The main provisions of religions table. Religions of the world

Despite the development of modern technology and science, the inhabitants of the planet continue to classify themselves as one of the many beliefs. Hope for higher powers allows you to go through difficult life situations. Religion statistics show how many confessions exist and how many people count themselves among them.

Origin theory

There is one general theory of the origin of beliefs on earth. As soon as inequality appeared in human society, there was also a need for some highest value that would reward people for their actions. The possessor of superpower must be endowed with a super being, the role of which is played by a certain deity.

What it is

When you begin your acquaintance with beliefs, it is worth exploring the very concept of religion. There are many definitions of faith today. R religion is a form of outlook on the world around that is based on belief in the supernatural.

Existing classifications

WITH how many religions in the world? Today there are more than 5 thousand official religious associations. This includes the world's largest religions. Beliefs can be very different from each other. Much depends on the customs and traditions of the country. There are also similarities between religions. All of them imply belief in higher powers.

Today there are several classifications of religions according to various criteria. For example, the types of religions by the number of gods are monotheistic and polytheistic. The latter are represented in the countries of the African continent with a tribal way of life. These nationalities have not yet left paganism.

According to Hegel, the history of religion is the path of the Spirit, coming to full self-awareness. Each of them is a step in awareness leading to the ultimate goal of the story. The structure of the Hegel classification is as follows:

1. Natural beliefs(lower level) based on sensory perception. He referred to them all magical beliefs, religions of China and India, as well as the ancient Persians, Syrians and Egyptians.
2. Spiritual and individual confessions(intermediate bar) - the religion of the Jews (Judaism), the beliefs of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.
3. Absolute spirituality- Christianity.

The experience of studying the problem led to the creation of other classifications - according to the degree of prevalence or the number of followers. Here local (within one clan-tribe), national (influencing the culture of one people, for example, Ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, China with Shintoism, India with Hinduism) are distinguished. How do local movements differ from national religions? More prevalent among many, ahead of them in terms of the number of followers. Religious centers are present all over the world.

What ancient civilizations professed

Totemism flourished in Ancient Egypt, as evidenced by the half-animal image of the Egyptian gods. The statistics of religions asserts that during this period of time the idea of ​​an afterlife and a connection between earthly life and the afterlife appeared. The idea of ​​resurrection also arose (Osiris - the sun god - dies in the evening and is reborn in the morning). Belief dates back to long before Jesus and Christianity.

The goddess Isis (mother of Osiris) became the prototype of the Virgin Mary. The religion of Egypt led to the fact that the temple at that time became a place of worship and science.

Wikipedia contains information that Zoroastrianism (named after the founder - Zarathustra) is among the sufficiently developed religious movements. The idea of ​​the struggle between good and evil, the concept of sin, the formulas "end of the world", "last judgment" appear.

The religion of India is Hinduism. This is a whole philosophical teaching. The essence of the belief is that the entire path of life (karma) consists of human reincarnations. Rebirth is necessary in order to become a god during life. Hinduism was created in India for the needs of the caste society of the state. It is not widespread in the world today.

Chinese traditional beliefs are Confucianism and Taoism. Confucianism played the role of the main state religion, and its rules subordinated the entire jurisdiction of the government. This direction made it possible to rationally organize a person's life. The path of Tao tends more towards mysticism, the highest goal for a Taoist is the desire to leave for the past order, primitive existence.

Ancient Greece is a cult of the gods of Olympus. Each of them patronizes a separate policy - a city-state. Magic rites, numerous myths, the nature of the gods themselves confirm the peacefulness of the Greeks. This is the main difference between religion and other movements. It is not surprising that later the people were captured by the Romans, who brought little with them to the Greek religious cult, but, on the contrary, drew on the entire leisure aspect of Greece to establish their own cultural traditions.

Ancient Palestine, with the arrival of the Jewish people, gave rise to Judaism. From here Christianity was born later. The modern interpretation of the belief originated in the 13th century BC. After the fall of Babylon, the tradition of Moses appears in Judaism. The Jews believe that the supreme God Yahweh is one, and he can be worshiped by all peoples who honor him and fulfill the conditions of his agreement with the peoples. As the statistics of religions in Israel show, 80% of the population is Jewish.

World religious movements

There are three world religions today. These include Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. They are the most common. Followers of basic beliefs can be found in almost every country in the world:

1. Russia.
2. England.
3. Belarus.
4. Kazakhstan.
5. North America.

At the moment, approximately 65% ​​of the world's population belongs to these currents. Buddhism, Islam and Christianity are the religions of civilization. They appeared long before the spread of Protestantism. In the 19th century, the state of affairs was not very different. To understand the true meaning of religion, it is worth examining all the pros and cons that adherents of confessions cite. World religions statistics:

Christianity

The history of Christianity is difficult to describe in a short description. Today it is the dominant religion. Christianity originated in the 1st century AD on the territory of the Roman Empire.

