World Religions: An Overview
Dec 14, 2015
Our Experiences
What is your personal experience with other faiths?
Have you experienced worship in a Synagogue? Mosque? Hindu Temple? Buddhist Temple/Shrine?
Do you have friends or acquaintances who are of another faith?
Have you traveled to a country with a predominantly different religion than your own?
Religious Maps from the Past
Map #1: “Moral and Political Chart of the Inhabited World “ from 1821
“Entered according to act of Congress the 28th day of Sept. 1821 by Wm. C. Woodbridge of the state of Connecticut”
Religious MapFrom the Past
Map #2: An 1883 Religious Map of the world
Divided into colors representing "Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Mohammedans and Pagans".
Our Religious World Today
Map # 3: Religions of the world, mapped by distribution.
Map as of 2008 survey
Religious PopulationsReligion Believe
rs% of World Population
Christianity 2.2 Billion 32%
Islam 1.6 Billion 23%
Hinduism 1 Billion 15%
Buddhism 500 Million 7%
Judaism 14 Million 0.2%
Folk or Traditional Religions (African, Chinese, Native American, Australian Aboriginal Religions)
400 Million 6%
Other Religions (Baha’I, Jainism, Sikhism, Shintoism, Taoism, Wicca, Zoroastrianism, etc)
58 Million <1%
Majority or Minority? Nearly three-quarters (73%) of the world’s people
live in countries in which their religious group makes up a majority of the population.
Only about a quarter (27%) of all people live as religious minorities. (This does not include subgroups, such as Shia Muslims living in Sunni-majority countries or Catholics living in Protestant-majority countries.)
Overwhelmingly, Hindus and Christians tend to live in countries where they are in the majority. Fully 97% of all Hindus live in the world’s three Hindu-majority countries (India, Mauritius and Nepal), and nearly 9/10 Christians (87%) are found in the world’s 157 Christian-majority countries.