questions about confucianism ?

hey everyone I'm doing a project for my religion class and my group was assigned to answer questions on Confucianism. I have done research but everything comes up a little weird. can i get help with these questions and a little explanation. i cant give a presentation on the subject if i dint understand it. please and thank you !

in Confucianism:
1. do they believe in a God ? My understanding is they dint worship a specific God, they worship more of their ancestry.

2. Do they believe in having a soul ? my understanding is no they do not.

3. do they have sacred scriptures? yes they do but i cant seem to spell them.

4. what and how do they worship ? they worship their ancestors and they have shrines.

5. do they have priest-like leaders in their religion ? No they do not. I may be wrong on that i cant seem to find a sturdy answer.

6. Do they have any sacred objects in their religion ? i cant seem to find much on that.

7. do they have any sacred places( ex. a church) ? i cant find much on that either.

8. Do they have rites of passages in their religon ? the basics....birth, marriage, death. i cant find much more than that or explinations.

9. What do they believe happens to a person( reincarnation, heaven and hell)? i get different anwsers on that as well.

if you guys could just help me clarify my anwsers and help me understand them more that would be great. thank you !

1. Yes, they worship God. However, not in the same way in which someone such as a Christian or a Sikh would worship Him. More in the same way in which a Deist would worship Him.

2.Taking into consideration that they worship their ancestors, they probably do believe in the soul, but, do not speculate on what life for the soul is like.

3. Analects of Confucius & Mencius. The I Ching. Classic of Poetry. Doctrine of Mean.

4. They worship God & their ancestors in their temples.

5. They follow the teachings of their scholars.

6. The I Ching.

7. They worship in Temples.

8. The rites of passage which you have listed.

9. They do not speculate on what happens in the afterlife. All we know is that they will be worshiped as ancestors.

Edit: For Zi_Xian & Okim_Im: Actually, yes, Confucianism DOES worship God: They worship Ti'en(aka 'Heaven'). Confucianism just doesn't worship God in the same way that a Christian would.

Edit #2: I should add, Zin_Xian, that Judaism is a legalistic kind of religion, just like Confucianism is. They emphasize "deed over creed."

I don't know why people keep calling Confucianism a religion. It is not. It has nothing to do with gods and deities. It sets forth a series of rules that a person should follow to help him/herself be righteous which in turn leads to a good family which then leads to a good nation. It is created by a great teacher, Confucius, that everybody understands was a man. Unfortunately nobody follows the teaching any more thanks to the domination of the European societies in the early 19Th and 20Th Century. If you are in a religion class then you are barking up the wrong tree. Confucianism is more of a philosophical way of life.

Read the link below for more information, especially the part "Religion or Philosophy debate." All of the religious aspect are just common Chinese practices that are heavily influenced by Buddhism and Chinese folklore. They use to teach Confucianism in school back in the good old days. Actually, come to think of it, Confucianism was the school system.

1. Confucius never talked about gods.
2. Confucius never talked about soul.
3. His book is called the Analects.
4. Ancestors are worshiped at home. There is also an ancestral hall in each village. Records of all people with the same family name are kept there.
5. No priests.
6. No sacred objects.
7. No church, no organized worship. In Taiwan, there are temples for Confucius, which are more like memorial halls. They have ceremony on Confucius' birthday, which is also teachers' day in Taiwan.
8. Each family handles its own celebrations. Death is handled by Taoist priest.
9. Confucius never talked about next life. But Chinese have their own mythology and believe in incarnation. In China, religion is really a mixture of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. Often it is hard to tell which is Confucianism and which is not Confucianism.