Major Religious Groups

History of religious categories

Daniel Defoe described the original definition as follows: “Religion is properly the Worship given to God, but ’tis also applied to the Worship of Idols and false Deities.” At the turn of the 19th century, in between 1780 and 1810, the language dramatically changed: instead of “religion” being synonymous with spirituality, authors began using the plural, “religions,” to refer to both Christianity and other forms of worship. Therefore, Hannah Adams’s early encyclopedia, for example, had its name changed from An Alphabetical Compendium of the Various Sects… to A Dictionary of All Religions and Religious Denominations.

In 1838, the four-way division of Christianity, Judaism, Mahommedanism (archaic terminology for Islam) and Paganism was multiplied considerably by Josiah Conder’s Analytical and Comparative View of All Religions Now Extant among Mankind. Conder’s work still adhered to the four-way classification, but in his eye for detail he puts together much historical work to create something resembling our modern Western image: he includes Druze, Yezidis, Mandeans, and Elamites under a list of possibly monotheistic groups, and under the final category, of “polytheism and pantheism,” he listed Zoroastrianism, “Vedas, Puranas, Tantras, Reformed sects” of India as well as “Brahminical idolatry,” Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Lamaism, “religion of China and Japan,” and “illiterate superstitions” as others.

The modern meaning of the phrase “world religion,” putting non-Christians at the same level as Christians, began with the 1893 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago. The Parliament spurred the creation of a dozen privately funded lectures with the intent of informing people of the diversity of religious experience: these lectures funded researchers such as William James, D. T. Suzuki, and Alan Watts, who greatly influenced the public conception of world religions.

In the latter half of the 20th century, the category of “world religion” fell into serious question, especially for drawing parallels between vastly different cultures, and thereby creating an arbitrary separation between the religious and the secular. Even history professors have now taken note of these complications and advise against teaching “world religions” in schools. Others see the shaping of religions in the context of the nation-state as the “invention of traditions.”

Classification

Further information: Comparative religion and Sociological classifications of religious movements

Religious traditions fall into super-groups in comparative religion, arranged by historical origin and mutual influence. Abrahamic religions originate in West Asia, Indian religions in the Indian subcontinent (South Asia) and East Asian religions in East Asia. Another group with supra-regional influence are Afro-American religion, which have their origins in Central and West Africa.

• Abrahamic religions are the largest group, and these consist mainly of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Bahá’í Faith. They are named for the patriarch Abraham, and are unified by the practice of monotheism. Today, at least 3.8 billion people are followers of Abrahamic religions and are spread widely around the world apart from the regions around East and Southeast Asia. Several Abrahamic organizations are vigorous proselytizers.
  • Western Religions refers to religions that originated within Western culture, and are thus historically, culturally, and theologically distinct from the Eastern religions. The term Abrahamic religions is often used instead of using the East and West terminology.
• Iranian religions, partly of Indo-European origins, include Zoroastrianism, Yazdânism, Uatsdin, Yarsanism and historical traditions of Gnosticism (Mandaeism, Manichaeism).
• Indian religions, originated in Greater India and partly of Indo-European origins, they tend to share a number of key concepts, such as dharma, karma, reincarnation among others. They are of the most influence across the Indian subcontinent, East Asia, Southeast Asia, as well as isolated parts of Russia. The main Indian religions are Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism.
  • Eastern Religions
• East Asian religions consist of several East Asian religions which make use of the concept of Tao (in Chinese) or Dō (in Japanese or Korean). They include many Chinese folk religions, Taoism and Confucianism, as well as Korean and Japanese religion influenced by Chinese thought.
• African Religions:
  • The religions of the tribal peoples of Sub-Saharan Africa, but excluding ancient Egyptian religion, which is considered to belong to the ancient Middle East;
  • African diasporic religions practiced in the Americas, imported as a result of the Atlantic slave trade of the 16th to 18th centuries, building on traditional religions of Central and West Africa.
• Indigenous ethnic religions, found on every continent, now marginalized by the major organized faiths in many parts of the world or persisting as undercurrents (folk religions) of major religions. Includes traditional African religions, Asian shamanism, Native American religions, Austronesian and Australian Aboriginal traditions, Chinese folk religions, and postwar Shinto. Under more traditional listings, this has been referred to as “paganism” along with historical polytheism.
• New religious movement is the term applied to any religious faith which has emerged since the 19th century, often syncretizing, re-interpreting or reviving aspects of older traditions such as Ayyavazhi, Mormonism, Ahmadiyya, Pentecostalism, polytheistic reconstructionism, and so forth.

World map color-coded to denote religion affiliations of the majority population in each country (as of 2011)

Religious demographics

One way to define a major religion is by the number of current adherents. The population numbers by religion are computed by a combination of census reports and population surveys (in countries where religion data is not collected in census, for example the United States or France), but results can vary widely depending on the way questions are phrased, the definitions of religion used and the bias of the agencies or organizations conducting the survey. Informal or unorganized religions are especially difficult to count.

There is no consensus among researchers as to the best methodology for determining the religiosity profile of the world’s population. A number of fundamental aspects are unresolved:

• Whether to count “historically predominant religious culture[s]”
• Whether to count only those who actively “practice” a particular religion
• Whether to count based on a concept of “adherence”
• Whether to count only those who expressly self-identify with a particular denomination
• Whether to count only adults, or to include children as well.
• Whether to rely only on official government-provided statistics
• Whether to use multiple sources and ranges or single “best source(s)”

Largest religious groups

Medium-sized religions

The following are medium-sized world religions:

By region

• Religions by country according to The World Factbook – CIA
• Religion by region
• Religion in Africa
• Religion in Antarctica
• Religion in Asia
  • Religion in the Middle East
  • Muslim world (SW Asia and N Africa)
• Religion in Europe
  • Religion in the European Union
• Religion in North America
• Religion in Oceania
• Religion in South America

Trends in adherence

World Christian Encyclopedia

Following is some available data based on the work of the World Christian Encyclopedia: