROM SEVERAL BELIEF SYSTEMS.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT:

	COYOTE: In the Native American oral tradition, the vulgar but sacred Trickster assumes many forms such as Old-Man Coyote among the Crow tribes, Raven in northwestern Indian lore, or, generically, "The Tricky One" (Wakdjunkaga among the Winnebago or Manabozho among the Menomini), to mention a few. Trickster alternately scandalizes, disgusts, amuses, disrupts, chastizes, and humiliates (or is humiliated by) the animal-like proto-people of pre-history, yet he is also a creative force transforming their world, sometimes in bizarre and outrageous ways, with his instinctive energies and cunning. Eternally scavenging for food, he represents the most basic instincts, but in other narratives, he is also the father of the Indian people and a potent conductor of spiritual forces in the form of sacred dreams.
	MOSES: (mo´zis), Hebrew lawgiver, probably b. Egypt. The prototype of the prophets, he led his people in the 13th cent. BC out of bondage in Egypt to the edge of Canaan. The narrative in the Bible is the chief source of information on his life. His historical existence has been questioned, although there is nothing improbable about the general outline of the narrative after allowances for distortion over time are made. According to the biblical account, Moses was divinely protected as an infant, and as a young man he received a special calling at the burning bush. He lived in constant touch with God, who guided him in leading all Israel out of Egypt and across the desert. Through him God promulgated the Law, including the Ten Commandments, the criminal code, and the whole liturgical law. In his old age, when the Hebrews were at the Jordan River ready to cross, God gave Moses a view of the Promised Land from Mt. Pisgah; but he did not enter it, for he died and was buried in Moab.
	VISHNU: (vish´noo), one of the greatest gods of Hinduism , also called Narayana. First mentioned in the Veda as a minor deity, his theistic cults, known as Vaishnavism, or Vishnuism, grew steadily from the first millennium BC, absorbing numerous different traditions and minor deities. By his worshipers Vishnu is regarded as the supreme God, of whom other gods are secondary manifestations.
It is against Islamic law to create a pictoral representation of Muhammed. The few times Muhammed is found in art in the Islamic world he is covered in a veil (above) or shown as a flame.	MUHAMMAD: (meham´ed)[Arab.,praised], 570?-632, the name of the Prophet of Islam , one of the great figures of history, b. Mecca. Islam has enshrouded Muhammad's life with a mass of legends and traditions (contained in the Hadith). Islamic dogma stresses his exclusively human nature, while presenting him as infallible on matters of prophecy. Muhammad is still perceived as the ultimate subject of emulation. At a popular level, Muslims throughout the world venerate Muhammad by expressing their love and devotion to him through numerous poems, folk songs, and formulaic prayers invoking God's blessings. Many believe that he will intercede for the Muslim community on the day of judgment. His deeds and sayings are collected in the sunna. He is considered by most Muslims to have been sinless. Muhammad is probably the most common given name, with variations including the W African Mamadu and the Turkic Mehmet. He was known to medieval Christianity as Mahomet.
	BUDDHA: His given name was Siddhartha and his family name Gautama (or Gotama). He was born the son of a king of the Sakya clan of the Kshatriya, or warrior, caste (hence his later epithet Sakyamuni, the sage of the Sakyas) in the Himalayan foothills in what is now S Nepal. It was predicted at his birth that he would become either a world ruler or a world teacher; therefore his father, King Suddhodana, who wished Siddhartha to succeed him as ruler, took great pains to shelter him from all misery and anything that might influence him toward the religious life.Siddhartha spent his youth in great luxury, married, and fathered a son. The scriptures relate that at the age of 29, wishing to see more of the world, he left the palace grounds in his chariot. He saw on successive excursions an old man, a sick man, a corpse, and a mendicant monk. From the first three of these sights he learned the inescapability of suffering and death, and in the serenity of the monk he saw his destiny. Forsaking his wife, Yashodhara, and his son, Rahula, he secretly left the palace and became a wandering ascetic.
	AMARATERASU: (shin´to), ancient native religion of Japan still practiced in a form modified by the influence of Buddhism and Confucianism. In its present form Shinto is characterized less by religious doctrine or belief than by the observance of popular festivals and traditional ceremonies and customs, many involving pilgrimages to shrines. Shinto,a term created to distinguish the indigenous religion from Buddhism, is the equivalent of the Japanese kami-no-michi,the way of the godsor the way of those above.The word kami,meaning aboveor superior,is the name used to designate a great host of supernatural beings or deities. Amaterasu is the Great Sun Goddess of Japan. She is the supreme deity of the Shinto religion and is queen of all the Kami, the forces inherent in nature. The rice does not grow without Her. "Great Shining Heaven."  It is the rising sun, Amaterasu's emblem that appears on Japan's national flag and Japanese people welcome Her each morning with prayer and hand-clapping.  Celebrations in Her honor as Amaterasu-o-mi-kami, queen of all the Kami take place on July 17.  She is also honored on December 21, the winter solstice, as the birth of light ­ Amaterasu coming out of Her cave to once again warm the earth.
	JESUS CHRIST: (je´zes krist, je´zez) or Jesus Christ, 1st-century Jewish teacher and prophet in whom Christians have traditionally seen the Messiah [Heb.,annointed one, whence Christfrom the Greek] and whom they have characterized as Son of God and as Word or Wisdom of God incarnate. Muslims acknowledge him as a prophet, and Hindus as an avatar. He was born just before the death of King Herod the Great (37 BC-4 BC) and was crucified after a brief public ministry during Pontius Pilate's term as prefect of Judaea (AD 26-36).
	GREAT MOTHER GODDESS:   in ancient Middle Eastern religions, mother goddess, the great symbol of the earth's fertility. She was worshiped under many names and attributes. Similar figures have been known in every part of the world. Essentially she was represented as the creative force in all nature, the mother of all things, responsible particularly for the periodic renewal of life. The later forms of her cult involved the worship of a male deity, variously considered her son, lover, or both (e.g., Adonis, Attis, and Osiris), whose death and resurrection symbolized the regenerative powers of the earth. Although the Great Mother was the dominant figure in ancient Middle Eastern religions, she was also worshiped in Greece, Rome, and W Asia. In Phrygia and Lydia she was known as Cybele; among the Babylonians and Assyrians she was identified as Ishtar; in Syria and Palestine she appeared as Astarte; among the Egyptians she was called Isis; in Greece she was variously worshiped as Gaea, Hera, Rhea, Aphrodite, and Demeter; and in Rome she was identified as Maia, Ops, Tellus, and Ceres. Even this listing, however, is by no means complete. Many attributes of the Virgin Mary make her the Christian equivalent of the Great Mother, particularly in her great beneficence, in her double image as mother and virgin, and in her son, who is God and who dies and is resurrected.
	ATHEIST: (a´the-izem), denial of the existence of God or gods and of any supernatural existence, to be distinguished from agnosticism , which holds that the existence cannot be proved. The term atheism has been used as an accusation against all who attack established orthodoxy, as in the trial of Socrates. There were few avowed atheists from classical times until the 19th cent., when popular belief in a conflict between religion and science brought forth preachers of the gospel of atheism, such as Robert G. Ingersoll. There are today many individuals and groups professing atheism. The 20th cent. has seen many individuals and groups professing atheism, including Bertrand Russell (pictured here) and Madalyn Murry O'Hair. The atheist in the illustration is holding the symbol for pi, symbolic of mathematics which is arguably the only truth which does not depend on faith.