The founder of the most widespread religion in the world is Jesus Christ. The sacred book is the Bible. It includes the Old and New Testaments. Christianity promises its followers salvation from the final judgment, which must take place. Today it is one of the most widespread trends in Europe.

Regardless of the collapse of the empire, the religion of Ancient Rome survived.

In AD 395. e. there was a split of Christianity into Eastern - Orthodoxy with the center in Constantinople (Byzantine Empire) and Western - Catholicism, the religious center of which is the Vatican.

The process ended only in the 10th century. By 1054, the religion of the Romans was completely divided. And in the 16th century, the result of the struggle against the feudal lords was the separation of Protestants.

The statistics of religions in the world show that Orthodoxy is present in the following countries - Russia (72%), Albania (20%), Belarus (80%), Bulgaria (84%), Bosnia and Herzegovina (30%), Greece (98%) , Kazakhstan (44%), Kyrgyzstan (20%), South Korea (49%). The list is continued by Macedonia (67%), Moldova (98.5), Romania (70%), Ukraine (97%), Yugoslavia (65%). Religion is also present in other countries. The religion of Georgia is Orthodoxy.

Catholicism follows European conquests. This direction of Christianity has always been involved in politics. Catholicism has often been an aggressor towards other countries. Thanks to the spread of their influence in the Middle Ages, today 52% of the world's population are Catholics, while 12% are Orthodox. Catholicism:

• religion of Italy (90%);
• religion of Mexico (91%);
• religion of Norway (85%).

A large percentage of Catholics are present in other countries as well. The religion of Armenia is Christianity. However, the country does not belong to either Orthodoxy or Catholicism.

Another massive religious movement is Protestantism. It is present in many countries in Europe and America. Protestantism:

• religion of Germany (40%,);
• religion of the United States (51%);
• religion of Canada (28%).

The youngest religion is Islam. It originated in the 7th century AD. e. The prophet of religion is Muhammad. He founded Islam. The holy book is the Koran. The meaning of religion is that a Muslim must submit to the will of Allah, without even trying to understand it. The Qur'an is a body of Sharia law that prescribes moral, social, administrative and criminal norms for a person's life. Islam is a powerful factor in the formation of statehood (for example, Turkey - in the past the Ottoman Empire).

Among them there was a split between Sunnis and Shiites. The Sunnis recognize power only in the caliph elected by the community, and the Shiites allow themselves to obey only the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad - the imams.

As the statistics of religions show, many countries are Muslim. Beliefs are included in the main religious movements. Faith influences the peculiarities of the formation of a worldview. Islam:

• religion of Azerbaijan (93%);
• religion of Kazakhstan (70%);
• religion of Turkey (90%).

Buddhism

The founder is considered Siddhartha Gautama Shakyamuni, later Buddha (5-6 century BC). The main position is that a person can get out of the cycle of life and achieve nirvana. This is done by achieving bliss through one's own experience, rather than taking it for granted. Religion statistics show that Buddhism is widespread in many countries that are culturally distant from each other. This includes Vietnam (79%), Laos (60%), Mongolia (96%), Thailand (93%), Sri Lanka (70%).

Religion statistics in South Korea show that 47% of believers in the state profess Buddhism.

National denominations

There are national and traditional religious movements, also with their own directions. They arose or became especially widespread in certain countries, in contrast to the world. On this basis, the following types of beliefs are distinguished (an enlarged list of religions):

• Hinduism is the religion of India;
• Confucianism and Taoism - China;
• Shinto is the religion of Japan;
• paganism - Indian tribes, peoples of the North and Oceania.

The statistics of religions in Israel singles out Judaism as the main religion of the state, which is also included in the above list.

Classification by country

Beliefs are a factor in the formation of statehood. They lay down an attitude towards a woman and towards life in general. The statistics of religions by country will help to understand the diversity of world confessions. Beliefs have changed over time, of course. However, the main religions have survived to this day.

Russia

The statistics of religions in Russia show that the main part of the country is Orthodox Christian (41%). They consider themselves to be believers, but have not decided on a religious trend (25%). People who consider themselves to be atheists (13%). The number of Muslims in the Russian Federation is 4.1%.

Kazakhstan

The statistics of religions in Kazakhstan reports that the majority of the country's inhabitants are Muslims (70%). Then comes Orthodoxy (26%). Only 3% of the country's population deny the existence of higher powers. Here, even with religion is closely linked.

Ukraine

What are the statistics of religions in Ukraine? The country is dominated by Orthodoxy (74%). It is followed by Catholicism and Protestantism. Religion in Ukraine is very widespread. less than 10% of residents identify themselves.

Religion statistics

The number of religious denominations and non-religious groups in human society exceeds 27 thousand. This includes official confessions, unrecognized religious movements, sects and associations, as well as followers of philosophical agnosticism. The age of religions is enormous. Their history goes back hundreds of years. People began to believe in higher powers even before Babylon and Assyria.

