Population by Religions of

the World
 What does religion mean to you?
 something one believes in and follows
devotedly
 usually has some form of “higher power”

 Why do you think religion causes so

many conflicts and wars in the world
when it is supposed to promote peace?

 What religion are you?

 Why do you practice that religion?

 The Diversity of Religion has
Significance:

A communities religious beliefs influence

expectations of school curriculum

 South- S. Baptists, Church of Christ, Methodists

 face criticism on sex education, evolution, alternate lifestyles

 Utah- Mormons
 Religion isn’t taught
 Holidays for religious services are granted
 Elected officials are Mormon so laws have Mormon influence

 Inner City East Coast- Religions vary

 Little impact on school
 Variations in Distribution
of Religions
 Origin of religions
 Origin of universalizing religions
 Origin of Hinduism
 Diffusion of religions
 Diffusion of universalizing religions
 Lack of diffusion of ethnic religions
World Distribution of
Religions

Fig. 6-1: World religions by continent.

Geographical Distribution Of
Major World Religions
 What is a Religion?

 Religion– an organized
system of beliefs,
ceremonies, practices and
worship that centers on
one or more gods
Monotheism vs. Polytheism
 Mono – “one”
 Poly – “many”
 Theism – the belief in god
 What do these terms mean?
Spread of Hinduism
 Numbers
 Christianity: 1.9 billion people
 Islam: 1.1 billion
 Hinduism: 800 million
 Buddhism: 325 million
 Judaism: 13 million
 Sikhism 30 million0
 Chinese traditional religion[c]
394 million
World Religion
Populations
World Population by Religion

Fig. 6-1a: Over two thirds of the world’s population adhere to

Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, or Buddhism. Christianity is the
single largest world religion.
 Christianity
 Based on the life and teachings of
Jesus Christ
 Originated in Palestine in the 1st
century AD
 Believe that Jesus was the son of God
who came and died for people’s sins
and then rose so that all people
could be saved
 Believe in one God(monotheistic)
who created the universe and all
things in it
 Christianity originally developed as a
 Protestantism
 Protestants make up 59% of the
population

 Diverse group: Methodist, Church of

Christ, Baptist, Orthodox
Presbyterian, on and on

 Two very broad categories of

Protestants
1. Liberal
2. Conservative
 Liberal Conservative
 Adapt religion to
correspond to modern  Bible is the truth
world (science)  Jesus will return in bodily
 Rights of individual to form
determine religious  Personal morality (not
beliefs social justice)
 Support social action  Include: Church of
programs Christ, Southern Baptist,
 Believe environment Assembly of God
affects a person’s life  Subgroup:
and is hard to overcome Fundamentalist who are
 Includes: United Church of literal and inflexible in
Christ, Episcopalian, some their religious beliefs
Methodist, Disciples of
Christ
 Catholicism
 Uniform doctrine and pattern of
worship
 Not a pluralistic denomination
 Diocese may be liberal or conservative
 Forms of Catholicism: Roman
Catholic and new American Catholic
that recognizes the strength of the
US environment
 US Catholic church is wealthiest
catholic church in world
 Christianity Facts
 Over 2B followers…largest religion in the
world
 Major Sects
 Roman Catholic (RCC)
 Eastern Orthodox (EO)
 Protestant
 House of Worship
 Church or Chapel
 Leaders of the Church
 Hierarchy of priests and Pope (RCC) and (EO)
 Christian Way of Life
 Fellowship with God
 Our relationships with others
 Obedience to God's commands
 Discipline
Ten Commandments
 Important Days
 Ash Wednesday-Lent
 Palm Sunday
 Maundy Thursday
 Good Friday
 Easter
 Ascension
 Pentecost
 Advent
 Christmas
 Epiphany
 Judaism
 Is a monotheistic religion
 Judaism is the oldest and smallest of
the world's five great religions
 Being a part of a Jewish community
and living one's life according to
Jewish law and traditions is very
important.
 The fundamental beliefs of Judaism
are:

-There is a single, all-powerful God,

who created the universe
and everything in it.
-God has a special relationship with
the Jewish people due to covenant
that God made with Moses on
Mount Sinai, 3500 years ago.
 Rambam’s 13 Principles of
1. G-d exists
Faith
2. G-d is one and unique
3. G-d is incorporeal
4. G-d is eternal
5. Prayer is to be directed to G-d alone and to no
other
6. The words of the prophets are true
7. Moses’ prophecies are true, and Moses was the
greatest of the prophets
8. The Written Torah (first 5 books of the Bible)
and Oral Torah were given to Moses
9. There will be no other Torah
10. G-d knows the thoughts and deeds of men
11. G-d will reward the good and punish the wicked
12. The Messiah will come
13. The dead will be resurrected
 613 Mitzvot

