Religions of the World

Under Construction

                World                world growth
Christianity:   33%  2 Billion         1.3-2.3%
Islam (Muslims) 22% 0.7-1.3 Billion    2.1-2.9%  (will become largest in 2023)
  Sunni (875 M)
  Shi'ite  (100 M)
  Wahhabi
  
  Largest Muslim populations (ranked): Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India
        	     Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Nigeria, China
Hinduism           15%  837-900 M
Nonreligious       14%  850-932 M
Buddhism            6%  360 M
Chinese traditional 4%  240-340 M 
primal-indigenous:  3%  190-234 M
New Religionists:       104 M
Sikhism:           0.3%  23 million
Taoism             0.3%  20 M
Judism             0.2%  14 M     (3.9M USA)
Shinto                   13.7M
Babi and Baha'i           6M
Jainism                   4.9M

Zoroastranism   0.1M
Confucianism- Not officially considered a world religion because it is not
organized as such.  It is often grouped with religions, however, because
it is a spiritual philosophy a social ethic, a political ideology, and a
 scholarly tradition. 

See: Religions of the World Ranked by Number of Adherents  at adherents.com
World Religions and 101 Cults

Major Branches of Religions (www.adherhttp://www.adherents.com/adh_branches.html)

US Center for World Mission

Religious Views and Beliefs Vary Greatly by Country

	United States	Italy	Spain	Germany	Great Britain	France
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Believer in any form of God or any type of supreme being	73	62	48	41	35	27
Agnostic (one who is sceptical about the existence of God but not an atheist)	14	20	30	25	35	32
Atheist (one who denies the existence of God)	4	7	11	20	17	32
Would prefer not to say	6	8	8	10	6	6
Not sure	3	3	3	4	7	4
Do not share the same religious beliefs as either of my parents	28	21	35	26	39	32
Feel that religion should be taught in state schools	28	68	40	56	56	20

Financial Times/Harris Poll, 2006

Countries, ranked by percentage of atheists/agnostics/non-believer: (Most non-belivers)

 1. Sweden         46 - 85% 
 2. Vietnam        81%
 3. Denmark        43 - 80%
 4. Norway         31 - 72%
 5. Japan          64 - 65%
 6. Czech Republic 54 - 61%
 7. Finland        28 - 60%
 8. France         43 - 54%
 9. South Korea    30 - 52%
10. Estonia        49% 
11. Germany        41 - 49% 
12. Russia          4 - 48% 
13. Hungary        32 - 46% 
14. Netherlands    39 - 44% 
15. Britain        31 - 44% 
16. Belgium        42 - 43% 
17. Bulgaria       34 - 40% 
18. Slovenia       35 - 38% 
19. Israel         15 - 37% 
20. Canada         19 - 30% 
21. Latvia         20 - 29%
22. Slovakia       10 - 28% 
23. Switzerland    17 - 27% 
24. Austria        18 - 26% 
25. Australia      24 - 25%

26. Taiwan      24%
27. Spain       15 - 24%
28. Iceland     16 - 23%
29. New Zealand 20 - 22% 
30. Ukraine     20%
31. Belarus     17%
32. Greece      16%
33. North Korea   15%* 
34. Italy        6 - 15% 
35. Armenia     14%
36. China        8 - 14%* 
37. Lithuania   13%
38. Singapore   13%
39. Uruguay     12%
40. Kazakhstan  11 - 12% 
41. Mongolia     9%
42. Portugal     4 - 9% 
43. USA          3 - 9% 
44. Albania      8%
45. Argentina    4 - 8% 
46. Kyrgyzstan   7%
47. Dominican Republic   7%
48. Cuba         7%
49. Croatia      7%

Source: Zuckerman, Phil. "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns", chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK (2005).

Profit Mohammad was born from the lineage of Ishmael;
His father's name was Abdulah, meaning slave of Allah,
and he was of the tribe of Hashim,
who were noble people from the Quraysh.

________________________
Black Muslim Movement (BMM): This is largely a black urban movement in the US. One driving force was a rejection of Christianity as the religion of the historically oppressing white race. It was started by Wallace Fard who built the first temple in Detroit. Elijah Muhammad (born Elijah Poole) established a second temple in Chicago and later supervised the creation of temples in most large cities with significant black populations. They taught that blacks were racially superior to whites and that a racial war is inevitable. The charismatic Malcolm X was perhaps their most famous spokesperson; he played an important role in reversing the BMM's anti-white beliefs. In its earlier years, the movement deviated significantly from traditional Islamic beliefs (particularly over matters of racial tolerance the status of the BMM leaders as prophets). This deviation is being reversed.

________________________
Confucius (Kongzi, 551-479 B.C.), founder of Confucianism, stresses "Ren" (benevolence, love) and "Li" (rites), referring to respect for the system of social hierarchy. He attaches importance to education and was a pioneering advocate for private schools.

________________________
Buddhism was created by Sakyamuni in India around the 6th century B.C. Believing that human life is miserable and spiritual emancipation is the highest goal to seek. It was introduced into China through Central Asia around the time Christ was born. After a few centuries of assimilation, Buddhism evolved into many sects in the Sui and Tang Dynasties and became localized. That was also a process when the ingenuous culture of Confucianism and Taoism were blended with Buddhism. Chinese Buddhism has the greatest influence on traditional ideology and art.

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last updated 5 Sep 2007