Everyone makes their own choice of religion. Not everyone comes to faith right away. Some begin to identify themselves as belonging to a certain denomination after 40 years. The characteristics and basic approaches of religion are not always clear to the child. The task of the parents is to give a short description of the chosen denomination and explain its tenets in a simple and age-appropriate form. Religion in school can help you figure out which faith to choose and how to abandon the imposed worldview.

However, despite such a number of existing beliefs, the statistics of religions show competition within groups.

A long time ago, such a wonderful feeling as faith in God and higher powers that determine the fate of people and what they will do in the future arose in man. There are a huge number, each of which has its own laws, orders, memorable calendar dates, prohibitions. How old are the religions of the world? - a question to which it is difficult to give an exact answer.

Ancient signs of the birth of religions

It is known that they began to exist in different forms already a huge number of years ago. Previously, it was common for people to sacred and blindly believe that life can be bestowed by 4 elements: air, water, earth and sun. By the way, such a religion exists to this day and is called polytheism. How many religions exist in the world, at least the main ones? Today there are no prohibitions on this or that religion. Therefore, more and more religious movements are being created, but the main ones are still there, and there are not so many of them.

Religion - what is it?

It is customary to include in the concept of religion a certain sequence of rituals, ceremonies and customs, performed either daily (an example here is daily prayer), or periodically, and sometimes even once. This includes a wedding, confession, communion, baptism. Any religion, in principle, aims to unite completely different people into large groups. Despite some cultural differences, many religions share a similar message to believers. The only difference is in the external design of the rituals. How many major religions are there in the world? This question will be answered in this article.

You can count Christianity, Buddhism and Islam. The latter religion is practiced more in the countries of the East, and Buddhism is practiced in Asian countries. Each of the listed religious branches has a history that lasts more than several thousand years, as well as a number of unbreakable traditions that are observed by all deeply religious people.

Geography of religious movements

As for the geographic fragmentation, here about 100 years ago there was an opportunity to trace the predominance of any confession, but now this does not exist at all. For example, earlier more convinced Christians lived in Africa, Europe, South America, and the Australian continent.

Muslims could be called the inhabitants of North Africa and the Middle East, and people who settled in the Southeastern part of Eurasia were considered believers in Buddha. On the streets of Central Asian towns, now more and more often you can see Muslim mosques and churches of the Christian faith standing practically side by side.

How many major religions are there in the world?

As for the question of the knowledge of the founders of world religions, most of them are known to all believers. For example, Jesus Christ became the founder of Christianity (according to another opinion, God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit), the founder of Buddhism is considered Siddhartha Guatama, whose other name is Buddha, and, finally, the foundations of Islam, as many believers believe, were laid by the Prophet Muhammad.

An interesting fact is that both Islam and Christianity are conventionally derived from the same faith, which is called Judaism. Isa Ibn Mariyam is considered the successor of Jesus in this faith. Other famous prophets mentioned in the Holy Scriptures are also related to this branch of the faith. Many believers believe that the prophet Muhammad appeared on earth even before people saw Jesus.

Buddhism

As for Buddhism, this religious denomination is rightfully recognized as the most ancient among all that are only known to the human mind. The history of this faith has an average of about two and a half millennia, perhaps even much more. The birth of a religious movement called Buddhism began in India, and the founder was Siddhartha Guatama. The Buddha himself achieved faith gradually, moving step by step towards the miracle of enlightenment, which the Buddha then began to generously share with his own kind of sinners. The Buddha's teachings became the basis for writing a holy book called Tripitaka. Today, the most common stages of the Buddhist faith are considered to be Hinayama, Mahayama and Vajayama. Adherents of faith in Buddhism believe that the main thing in a person's life is a good state of karma, which is achieved only by doing good deeds. Every Buddhist himself goes through the path to purification of karma through deprivation and pain.

Many, especially today, are wondering how many religions are there in the world? It is difficult to name the number of all directions, because almost every day new ones appear. In our article, we'll talk about the main ones. The following religious trend is one of them.

Christianity

Christianity is a faith that was founded by Jesus Christ a huge number of millennia ago. According to scientists, the religion of Christianity was founded in the 1st century BC. This religious movement appeared in Palestine, and the eternal flame descended to Jerusalem, where it still burns. Nevertheless, there is an opinion that people learned about this faith even earlier, and for almost a whole thousand years. There is also an opinion that for the first time people got acquainted not with Christ, but with the founder of Judaism. Among Christians, one can distinguish Catholics, Orthodox Christians and Protestants. In addition, there are huge groups of people who call themselves Christians, but believe in completely different dogmas and visit other public organizations.

Postulates of Christianity

The main inviolable tenets of Christianity are the belief that God has three guises (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), belief in saving death and in the phenomenon of reincarnation. In addition, the followers of Christianity practice the belief in good and evil, represented by an angelic and devilish guise.