 Judaism 101: List of the 613 Mitzvot

 The Jewish place of worship is called a
Synagogue

 The religious leader of a Jewish

community is called a Rabbi

 Unlike leaders in many other faiths, a

rabbi is not a priest and has no
special religious status
 The Jewish holy day, or
Sabbath(Shabbat), starts at sunset
on Friday and continues until sunset
on Saturday

 During the Sabbath, Jews do not

work(drive, cook, etc)
 7 Holy Days
 Rosh Hashanah-Jewish New Year
 Yom Kippur-A day of fasting and
praying which occurs 10 days after
the first day of Rosh Hashanah. The
holiest day in the year
 Sukkot-8 day festival of thanksgiving
 Hanukkah-The Feast of Lights is an 8
day Feast of Dedication. It recalls the
war fought by the Maccabees in the
cause of religious freedom
 Purim-The Feast of Lots recalls the
defeat by Queen Esther of the plan to
slaughter all of the Persian Jews, circa
400 BC
 Pesa(Passover)-The 8 day festival
recalls the exodus of the Israelites from
slavery in Egypt circa 1300 BCE. A
holiday meal, the Seder, is held at
home
 Shavouth-Pentecost recalls God's
revelation of the Torah to the Jewish
people
 Menorah-It is a
symbol of the
nation of Israel and
a mission to be "a
light unto the
nations.
 A Yarmulke is worn during prayer to
shoe respect to G_d
 The Star of David is
the international
symbol of Judaism
 Flag of Israel has it
 Kosher Foods
 Foods are kosher when they meet all
criteria that Jewish law applies to
food
 Characteristics that make a food non-
kosher:
 the mixture of meat and milk
 the use of cooking utensils which had
previously been used for non-kosher
food
 The type of animal it is
 Leviticus 11:3 says that Jews may eat all
animals that have cloven hooves and
chew their cud
 Leviticus 11:4 explicitly prohibited the
consumption of animals that do not have
these characteristics designating them
"unclean to you."
 Six mammals are specifically not allowed:
 The camel
 The hyrax
 The hare
 The pig
 Whales and dolphins
 Kosher animals are as follows:
 Cows, goats, sheep, antelope, deer, giraffes, okapis
and pronghorns
 Most fish(excluding shellfish, sharks, octupus, eels
and squid)
 Chicken, duck, turkey
 Milk and cheese are kosher but cannot be eaten with
meat or mixed with meat.

 Preparation
 the slaughter of animals is designed to minimize the
pain—usually done by a slice across the throat
 this eliminates the practice of hunting for food unless
it can be captured alive and ritually slaughtered.
 All blood and veins must be removed from
meat(salting and broiling are common methods)
 Islam
 Islam is the world's second most followed
religion
 It began around 1400 years ago in Arabia, but
swiftly become a world faith, and now has
around 1.2 billion people
 "Islam" is an Arabic word which means
“surrendering oneself to the will of God”
 One will achieve peace and security by doing so

 A person surrenders to the will of Allah by living

and thinking in the way Allah has instructed.
 Islam is more than a system of beliefs. The faith
provides a social and legal system and governs
things like family life, law and order, ethics,
dress, and cleanliness, as well as religious ritual
and observance—Islamic Republic
 Islam Facts
 Second largest religion in the
world
 Over 1 billion followers
 Month of Ramadan
 Muslims fast during the day
 Most important day is the “Night of
Power”
 The night that the angel Gabriel 1st
spoke to Muhammad
 Major Areas in the World
 Middle East
 SE Asia
 Where is Islam practiced?
 The countries with the largest Islamic
populations are not in the Middle
East as most would think
 The largest are Indonesia (170
million), Pakistan (136 million),
Bangladesh (105 million), and India
(103 million)
 Islam's three holiest places, the cities
of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem, are
all in the Middle East
 The present form of Islam began in Arabia
in 622 AD
 It is based on the ministry of a man named
Muhammad and on the words that Allah
gave to the world through him
 Muhammad did not found Islam. Islam was
created by Allah at the beginning of time,
and in fact Muslims regard Adam as the
first Muslim
 Muhammad was the final messenger
through whom Allah revealed the faith to
the world
 There had been earlier messengers,
among them Adam, Noah, Abraham,
 5 Pillars of Islam
1. Shahada(witness) is the Muslim
profession of faith
- "I witness that there is no god
but Allah, and that Muhammad
is the prophet of Allah"
 Muslims say this when they wake
up in the morning and just before
they go to sleep at night
 2. Salat(daily prayer) is a prayer
ritual performed 5 times a day by
all Muslims over the age of 10
 Between first light and sunrise
 After the sun has passed the middle
of the sky
 Between mid-afternoon and sunset
 Between sunset and the last light of
the day
 Between darkness and dawn
3. Sawm(fasting) is abstaining each day
during Ramadan
 Sawm helps Muslims develop self-control,
gain a better understanding of God's
gifts and greater compassion towards the
deprived.
 Ramadan is the holiest day for Islam. It
marks when Muhammad had the Qur-an
revealed to him
 Sawm is usually described as fasting, but
it actually involves abstaining from all
bodily pleasures between dawn and
sunset
 Not only is food forbidden, but also
things like smoking, chewing gum,
negative thoughts and sexual activity
4. Zakat(almsgiving) is giving alms to
the poor
 This is a compulsory gift of 2.5 % of
one's savings each year
 Giving in this way is intended to
free Muslims from the love of
money
 It reminds them that everything
they have really belongs to God.
4. Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca that
all physically/financially able Muslims
should make at least once in their life
 Mecca is the most holy place for

