"Some believers accuse skeptics of having nothing left but a dull,
cold scientific world. I am left with only art, music, literature,
theater, the magnificence of nature, mathematics, the human
spirit, sex, the cosmos, friendship, history, science, imagination
dreams, oceans, mountains, love and the wonder of birth. That'll do me."
Lynne Kelly
Followers of each major religion:
Christianity: 2,000,000,000
Islam: 1,570,000,000
Hinduism: 1,080,000,000
Buddhism: 500,000,000
Shinto: 27,000,000
Sikhism: 24,000,000
Judaism: 14,000,000
Baha'i: 7,600,000
Jainism: 5,000,000
Non-Believers (Atheists): ~500,000,000 (~150,000,000)
Confucianism & Taoism are two for which it is difficult to give a figure.
Buddhism total may be higher. Buddhism can be
considered a philosophy in addition to a religion.
Also, many Buddhists may be atheists since the
Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) is not God.
Religion in the United States. More people are saying "no" to religion.
Religions of the world. Islam is growing the fastest.
Great Britain
"Religion is a mere question of geography."
Edward Gibbon
Non-believers in Europe (darker = more atheists)
Distribution of atheists and agnostics
Distribution of Islam
Distribution of Catholicism
Distribution of Protestantism
Distribution of Eastern Orthodox
Distribution of Hinduism
Distribution of Buddhism
Shi'a and Sunni each have various sects.
Mahayana (including Vajrayana) 62%
Theravada 38%
Jews comprise less than 1% of the world's religious population.
Jews make up about 2% of the United State's population.
Almost as many Jewish people live in the
United States as do in Israel. Large populations
in Paris and London also.
Sunni / Shiite (Shi'a) distribution
Ibadi Islam is primarily in the country of Oman.
Distribution of Sunni and Shia branches of Islam
In terms of population, the largest (predominately) Sunni countries are Indonesia,
Pakistan, Bangladesh and Egypt. The (predominately) Shi'a / Shi'ite countries with
the largest populations are Iran and Iraq. Other Muslim sub sects are Ibadhi (mainly
in Oman), Druze (Lebanon), Alawite (Syria) and Alevi (Turkey).
Being Arab is an ethnic distinction. 42% of Arabs are Muslims (Sunni, Shi'a and other)
58% of Arabs are Christians (Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant)
Only 1/3 of one percent of the Muslims in the
world live in all of the Americas.
U.S.A.
Majority of Christians in the world are Catholic.
Majority of Christians in the United States are Protestant.
Baptist (red), Lutheran (orange) and Methodist (green) are the Protestant Churches
with the highest populations in the U.S.A.
Catholics are represented by blue and
Mormons are shown in brown.
A Religious person / Not a religious person / A convinced Atheist / Don't know or No response
click on images to make larger
Most Populous Countries in 2013 (main religion(s))
1. China 1,359,830,000 (Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhist (or mix))
2. India 1,233,630,000 (Hinduism)
3. United States 316,623,000 (Christianity: Protestant, Catholic)
4. Indonesia 237,641,326 (Islam)
5. Brazil 201,032,714 ( (Christianity: Catholic, Protestant)
6. Pakistan 184,187,000 (Islam)
7. Nigeria 173,615,000 (Islam, Christianity)
8. Bangladesh 152,518,015 (Islam)
9. Russia 143,400,000 (Christianity: Eastern Orthodox)
10. Japan 127,310,000 (Shinto, Buddhism)
11. Mexico 118,395,054 (Christianity: Catholic)
12. Philippines 98,327,000 (Christianity: Catholic, Protestant)
All three Muslim countries are Sunni.
Many Sunni Muslims believe that
Shi'as are not truly Muslims.
Two main sects of Buddhism.
Theravada is older and more strict one might say.
Some believe that the Theravada school is more pure
than Mahayana (like Sunni over Shiite).
Duhkha is like desire or suffering due to desire.
You will sometimes hear there are three major schools of Buddhism, the third being Vajrayana. Vajrayana is associated with Tibetan Buddhism as well as a Japanese school called Shingon. But Vajrayana is founded on Mahayana philosophy, and is more accurately understood as an extension of Mahayana.
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