Unlike Protestants and Catholics, Christians do not believe in the existence of the so-called "purgatory", where the souls of sinners are selected for heaven or hell. Protestants believe that if the belief in salvation remains in the soul, then the person is guaranteed to go to heaven. Protestants believe that the meaning of the rituals is not beauty, but sincerity, that is why the rituals are not distinguished by splendor, and their number is much smaller than in Christianity.

Islam

As for Islam, this religion is considered relatively new, as it appeared only in the 7th century BC. The place of appearance is the Arabian Peninsula, where the Turks and Greeks lived. The place of the Orthodox Bible is taken by the holy Koran, which contains all the basic laws of religion. In Islam, like in Christianity, there are several directions: Suniism, Shiitism and Kharijitism. The difference between these directions from each other lies in the fact that the Sunnis recognize the four caliphs as the “right hand” of the prophet Mohammed, and besides the Koran, the collection of the prophet's instructions is considered a sacred book for them.

Shiites believe that only blood heirs can be the successors of the work of the prophet. Kharijites believe practically the same, only they believe that only blood descendants or close persons can inherit the rights of the prophet.

The Muslim faith recognizes the existence of Allah and the Prophet Mohammed, and is also of the opinion that life after death exists, and a person can be reborn into any living being or even an object. Any Muslim faithfully believes in the power of holy customs, therefore, annually makes a pilgrimage to holy places. Jerusalem is truly a holy city for all Muslims. Salat is a compulsory ritual for every adherent of the Muslim faith, and its main meaning is prayer in the morning and evening. The prayer is repeated 5 times, after which the believers try to observe the fast in accordance with all the rules.

In this faith, during the month of Ramadan, believers are forbidden to have fun, and are allowed to devote themselves only to the prayer of Allah. Mecca is considered the main city of pilgrims.

We have analyzed the main directions. Summing up, let us note: how many religions there are in the world, there are so many opinions. Unfortunately, representatives of not all religious movements fully accept the existence of another direction. Often this even led to wars. In the modern world, some aggressive-minded leaders use the image of a "sectarian" or "totalitarian sect" as a scarecrow, promoting intolerance towards any non-traditional religiosity. However, no matter how different religions are, they usually have something in common.

Unity and differences of major religions

The commonality of all religious confessions is hidden and at the same time simple in that they all teach tolerance, love for God in any form, mercy and kind attitude towards people. Both Islam and the Christian faith advocate resurrection after earthly death, followed by rebirth. In addition, Islam and Christianity together believe that fate is ordained by heaven, and only Allah or, as Christians call him, the Lord God can correct it. Although the teachings of Buddhists are strikingly different from Christianity and Islam, these "branches" are united by the fact that a certain morality is sung, which is not permissible for anyone to stumble.

The instructions given to the Almighty sinful people also have common features. For Buddhists, these are dogmas, for Christians, commandments, and for adherents of Islam, these are excerpts from the Koran. It doesn't matter how many world religions there are in the world. The main thing is that they all bring a person closer to the Lord. The commandments for each faith are the same, only they have a different retelling syllable. Everywhere it is forbidden to lie, kill, steal, and also everywhere they call for mercy and tranquility, for mutual respect and love for one's neighbor.

All world religions, with the exception of Buddhism, originate from a relatively small corner of the planet, located between the deserted shores of the Mediterranean, Red and Caspian Seas. Hence Christianity, Islam, Judaism and the now almost extinct Zoroastrianism.

Christianity. The most widespread of the world's religions is Christianity, with 1.6 billion followers. Christianity retains its strongest positions in Europe, America and Australia.
Christianity appeared at the beginning of our era as a development of biblical wisdom that had been built up over the previous 2000 years. The Bible teaches to understand and realize the meaning of life. Biblical thinking places critical importance on the issue of life and death, the end of the world.
Jesus Christ preached the ideas of brotherhood, industriousness, non-acquisitiveness and peacefulness. Serving wealth was condemned and the superiority of spiritual values ​​over material ones was proclaimed.

The first Ecumenical Council, which met in Nicaea in 325, laid the dogmatic foundations of the One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church for many centuries to come.
In Christianity, the view was adopted about the "inseparable and inseparable" union in Jesus Christ of two natures - the divine and the human. In the V century. supporters of Archbishop Nestor, who recognized the basic human nature of Christ (later isolated into Nestorians), and followers of Archimandrite Eutychios, who argued that in Jesus Christ there is only one divine nature, were condemned. Supporters of one nature of Jesus Christ began to be called Monophysists. Adherents of monophysism make up a certain proportion among modern Orthodox Christians.
In 1054, a major split of the Christian church took place into the Eastern (Orthodox center in Constantinople (now Istanbul) and Western (Catholic) with the center in the Vatican.) This division runs through the entire world history.

Orthodoxy established itself mainly among the peoples of Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The largest number of adherents of Orthodoxy are Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Greeks, Romanians, Serbs, Macedonians, Moldovans, Georgians, Karelians, Komi, the peoples of the Volga region (Mari, Mordovians, Udmurts, Chuvash). Centers of Orthodoxy exist in the USA, Canada, and a number of Western European countries.

A tragic split took place in the history of Russian Orthodoxy, which led to the emergence of the Old Believers. The origins of the schism go back to the years of the adoption of Christianity by Russia. In those days in Byzantium two statutes, close to each other, prevailed, according to which the rite of worship was carried out. In the east of Byzantium, the Jerusalem charter was most widespread, and in the west, the Studite (Constantinople) charter prevailed. The latter became the basis of the Russian charter, while in Byzantium the Jerusalem charter (St. Sava) became more and more prevalent. From time to time, certain innovations were introduced into the Jerusalem charter, so that it began to be called modern Greek.
Russian Church until the middle of the 17th century. led the ritual according to the archaic Studian charter with two-fingered baptism, keeping Orthodoxy in the highest purity. Many Orthodox peoples looked at Moscow as a spiritual center.


Outside the borders of the Russian state, including in Ukraine, church rituals were carried out according to the modern Greek model. In connection with the unification of Ukraine and Russia in 1654, Kiev began to exert a tremendous influence on the spiritual life of Moscow. Under his influence, Moscow begins to turn away from antiquity, adopts a new way of life, more pleasing to Kiev. Patriarch Nikon introduces new ranks and rituals. The icons are being updated according to the Kiev and Lviv models. Patriarch Nikon edits Church Slavonic liturgical books based on New Greek editions of the Italian press.
In 1658 Nikon founded the New Jerusalem Monastery near Moscow and the city of New Jerusalem, according to his plan, the future capital of the Christian world.
As a result of Nikon's reforms, six major innovations were introduced into the canon. The two-fingered sign of the cross was replaced by the three-fingered sign, instead of "Jesus" it was ordered to write and pronounce "Jesus", during the sacraments it was told to go around the temple against the sun.
The introduction of non-Orthodox veneration for the king placed him above religious spiritual dominion. This reduced the role of the church in the state, reduced it to the position of the Church order (an order, this is a kind of ministry in Russia at that time). Many believers perceived Nikon's reforms as a deep tragedy, secretly professed the old faith, went for it in torment, burned themselves, went into forests and swamps. The fateful year 1666 led to a catastrophic split of the Russian people into those who accepted the new rite and rejected it. The latter retained the name "Old Believers".

Catholicism is another major branch of Christianity. It is common in the Americas. Catholics include Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, some of the French, most of the Belgians, some of the Austrians and Germans (southern lands of Germany), Poles, Lithuanians, Croats, Slovenes, most of the Hungarians, Irish, some of the Ukrainians (in the form of Uniatism or Greek- Catholicism). A large center of Catholicism in Asia is the Philippines (the influence of Spanish colonization). There are many Catholics in Africa, Australia, Oceania.
The Western Catholic Church boldly discarded the old and invented new rituals that were closer in spirit to the Europeans and their ideas about the world as a space calling for conquest. Expansionism and enrichment of the church were dogmatically substantiated. Speeches by non-Catholics and heretics were brutally suppressed. The result was continuous wars, massive repression of the Inquisition and a decline in the authority of the Catholic Church.

In the XIV-XV centuries. in Europe, the ideas of humanism and revival arose. During the Reformation of the XVI century. Protestantism separated from Catholicism. Protestantism that emerged in Germany was formed in the form of several independent movements, the most important of which were Anglicanism (closest to Catholicism), Lutheranism and Calvinism. From the Protestant churches new sectarian movements emerged, their number now exceeds 250. Thus, Methodism spun off from Anglicanism, and the Salvation Army, organized in a military fashion, is closely related to Methodism. Baptism is genetically related to Calvinism. Pentecostal sects emerged from Baptism, and the sect of Jehovah's Witnesses also spun off. Mormons of non-Christian confession occupy a special place in the Protestant environment.

The stronghold of Protestantism is Northern and Central Europe. In the United States, Protestants are about 64% of the population. A large group of American Protestants are Baptists, followed by Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians. In Canada and South Africa, Protestants make up about half of the population. There are many adherents of Protestantism in Nigeria. Protestantism prevails in Australia and most of Oceania. Certain forms of this branch of Christianity (especially Baptism and Adventism) are common in Russia and Ukraine.
The founder of Protestantism, the Catholic monk M. Luther, made demands to limit the excessive power of the church and calls for hard work and frugality. At the same time, he argued that the salvation of the human soul and deliverance from sins is accomplished by God himself, and not by the forces of man. The Calvinist Reformation went even further. According to Calvin, God pre-eternally chose some people for salvation, and others for destruction, regardless of their will. Over time, these ideas turned into a revision of Christian dogmas. Calvinism was imbued with an anti-Christian denial of asceticism and the desire to replace it with the cult of the natural man. Protestantism became an ideological justification of capitalism, the deification of Progress, a fetishization of money and goods. In Protestantism, like in no other religion, the dogma of the conquest of nature, which was subsequently adopted by Marxism, is strengthened.