Muslims
 Takes place during days 8-13 of the

12th month of the Islamic Lunar

calendar
 They circle the Kaaba seven times on

three occasions, say prayers, drink

from a holy spring, walk to Mount
Arafat to pray, feast, cast stones at
three pillars(to fight Satan’s
 The Kaaba
Kaaba - Wikipedia, the free enc
yclopedia
 Blue Mosque
Istanbul, Turkey
 Other Info
 The Qur’an is the Islamic holy book
 The Qur'an is the actual word of God,
and contains the fundamental beliefs
of Islam
 Mecca, Medina and Jerusulem are
holy cities
 According to tradition, the Qur'an
was dictated to Muhammad
 Two major sects
 Sunni-920 million people(everywhere
else)
 Shiite-120 million people(Iran)
 Comparing the Sunni and Shiite branche
 Islamic Law
 The Sharia outlines all of the
laws(comes from the Koran)
 5 Major Crimes:
 theft, highway robbery, intoxication,
adultery and falsely accusing another of
adultery

 Sharia - Wikipedia, the free encyclop

edia
 Food Laws
 Very similar laws to the Jewish kosher
foods
 No alcohol, pork, blood, no pork fat
products, scavenger animals
 Food must be prepared similarly to
the Jews
 Slice to the jugular
 Drain blood
 Hinduism
 Hinduism includes a very wide range
of beliefs and practices, so there
aren't many things that are common
to all Hindu groups
 Hinduism has no founder, no single
book of faith, no creed, and no single
source of authority(such as Jesus)
 Hinduism is very individualistic but a
big part of a person’s everyday life
 There are 750 million Hindus in the
world, mostly in India
 Early Hinduism
 Polytheistic Religion
 Thousands of deities
 One universal spirit –
Brahman
 Three Major Gods
 Brahma, Vishnu, & Shiva
 Reincarnation – passing
through many lives to
reach the Brahman
 Karma – consequences
of how a person lives
 Hinduism
 Third largest religion in the world
 Over 800 million followers
 One of the oldest surviving religions
 Formulated by 1500BCE
 Basic principles are found in The 4
Vedas – sacred writings
 Priests are called Brahmins
 There is no one “leader” or “founder”
 It is the major religion of India
 For many Hindus, religion is a matter of
practice rather than of beliefs. It's more
what you do than what you believe.

 Behind Hindu practice is the belief that

every soul is trapped in a cycle of birth-
death-rebirth(reincarnation). Every Hindu
wants to escape from this cycle.

 Hindus aim to live in a way that will cause

each of their lives to be better than the
life before.

 Whether one is reborn into a better life, a

worse life, or even to live as an animal,
depends on Karma, which is the value of a
soul's good and bad deeds.
 Dharma is a “cosmic natural law” that forms the
basis for Hindu philosophies, beliefs and
practices and holds everything together

 People that live in harmony with Dharma proceed

more quickly toward Moksha

 Hindus ultimate aim is escape from the life cycle

altogether and achieve the ultimate liberation—
Moksha

 Hindus believe the universe doesn't have a

beginning and an end. It's a cyclical pattern, so
once it ends, it begins again.

