Читать книгу The Atlas of Religion - Joanne O'Brien - Страница 5

Acknowledgements 8 Introduction 9 Part One BEGINNINGS 12 Popular Religions 14 Allegiance to a single religion is professed by at least two-thirds of the population in more than 80% of the world’s states. Arrivals 16 The rise of the missionary religions and seaborne trade has greatly influenced the religious map of the world. Roots and Branches 18 Yesterday’s revolution can be today’s orthodoxy. Some new movements have grown to become the most popular religion in a state. Part Two BELIEFS 20 Christianity 22 Christianity is the world’s largest religion, with more than 2.1 billion adherents worldwide, and more than 33,000 denominations. Islam 24 There are 1.34 billion Muslims worldwide, 20% of the world’s population. Islam is the state religion of 25 countries. Hinduism 26 Hinduism is the world’s third largest religion, with over 950 million Hindus worldwide. Almost all live in South Asia, with the majority in India, where over 80% of people are Hindu. Buddhism 28 More than half the world’s population live in countries where Buddhism is now, or has been, dominant. During the 20th century, Buddhism was subject to greater suppression than at any time in its history. Judaism 30 There are over 13 million Jews worldwide, more than 5 million of whom live in Israel. Sikhism 32 There are 24 million Sikhs worldwide. Over 90% live in India, mainly in the Punjab. Traditional Beliefs 34 There are more than 250 million adherents of traditional beliefs worldwide. There are also many who belong to a major world religion while continuing to hold traditional local beliefs. Catholicism 36 There are more than 1 billion Roman Catholics worldwide. 200,000 schools, serving more than 52 million students, operate under Catholic Church auspices.

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