Islam the youngest world religion. Islam dates back to 622 AD. e., when the prophet Muhammad with his followers moved from Mecca to Medina and the Bedouin tribes of the Arabs began to adhere to him.
Traces of Christianity and Judaism can be seen in the teachings of Muhammad. Islam recognizes the prophets of Moses and Jesus Christ as the penultimate prophet, but puts them below Muhammad.


In private, Muhammad banned pork, alcoholic beverages and gambling. Wars are not rejected by Islam and are even encouraged if they are fought for the faith (the holy war of jihad).
All the foundations and rules of the Muslim religion are combined in the Quran. Explanations and interpretations of obscure passages of the Koran made by Muhammad were written down by his close people and Muslim theologians and compiled a collection of traditions known as Sunnah. Later, Muslims who recognized the Koran and Sunnah began to be called Sunnis, and Muslims who recognized only one Koran, and from the Sunnah only the sections based on the authority of the Prophet's relatives were called Shiites. This division exists to the present day.
Religious dogmatics formed the basis of Islamic law Sharia - a set of legal and religious norms based on the Koran.

Sunnis make up about 90% of Muslims. Shiism prevails in Iran and southern Iraq. In Bahrain, Yemen, Azerbaijan and mountainous Tajikistan, half of the population is Shiites.
Sunnism and Shiism gave rise to a number of sects. Sunni Islam emerged from Wahhabism, which dominates in Saudi Arabia, spreading among the Chechens and some peoples of Dagestan. The main Shiite sects were Zeidism and Ismailism, influenced by atheism and Buddhism.
In Oman, the third trend of Islam, Ibaditism, has spread, the followers of which are called Ibadis.

Buddhism. The oldest of the world's religions is Buddhism, which arose in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. in India. After more than 15 centuries of dominance in India, Buddhism gave way to Hinduism. However, Buddhism spread widely across the countries of Southeast Asia, penetrated into Sri Lanka, China, Korea, Japan, Tibet, Mongolia. The number of adherents of Buddhism is estimated at about 500 million.

In Buddhism, all the social and moral dogmas of Hinduism are preserved, but the requirements of caste and asceticism are weakened. Buddhism pays more attention to the current life.
At the beginning of the first millennium, Buddhism split into two major branches. The first of these, Theravada, or Hinayana, requires believers to undergo monasticism. Its adherents - Theravadins - live in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand (about 90% of the population of these countries), as well as in Sri Lanka (about 60%).

Another branch of Buddhism, Mahayana, admits that lay people can also be saved. Mahayana followers are concentrated in China (including Tibet), Japan, Korea, Nepal. There are a number of Buddhists in Pakistan, India, and also among Chinese and Japanese immigrants in the Americas.

Judaism. Judaism can be attributed to the number of world religions with a certain degree of convention. This is the national religion of the Jews, which arose in Palestine in the 1st century. BC e. Most of the adherents are concentrated in Israel (the official religion of the state), the USA, European countries and Russia.

Judaism retained the ideas of brotherhood and mutual assistance from the Egyptian religion with the idea of ​​righteousness and sinfulness, heaven and hell. The new dogmas responded to the rallying of the Jewish tribes and an increase in their belligerence. The sources of the teachings of this religion are the Old Testament (recognized by later Christianity) and the Talmud ("commentaries" to the Old Testament books).

National religions. The most common national religions are the religions of India. Remarkable is the introversion of Indian religions, their appeal to such an inner and spiritual connection, which opens up wide opportunities for self-improvement, creates a feeling of freedom, bliss, humility, dedication, tranquility, is able to compress, collapse the phenomenal world until the world essence and the human soul completely coincide.

Religion in China formed from several parts. The earliest are beliefs associated with agriculture, mastered in the VIV millennium BC. It was believed in them that there is nothing higher than that in which a village man finds peace and beauty. About 3.5 thousand years ago, the former beliefs were supplemented by the cult of veneration of great ancestors - sages and heroes. These cults were embodied in Confucianism, formulated by the philosopher Confucius, or Kungfu-tzu (551-479 BC).
The ideal of Confucianism has become a perfect man - modest, disinterested, possessing a sense of his own dignity and love for people. The social order is presented in Confucianism as such, in which everyone acts in the interests of the people, represented by a large family. The goal of every Confucian is moral self-improvement, respectful respect for elders, respect for parents and family traditions.
At one time, Brahmanism and Buddhism penetrated into China. On the basis of Brahmanism, the teachings of Taoism arose almost simultaneously with Confucianism. Ch'an Buddhism, which spread in Japan under the name of Zen Buddhism, is internally associated with Taoism. Together with Taoism and Confucianism, Chinese religions have developed into a worldview, the main features of which are worship of the family (ancestors, descendants, home) and poetic perception of nature, the desire to enjoy life and its beauty (S. Myagkov, 2002, N. Kormin, 1994 G.).