 One attains Moksha when one has "overcome

ignorance" and no longer desires anything at
all(and yes, that includes the desire for Moksha)
 Hindu Beliefs
 All good things in life are gifts from
God
 Finding out what your life’s calling is
as Dharma suggest/requires is a very
important goal
 Being a fair and decent person is
very important
 Wealth, power and material
belongings are good goals as long as
they don’t become all important
 Moksha is the ultimate goal
 Four Stages of Life
1. Ages 12-24 you get educated and trained
2. Ages 24-48 you get married, raise a
family, make money, get involved in
many things
3. Ages 48-72 you become a mentor to a
young person and start isolating
themselves from the outside world
4. At age 72 you end ties to the outside
world and get rid of your worldly
possessions. Prayer and devotion
become very important.
 Mostly aimed at men and is not followed
as much as it used to be
 Hindu Gods
 One would think Hinduism is polytheistic.
Most Hindus would say they worship one
God.
 There is only one ultimate God, Brahman,
but shows itself in many forms
 The gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, for
example, are different aspects of
Brahman:
 Brahma reflects God's divine work of
creating the universe
 Vishnu reflects God's work in keeping the
universe in existence
 Shiva reflects God's work in destroying it
Buddhism
 Who is the Buddha?
 Founder-Siddhartha Gautama
(c.520BCE)
 Known as the Buddha or
“enlightened one”
 Present spiritual leader -Dalai
Lama
 Head of Buddhist Church
 4th largest religion in the world
today
 Over 300 million followers
 Buddhist Beliefs
 Purpose of life is to escape the
cycle of rebirth (reincarnation)
and attain nirvana
 Nirvana – a state of wisdom
 All living things can be reincarnated
 Animals can possibly be reborn into
humans
 How to achieve Nirvana?
 Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold
Path
 Key to happiness was detachment
from all worldly goods and desires
 Buddhism Information
 Worship Practices
 Meditation – deep
thought & reflection
 Offering of gifts of
food, flowers, or
candles
 Rituals
 Importance of the
lotus flower
 Believer can
blossom while
rooted in the
impurity of the world
The Dalai Lama –
The present spiritual leader of Buddhism
 Founded in India around 500 BC by
Siddhartha Guatama
 Became Buddha, the Enlightened
One, when he was 29
 He was trying to find the true
meaning of life and eventually,
through four trance-like stages of
meditation, he was enlightened to
the Buddhist was of life
 His main teachings was to eliminate
human wants as they are the cause
of suffering in the world
 Buddhism has no unique creed, no single
authority and no single sacred book
 Buddhism focuses on each individual seeking
to attain enlightenment
 Key beliefs and values are contained in "The
Four Noble Truths“
 1. Life means suffering
 2. The origin of suffering is attachment to
worldly things
 3. The end to suffering is attainable through
eliminating physical wants/needs
 Eventually can achieve Nirvana(no wind)
 Nirvana means freedom from all worries and
troubles
 4. The path to the end suffering
and achieve Nirvana is to follow
the Eight Fold Path
 Eight Fold Path
 1. Right View
 To see and view things as they really are
 Attained true wisdom
 2. Right Intention
 Think and do the right things at all times
 3. Right Speech
 Do not lie, curse, slander, or gossip
 4. Right Action
 Do not harm yourself or others, do not
steal, and no sexual misconduct
 5. Right Livelihood
 No jobs dealing in weapons, in living
beings (including raising animals for
slaughter as well as slave trade and
prostitution), working in meat
production and butchery, and selling
alcohol and drugs
 6. Right Effort
 Give 100% effort in what you do
 7. Right Mindfulness
 Having the power to control our thought
process and see the truth behind things
 8. Right Concentration
 Ability to have deep concentration and
ability to focus on wholesome thoughts
 Mormonism
 The Church of Ladder-Day Saints
(LDS)
 Followers are known as Mormons
 Founder-Joseph Smith
 Translated a sacred history of the
Americas, known as the Book of
Mormon in 1830
 The Mormon Church
 Way of Life
 Belief in prophets (Gordon B. Hinckley)
 God (Father), Christ (Son), & the Holy
Ghost are three separate individuals
 Must give up alcohol, tobacco, coffee,
tea
 Must give 10% of income to church
 House of Worship: Temple or Church
San Diego Mormon Temple
San Diego, California
 Salt Lake Temple
Salt Lake City, Utah
 The Mormon Church
 Sacred Texts
 The Book of Mormon, the Christian Bible,
Doctrines & Covenants
 Current Headquarters: Salt Lake
City, Utah
 To Achieve Salvation: Faith and
works…works are emphasized
(missionary)
 Today there are more than 12 millions
followers, half outside the US
 Religion And Gender
 Women’s roles rarely recognized
 Catholic religion, no female priest
 Mormons, unable to obtain priesthood
 Other major religions, not willing to ordain women
ministers
 Church views supported by Bible
 Women suppose to relinquish themselves to their
husbands
 Some groups more liberal in interpretations
 Believe Adam and Eve were given equal domain
 Religious expectations can carry over into life
 No control in religion, no control at home
 Religion and Race
 Religious views impact views about race
 biblical justification of slavery
 Antisemitic views
 African American churches served as
pulpit for civil rights movement
 Segregation has been minimized as official
practice
 Segregation is now a choice
 Society reflection of religious issues
 Issues of race linger just as issues of gender
 Where Do Our Beliefs Come
From?
 Related to educational level
 Higher the education
 Greater reliance on scientific data
 less literal belief of Bible

 Related to class
 Lower income level
 more literal in belief of Bible
 Didn’t rely on science

 Parents
 Ties to ethnic identity
 Irish Catholic, Norwegian Lutheran
 Area in which one lives
 Community could have diverse views (N.Y.) or similar
views