Students and Ames residents gathered Wednesday night in the student lounge of the United Methodist Student Center to learn more about Hinduism.

The meeting was the third of a five-part series on major religions of the world.

Approximately 15 people watched a video called “Religions of the World: Hinduism,” narrated by Ben Kingsley.

“We didn’t want resources that would be biased,” said campus minister Jim Shirbroun. “Overall, it’s a pretty good series.”

Shirbroun said the goal of the series is to provide students a better understanding of enduring major religions.

“Hopefully it helps us deepen the roots of our own faith as we look at others,” Shirbroun said.

The video covered a variety of Hindu topics, from the religion’s origins to Mahatma Ghandi.

The video also said Hinduism was an English term used to differentiate Hindus from Muslims.

After the video, there was a group discussion.

Megan Harvey, graduate student in agronomy, missed the first meeting on Christianity but went to the Buddhism and Hinduism meetings.

“I think it’s important to know about other religions so you know where they are coming from,” Harvey said.

She also said there are a lot of similarities in some of the major religions.

“I think that’s something a lot of people don’t realize,” Harvey said.

One of the similarities she mentioned was that Buddha and Jesus both had virgin births. Another was the idea of a god-incarnate in both the Christian Jesus and the Hindu Krishna.

The video made a point that most major religions view and use water as a purifying substance.

Hinduism is a polytheistic religion with many gods, including Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma.

Shirbroun said some non-Christians say Christianity’s Trinity is also polytheistic.

David Prater, junior in mechanical engineering, said he thinks it’s important to study world religions.

“I think that it is a good homework assignment for everybody,” Prater said.

He said he noticed that major religions share some similar stories, such as a great flood.

The next meeting will discuss Islam at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the United Methodist Student Center.

Shirbroun said an understanding of Islam is important.

“There is so much questioning about what Islam really is,” Shirbroun said. “I can’t imagine doing a study of enduring world religions without Islam.”