What is Religion?

A definition of the word Religion:

From Latin religi?, meaning “moral obligation” and “worship”.

  • A system of beliefs, including belief in the existence of at least one of the following: a human soul or spirit, a deity or higher being, or self after the death of one?s body. “He couldn?t abide by any religion that didn?t allow for wrongdoers to be punished after death”.

  • A number of customs and rituals associated with such beliefs. “When it comes to religion, she doesn?t believe, but she loves to attend the ceremonies.”
  • Anything that involves the association of people in a manner resembling a religious institution or cult. “At this point, Star Trek has really become a religion.”
  • Any system or institution which one engages with in order to foster a sense of meaning or relevance in relation to something greater than oneself.

# Religion Number of Adherents Remarks
1 Christianity 1.9 billion Has the most followers and most widespread presence of all well-recognized religions. Predominant religion in Europe, the Americas, Southern Africa, Oceania, and the Philippines.
2 Islam 1.1 billion A widespread religion with many countries majority Muslim, particularly in the Middle East, South Asia, Maritime Southeast Asia, Central Asia, North Africa, West Africa and some parts of Eastern Europe.
3 Hinduism 781 million Umbrella term for various Hindu denominations forming the majority in India, Nepal, North Eastern province of Sri Lanka, and the Bali & Java sub-province of Indonesia, parts of Latin America, Eastern Africa, Australia, USA and UK.
4 Buddhism 324 million Largely in East Asia and the Mainland Southeast Asia, and small parts of South Asia and Russia.
5 Sikhism 25 million Mostly in the Indian Punjab; also large numbers in other parts of India and the United Kingdom, the USA, Canada, Malaysia and Southeast Asia, Germany and East Africa [2].
6 Judaism 14 million A widespread religion with a majority in Israel; large populations in North America, Western Europe, and South America.
7 Bah?’? Faith 6.1 million Youngest of the group of 10, second most widely dispersed religion after Christianity; fastest growing (percentage) of top 10.
8 Confucianism 5.3 million Mostly in China proper; and in Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam.
9 Jainism 4.9 million Mostly in India.
10 Shinto 2.8 million Mostly in (and formerly the state religion of) Japan.

The world’s principal religions and spiritual traditions may be classified into a small number of major groups or world religions: the vast majority of religious and spiritual adherents follow one of Christianity (33% of world population), Islam (20%), Hinduism (13%), Chinese folk religion (6%) or Buddhism (5%).

Conversely, the major spiritual traditions may be parsed into denominations:

  • Christianity into Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Protestantism, Oriental Orthodoxy and Nestorianism (see Christian denominations)
  • Islam into Sunnism,Shi’ism, Sufism and Kharijites
  • Hinduism into Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism, Smartha and others (see Hindu denominations)
  • Buddhism into Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana

About 4% of world population follow indigenous tribal religions. About 12% of world population are irreligious (athiest or non religious).

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One comment

Wassim
 1 

Hello,

I was excited to read this article about world’s religions. I used to think that Buddhism is the biggest religion in the world. What a surprise to find it in the 4th place. I also thought that Islam is a bigger religion than Christianity. Actually, my practical life confirms that chritianity is the most common religion in the world. I decided not to follow any religion. In fact, I feel that I am a religion by myself. When people ask me about my religion, I usually say that I am atheist. People usually dislike it and try to convince me that there is God and so on. Well, I haven’t made my decision to be what I am in few minutes and I wouldn’t be able to change it in few minutes either. Anyway, thanks for this information.

May 2nd, 2008 at 10:18 am

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