Religion of Japan. From about the V century. AD the Japanese got acquainted with the wisdom of India and China, adopted the Buddhist-Taoist attitude to the world, which did not contradict their original belief, Shintoism, the belief that everything is full of spirits, gods (ka-mi), and therefore deserves a reverent attitude towards itself. The main feature of the Japanese Shintoism, transformed under the Chinese influence, is that, like Taoism, it does not teach goodness and does not expose evil, for "the threads of happiness and misfortune that are tangled in a ball cannot be divided." The eradicated evil will inevitably break through with such a stormy growth, which the world builder did not even suspect. The Japanese perceive their homeland as a sacred property of the nation, which is in the temporary care of the living for transmission to descendants. Several million Japanese adherents of Shinto (T. Grigorieva, 1994).

Zoroastrianism distributed mainly in India (Parsis), Iran (Gebras) and Pakistan.
In addition to the main religions, there are dozens of local traditional beliefs in the world, mainly in the form of fetishism, animism and shamanism. There are especially many of them in Africa, primarily in Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin.
In Asia, the followers of tribal cults predominate only in East Timor, but are also common on the islands of the western part of Oceania and among the peoples of the North of Russia (shamanism).
A source -

All cheerful time of day! The concept of religions occurs quite often in exams in the humanities. Therefore, I would recommend looking at these religions of the world, their list, in order to better navigate in them.

A little about the concept of "World religions". It often refers to the three main religions: Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. This understanding is not complete, to say the least. Since these religious systems have different streams. In addition, there are a number of religions that also unite many people. Before publishing the list, I also recommend that you read the article about that .

List of world religions

Abrahamic religions- these are religions that go back to one of the first religious patriarchs - Abraham.

Christianity- you can briefly about this religion. It is presented today in several directions. The key ones are Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Protestantism. Holy book Bible (mainly the New Testament). It unites today about 2.3 billion people

Islam- how religion took shape in the 7th century AD and absorbed the revelations of Allah to his prophet Muhammad. It was from him that the prophet learned that he had to pray a hundred times a day. However, Muhammad asked Allah to reduce the number of prayers, and in the end Allah allowed to pray five times a day. By the way, the ideas about heaven and hell in Islam and in Christianity are somewhat different. Paradise here is the quintessence of earthly goods. The holy book of the Koran. It unites today about 1.5 billion people.

Judaism- the religion of the predominantly Jewish people, unites 14 million adherents. Most of all I was struck by the divine service: during its time you can behave quite naturally. Holy book Bible (mostly Old Testament).

Other religions

Hinduism- unites about 900 million followers and includes faith in the eternal soul (atman) and in the universal God. This religion and others like it are also called dharma - from the Sanskrit word "dharma" - things, the nature of things. The religious priests are here called brahmanas. The key idea is the rebirth of souls. Who cares, apart from jokes, here's a look at Vysotsky: a song about the transmigration of souls.

Buddhism- unites over 350 million adherents. It proceeds from the fact that the soul is bound by the wheel of samsara - the wheel of reincarnation, and only work on oneself can allow it to escape from this circle into nirvana - eternal bliss. There are different branches of Buddhism: Zen Buddhism, Lamaism, etc. The sacred texts are called Tripitaka.

Zoroastrianism("Good Faith") - one of the oldest monotestical religions, incorporates faith in the one god Ahura Mazda and his prophet Zarathushtra, unites about 7 million people. Religion embodies belief in good and evil thoughts. The latter are the enemies of God and must be rooted out. Light is the physical embodiment of God and is worthy of worship, therefore this religion is also called fire worship. Thus, in my opinion, this is the most honest religion, since it is thoughts that determine a person, and not his actions. If you agree with this - like it at the end of the post!

Jainism- unites 4 million adherents in acceptance and proceeds from the fact that all living beings are eternally living in the spiritual world, calls for self-improvement through the education of wisdom and other virtues.

Sikhism- unites about 23 million adepts and includes an understanding of God as the Absolute and as a part of every person. Worship takes place through meditation.

Juche Is a North Korean political ideology that many refer to as a religion. It was formed on the basis of the transformation of the ideas of Marxism-Leninism and synthesis with traditional Chinese philosophy.

Confucianism- in the strict sense of the word, it is a more ethical and philosophical doctrine than religion and unites ideas about proper behavior, about ritual and about tradition, which, according to Confucius, must be represented. The main treatise is Lunyu. It consolidates about 7 million people.

Shintoism- this religion is prevalent mainly in Japan, so read about it.

Kao Dai- a fairly new religious system that appeared in 1926 and combines many of the principles of Buddhism, Lamaism, etc. Calls for equality between the sexes, for pacifism, etc. It originated in Vietnam. In fact, religion embodies everything that has been lacking in this region of the planet for a long time.

Hope you got an idea of ​​the religions of the world! Like, subscribe to new articles.

Best regards, Andrey Puchkov

There are more than 7 billion people in our World, each of whom has different thoughts, feelings, faith. Therefore, a fairly large number of religions have appeared in the World, in this regard, people choose different religions, most of them have faith in God, but some peoples do not believe in him.

