Largest Religions: Hinduism
Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world, practiced mainly in India and surrounding countries. It is believed to the oldest religion in the world. The founding of Hinduism involved many different sources so there is no founder of the religion the way there is with Christianity or Islam. Some of the sources that are Hinduism is based on go back to Iron Age India. Because of its age and the variety of different sources of its founding Hinduism has become a very complicated religion that most outsiders to not understand.
In large part Hinduism is based on a series of texts that contain the teachings of the religion. Unlike Christianity or Islam which are largely based on one text Hinduism is based on a huge number of different texts. These texts cover a wide variety of subjects but the main thrust of them is teaching people to live a religious life. One of the main tenets of Hinduism is the belief in the freedom of worship. That means that Hindus are free to believe in any god they desire and to worship him in any way that they desire. This is very different than most other religions.
Because Hindus believe in freedom of worship there is no one god in Hinduism. This is a very complex topic and one that is not well understood. The religion is frequently described as being one in which there is devotion to one god while believing that others may exist. This however is something of an oversimplification as may Hindus worship more than one god while others may not worship a god at all. The result is that there are many different sects of Hinduism with some pretty widely varying beliefs about god.
While there are major differences from one Hindu sect to the next there are also some similarities in their belief. These include the belief in Dharma which are the duties of all Hindus. Samsara is the belief in the cycle of life, birth, death and then rebirth. Karma is the Hindu belief that for every action there will be a subsequent reaction. Moksha is the belief in the liberation from Samsara while Yoga allows for meditation and spiritual awakening. These practices are largely what make Hindu a religion. None of these require that there be a belief in god by the person practicing the religion.
The majority of Hindus perform some kind of religious ritual on a daily basis. Usually these are performed at home with the actual practice varying depending on the belief of the person. While most religious practices are performed privately there are certain events that entail large rituals like marriage or death. There are also a number of festivals held throughout the year in which most Hindus will participate as part of their practice of the religion.