When we think about the word "religion", some thoughts appear in our minds, as a kind of gesture, as a conviction, a vision about humanity in the whole World and the system of confession to various religious cultures. An interesting fact is that according to various studies and the Guinness Book of Records, Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world due to the large number of conversions to Islam every year.

That is why, here we have collected the most popular religions in the world for 2016.

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Judaism is one of the oldest religions in the world, which was founded about 3,500 years ago in Canaan (now Israel), the Middle East and Egypt. Judaism is estimated to have approximately 14.5 million followers worldwide. Judaism is also mentioned in the Holy Book of the Bible: Abraham, who gave birth and Moses, who freed Jewish prisoners from Egypt - the founders of this faith, therefore, this is the oldest monotheistic religion in the world.

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Sikhism is one of the most popular religions in the world, which emerged in the region of South Asia - Punjab about 500 years ago in the 15th century. The beliefs of Sikhism are described in the scriptures of the Guru Granth Sahib and are called the youngest religion in the world. Guru Nanak - the founder of this religious culture - now rests in the region of Pakistan - Nankana Sahib. It is estimated that there are between 25 and 28 million followers of this religion around the world, and in Punjab in India about 90 million Sikhs follow the teachings of Guru Nanak and ten successive Gurus.

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Religion Anglicanism is included in the Church of England and all other churches that are traditionally attached to it or practice similar worship and church structure. Thus, Anglicanism is based on Christianity and their holy book is the Bible, as well as the Anglican Doctrine is based on the Scriptures, the traditions of the Apostolic Church, the historical episcopate, the first four Ecumenical Councils and the teachings of the early Church Fathers. This religion is adhered to by about 85.5 million people around the world, which also gives it the right to be on our list.

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Atheism in its true sense is the belief of people who have no creed. In a broader sense, this religion is to reject belief in the existence of gods, spirits, afterlife, otherworldly forces, etc. Atheism is based on the belief that the natural world is self-sufficient and not on the supernatural origin of all religions.

According to statistics, this religion is growing every year. About the emergence of Atheism, as its homeland, we can talk about America, however, in 2015, more than 61% of the followers of this religion are from China. For the first time, this religion was recognized in the 16th century in France and today has more than 150 million followers around the world.

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Buddhism is another historical religion of the world, founded about 2500 years ago in India, whose followers are based on the teachings of the Buddha. Initially, Buddhism spread throughout Asia, but a few years after the arrival of Islam, most of it spread only to India.

According to available data, about 7% of the world's population profess Buddhism, and this is more than 500 million followers, including most of them in Burma, Japan, China and Sri Lanka. The founder of Buddhism is Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) and his teachings.

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Agnosticism

Agnosticism is a special religion, because its true beliefs are philosophical. Followers of Agnosticism are constantly in search of an answer to the question: "Is God a divine or a supernatural being?" That is why it is the religion of philosophers. Its followers are always in search of God, and the roots of this religion go far into the past - about the 5th century. BC, so there are now about 640 million religious philosophers around the world.

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Another one of the most ancient religions in the world is Hinduism. According to history, this religion has no beginning, but it exists mainly in India and Nepal. Religious positions such as karma, dharma, samsara, maya, moksha and yoga can be called basic for Hinduism. Worldwide, there are about 1 billion followers of Hinduism, most are in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Malaysia, and this is 15% of the total population of the world.

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Catholicism is also one of the most popular and largest religions in the world, characterized by organizational centralization and the largest number of adherents among Christian churches. The head of the Catholic Church is the Pope, who heads the Holy See and the Vatican City State in Rome. Catholicism is a fairly old denomination, so there is a large number of followers of this religion all over the world - 1.2 billion Catholics.

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Christianity is the largest monotheistic religion in the world, based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. It has over 2.4 billion followers worldwide who call themselves Christians. According to Christianity, Jesus Christ is the son of God and also the Savior of all mankind. The Holy Scripture of Christianity is the Bible, but despite this, Christianity is the oldest religion in the world, followed by many countries - Europe, North America and Oceania, and it also quickly spread throughout India, Syria, Ethiopia and even Asia, due to which Hinduism is rapidly declining ...

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Islam

Islam is the other largest religion in the world and, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. Islam was founded about 1,500 years ago, and Muslims around the world follow the teachings of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, which is called the Sunna, and the Holy Book is the Koran.

According to statistics, about 23% of the total population of the globe are Muslims, which is approximately 1.7 billion people. Muslims believe that God is one and Muhammad is the last prophets of Allah (God). Most of the Muslims are concentrated in Indonesia, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and 20% in the countries of the Middle East, Europe, Russia, America and China. Despite this, Islam has small communities in every country in the world. We can safely say that Islam is the most popular religion of the early 21st century.

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Conclusion

It was about the most popular religions in the world. We hope you find it interesting. Thank you for your attention!